Perranporth Pre-School

A large shared playroom, a separate sensory room and two enclosed outdoor areas give Perranporth Pre-School a clear character: children have space for active exploration alongside a quieter setting for sensory experiences. Forest School adds hands-on woodland learning, including tools and activities in almost all weather. This is an outdoor offer with substance, rather than simply time outside.

At its February 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the setting Outstanding overall. The detail behind that judgement is engaging: children investigated creatures beneath logs, made films with miniature dolls and used Spanish words spontaneously after lessons. Learning connected practical experiences with language, observation and imagination.

Based at St. Pirans Childrens Centre on Liskey Hill, Perranporth, TR6 0EU, the setting has 48 places in total and welcomes children from nine months to five years. Its charity structure also shapes family involvement: parent trustees help run the organisation, while families can contribute skills or support fundraising. Morning sessions, full days and clubs before and after the main day provide different term-time attendance options.

Rooms and Ages

One open-plan room forms the main learning space, with a sensory room separate from it. The layout gives families a shared-room model to weigh alongside their child's preferences and stage of development. Outdoors, both play areas are fully enclosed, and one accommodates Forest School. The premises are accessible to wheelchair users and people with physical disabilities.

The setting shares its building with Perranporth Family Help Hub but occupies a self-contained area. That distinction matters: the pre-school has its own space within a building used by another service. Perranporth Community Primary School is next door, although proximity alone offers no admissions advantage.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for learning through play, exploration, communication and developing physical skills. Here, adult-directed activities sit alongside opportunities for children to investigate and try out ideas indoors and outside. Speech and language receive explicit attention, with staff modelling language and positive interactions as children play together. The practical implication is a day combining guided learning with opportunities to use it independently.

Forest School adds work with tools and learning about the natural world through woodland activities across the year. Children also explore physical and social boundaries during these experiences. Music and Ballet lessons are included in the daily rate, adding taught sessions to the play-based day. The Forest School description explains the outdoor approach.

In February 2025, children examined spiders beneath logs using magnifiers and looked for matching life-cycle models. Older children also photographed scenes in a dolls' house, moved the figures and photographed them again to make an animated sequence. These examples put scientific observation and creative technology into recognisable nursery play, rather than treating them as separate subjects.

Language and number work were equally practical that February. Weekly Spanish lessons carried over into children's conversations, including greetings and descriptions of fruit. At snack time, older children counted food for a group that included younger children and considered whether they needed more or less. Sharing equipment also became a problem to solve: children discussed waiting and taking turns before finding additional tools so others could join the game.

Outdoor and Community Life

In February 2025, climbing nets and a rope-assisted climb up a hill gave children physical challenges. Weekly dance sessions added movement, rhythm and balance. The contrast is useful: physical development involved both demanding outdoor movement and coordinated activity to music.

Community experiences extended beyond the premises at that time. Children visited the beach, shops, library and duck pond, while weekly trips to a local nursing home brought contact with older residents and opportunities to learn about the area's past. Photographs from outings became books that children could revisit independently. An excursion therefore continued to provide material for remembering and talking after the trip itself.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person, while the wider staff team also supports them. Families can follow learning through interactive online Learning Journeys and everyday conversations with practitioners. Practical sessions during the year help parents support learning at home, giving communication a purpose beyond reporting what happened that day.

Stay-and-play opportunities take place once each term. Parents and close relatives can join the group, see their child engaged in activities and talk with the key person, once the child has had time to settle. This offers a more direct view of nursery life than a written update alone, with an alternative day possible for families unable to attend the scheduled session.

Emotional understanding featured in February 2025 practice. Puppets representing different ethnic backgrounds helped children explore feelings, and a bear travelled home in a backpack to connect home and pre-school. Staff had also undertaken early-years mental-health training. These are concrete ways of making emotions discussable for young children and linking that work with family life.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the February 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and children with SEND making excellent progress with support matched to their starting points. Current support arrangements include a SEND Coordinator working with staff and families to organise tailored help where needed. The accessible premises and a separate sensory room are further practical details for families considering how their child will use the space.

Healthy Under 5s is a health-promotion scheme covering topics such as dental care, eating habits, physical activity, emotional wellbeing and accident prevention. Participation gives the setting advice and resources across these areas. It is useful context for its health work, rather than a substitute for discussing an individual child's needs.

Parent participation also has an organisational role. Trustees support building maintenance, grants and the running of the charity, while families can help through fundraising or sharing an interest with children. This will appeal to parents who want to contribute to the setting as well as receive childcare. It also makes the voluntary contribution of families a meaningful part of how the pre-school operates.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, in term time. The morning session runs from 8.45am to 11.45am; a full day runs from 8.45am to 3pm. Breakfast Club covers 8am to 8.45am, and After Pre-School Club runs from 3pm to 4pm. The clubs extend attendance around the core sessions, so families can distinguish the nursery's opening window from the sessions they book.

An application form starts the joining process. Families receive an acknowledgement, followed by an offer specifying sessions; particular sessions are not guaranteed. Offers are held for one week and acceptance must be written, by email or post. These are useful deadlines to plan around when coordinating childcare with work.

The contact number is 01872 573205, with enquiries also accepted by email, post or in person. The address is St. Pirans Childrens Centre, Liskey Hill, Perranporth, TR6 0EU. Emergency closure updates use the Famly app, with telephone contact attempted where possible.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes the 15-hour entitlement for three- and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds, starting the term after their third or second birthday respectively. Eligible working families with children aged nine months to four years can receive 30 hours, beginning the term after their child's nine-month birthday. The funding information describes entitlement over 38 weeks, fitting the term-time model. Eligibility depends on the relevant age and family circumstances; the entitlement does not promise a particular session allocation.

Sessions without funding are charged privately, including sessions for which this setting does not receive funding when a child also attends elsewhere. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. Music and Ballet lessons are included in the daily rate.

Nappies carry a separate charge, with families able to supply their own instead; wet bags and canvas bags also carry charges. Spare clothing is charged only if it is not returned. Monthly invoices are issued in advance, and booked sessions remain payable during sickness, appointments or holidays, with neither refunds nor session swaps for those absences. The sessions and fees information sets out these arrangements.

• Minimum attendance. The two admissions versions differ: one requires two sessions across two days for children aged nine months to two years and at least fifteen hours, excluding wraparound, for ages three to five; the other applies the two-day rule through age three and specifies three to four sessions for ages three to five. Confirm which minimum applies before accepting an offer.
• Shared space for younger children. The main room is open plan, with a separate sensory room. On a visit, ask how rest, quieter activities and younger children's routines fit alongside the wider group.
• Term-time coverage. Morning sessions, full days and the two clubs operate within a term-time setting. Families needing childcare during school holidays will need to account for that calendar.
• Paid absences. Booked sessions stay payable during illness, appointments and holidays, and cannot be swapped for those reasons. Factor that rule into the cost of the attendance pattern you choose.

Perranporth Pre-School suits families seeking either morning sessions or full days during term time, with Breakfast Club and After Pre-School Club extending the day where needed. Its strongest practical features are the enclosed outdoor spaces, Forest School, a separate sensory room and opportunities for parents to participate.

The February 2025 examples give the learning offer character: investigations beneath logs, animated dolls' house scenes and community outings turned familiar experiences into material for thinking and conversation. The attendance minimum needs settling before a booking, and paid absences deserve attention. For families comfortable with those terms and the term-time calendar, this is a compelling option.