King George V Pre-School

A fairy glade for stories, movement sessions led by DEDA and an owl that travels home with children give King George V Pre-School a character rooted in outdoor play and family involvement. Its Littleover setting combines spacious indoor accommodation with grounds used for much more than running around. Listening, storytelling and exploration all have a place outside.

Ofsted rated the pre-school Good on 5 May 2022. It has 24 places in total and welcomes children from two and a half years old. That whole-setting capacity should not be read as the number attending a particular session or the size of a teaching group.

Parents can take part in outings, share their skills and join the parents’ committee. This is a setting for families who enjoy contributing to pre-school life as well as receiving updates about their child. Morning, afternoon and all-day attendance give the practical offer some breadth too.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for learning through play, including communication, physical development, relationships, early reading and mathematics. It is the shared foundation for early-years provision. Here, planned sessions give children opportunities to imagine, create and practise working alongside others; the curriculum information explains those areas of learning.

Letters and Sounds, a programme supporting early phonics, reading and writing, is used at phase 1. Alongside that foundation, Creative Movement sessions bring in early-years teachers from DEDA on Friday mornings. Children practise responding to instructions, exploring movement and connecting it with rhythm. These sessions carry a separate charge, so their place in a child’s week has a practical cost as well as an educational purpose.

Wake up, shake up! starts each session with about 10 minutes of movement to music. It gives physical activity a regular place in the routine rather than leaving it entirely to outdoor play.

In May 2022, staff introduced vocabulary through hands-on exploration of magnets, using words such as repel and retract. Ribbon play and moulding dough gave children practice controlling their arms and fingers ahead of using writing tools. These examples show how conversation and physical preparation could grow out of play rather than being confined to a formal teaching activity.

Group activities were the weaker part of that daily routine in May 2022. Some children lost interest during shared snacks, songs and stories, reducing what they gained from those periods. Reviewing how group time was organised was the improvement action. That distinction matters: engaging individual activities did not mean every part of the timetable worked equally well for every child.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor play takes place each session unless the weather is very poor. A sandpit and wildlife garden sit alongside a woodland area equipped with balancing logs, chalkboards and a mud kitchen. Those spaces give children different ways to be active: balancing, making marks, digging and inventing play rather than repeating one type of outdoor activity.

Work with Derbyshire Wildlife Trust created the fairy glade, where seating among the trees supports stories and listening games. It also serves as the base for Forest School sessions, an approach centred on outdoor learning and exploration. Sessions with a Forest School ethos use the grounds, with a trained leader within the staff team. The setting’s own outdoor spaces are therefore part of its learning offer, rather than simply a place for a break.

Olive the Owl links home experiences with speaking to a group. Each child takes the owl home for a few days, cares for it and returns with a family diary; staff then help the child share what happened. The activity gives an ordinary trip or family routine a reason to become a story, while giving parents a concrete contribution to make.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key worker who becomes the family’s main contact and follows their development through regular observations. Learning is documented in a Learning Journey, a record used to plan what comes next. This gives parents a continuing conversation about their child, rather than relying solely on occasional general updates.

A meeting with the key worker is arranged each term, and parents can also raise questions between those meetings. Families contribute to the Learning Journey, bringing knowledge of the child’s interests and experiences beyond pre-school. The arrangement makes home information part of planning, with a specific member of staff responsible for maintaining that connection.

Settling allows parental involvement: new parents are encouraged to remain with their child until the child is comfortable. Parents may also accompany outings or bring a skill, such as playing an instrument, into pre-school. For a child taking an early step towards independence, the combination offers continuity between family life and the setting.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Talk Boost programmes run throughout the year as part of support for speech and understanding, alongside programmes tailored to individual children. Staff work with families and, where needed, other professionals and the STePS department at Derby Council. The mechanism is individual planning with outside involvement when appropriate, rather than a general promise that every need will be met in the same way.

At its May 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described support for children with SEND through visual prompts and collaboration with a speech therapist.

The staff team includes childcare qualifications such as NVQ Level 3 in Childcare and an Advanced Diploma in Child Care and Education. Staff undertake continuing safeguarding training, and first-aid training is refreshed on a rolling basis. Those are concrete arrangements families can understand alongside the key-worker system, without treating qualifications alone as proof of the quality of daily care.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 82 Brayfield Road, Littleover, Derby, DE23 6GT. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 07889347855 or through the contact form.

Morning sessions run from 9am to noon, afternoon sessions from noon to 3pm, and all-day attendance from 9am to 3pm. The day finishes at 3pm. These are genuinely different attendance options: a shorter morning or afternoon can be chosen instead of spending the whole day at pre-school.

Lunch club runs from noon to 12.30pm and is included within the afternoon session; it can also be added to a morning booking. Children bring a packed lunch, and adding lunch club to a morning carries a separate charge. It provides a bridge between the shorter sessions and the longer day, but families should use the stated booking times when planning collection.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes five sessions per week for three- and four-year-olds, starting in the term after the third birthday, with the extended 30-hour offer for eligible children. Two-year-old funding is also offered subject to eligibility. Funding participation should be distinguished from a promise that a particular child qualifies or can obtain their preferred attendance pattern.

Additional sessions can be paid for privately. Creative Movement also carries a separate charge, while the morning lunch-club addition has its own charge. Current prices come in the pre-school’s written quotation. Keeping attendance, lunch arrangements and activity charges separate makes the total booking easier to understand before committing.

• Group-time engagement. In May 2022, some children disengaged during shared snacks, stories and singing. During a visit, ask how these periods now accommodate children with different attention spans.
• A 3pm finish. Even all-day attendance ends at 3pm. Families needing care later in the afternoon should weigh that finish against their working day.
• Lunch-club timing. Children bring their own packed lunch, and descriptions of the lunch club’s extended duration differ. Confirm the collection time for that specific booking before arranging your day.
• Friday movement sessions. Creative Movement takes place on Friday mornings and carries a separate charge. Its timing matters if that activity is part of the reason for choosing the setting.

King George V Pre-School suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as a 9am-to-3pm day, with active outdoor play and opportunities to participate in pre-school life. The fairy glade, DEDA-led movement and Olive the Owl give that offer substance. The dated concern about group-time engagement deserves attention, and the early finish is a clear practical boundary. For families whose timetable fits, the combination of outdoor spaces, a named key worker and parent involvement makes a coherent choice.