Sunflowers Pre School

A building project inspired by nearby construction, a growing sunflower measured by the children, and a colour-me-happy house for talking about feelings give Sunflowers Pre School a recognisable character. In June 2025, these were examples of children’s interests shaping the afternoon rather than simply filling it. The emphasis is on making choices, exploring materials and having something to say.

At its 10 June 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated Sunflowers Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that its key-person arrangements and work with outside agencies supported children’s needs. That gives families a clear inspection position alongside the practical attraction of an afternoon preschool on the Thorley Hill Primary School site.

The preschool welcomes children aged 3 and 4, while its breakfast and after-school provision serves ages 3 to 11. There are 30 places in total, a whole-setting capacity rather than a measure of the number attending any particular session. Preschool runs during term time, with separate breakfast and after-school booking patterns.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children’s learning and care: here, play, conversation and exploration are ways to develop skills, with adults extending what children try. Planning takes account of each cohort’s interests and introduces experiences linked to seasonal themes. Children can investigate at their own pace, rather than all being expected to tackle an activity in the same way.

In June 2025, interest in local building work had prompted a construction area where children chose equipment and materials and experimented with mixing sand and cement. Elsewhere, a water tray supported shared investigation: children helped one another fill containers, using funnels and pipettes. These examples show the practical shape of child-led learning. An interest becomes something children can test with their hands and discuss with others.

Language also had a visible place in the afternoon. In June 2025, children talked about the story selected for that week, chose songs and heard familiar vocabulary repeated through stories and rhymes. Mark making included upright easels, while dough play involved pressing, rolling and changing shapes. Different materials gave children different ways to practise using their hands.

Outdoor and Community Life

In June 2025, the garden offered climbing, games with balls and hoops, and opportunities to assemble balancing routes from crates, planks and stepping stones. The children also devised a way to measure their preschool sunflower and followed its growth. That connected observation and measurement to something they were helping to track.

The outdoor equipment is only part of the picture. The June 2025 inspection asked Sunflowers to make teaching about healthy lifestyles more consistent, including movement and food choices within everyday routines. For parents, the useful distinction is between having opportunities to move and making those opportunities, and the messages around them, a dependable part of the day.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person to help them settle and build a relationship with a familiar adult. Families receive information about that role during their child’s first week. This gives the settling period a clear point of contact, rather than leaving parents to work out whom to approach.

Tapestry, the online learning journal, carries observations to families and lets parents send back experiences from home. Communication can therefore work in both directions: staff see more of the child’s life, and parents can follow what their child has been doing. Private conversations about learning and development can also be arranged.

In June 2025, the colour-me-happy house helped children describe feelings through colours. Staff gave children time to answer questions and encouraged them to express preferences. Children’s pictures and models were displayed, and their ideas helped shape the setting. These were concrete ways of making children’s contributions visible.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Concerns about development can be raised with the child’s key person, with a special educational needs co-ordinator available to advise on support. WELLCOMM is a language screening tool used through enjoyable activities to explore how a child understands and uses language for their age. Advice about speech and language drop-in clinics provides another route to specialist input.

The settling and admission process includes discussion with parents about changes that could help their child use the environment. Toilet training is supported at different stages, with families encouraged to begin introducing it at home. Practical preparation also includes working towards managing coats, shoes and lunchboxes, so everyday tasks become part of growing independence.

Sessions and Attendance

Sunflowers operates from the nursery building at Thorley Hill Primary School, Park Lane, Bishop’s Stortford, CM23 3NH. Preschool afternoon sessions run from 11.50am to 3pm, Monday to Friday, following the school’s term dates. Children can join from their third birthday until they start school.

The nursery describes a partnership with Thorley Hill’s morning nursery that allows families to combine the two separate provisions for funded childcare. Children attending another setting, or wanting only the afternoon provision, can also join Sunflowers. Attendance does not guarantee a Reception place at Thorley Hill Primary School; families still use the local authority admissions process.

Breakfast Club runs from 7.45am to 8.45am, and After School Club from 3.15pm to 6.15pm. Breakfast provision uses The Hub; after school, younger children use the nursery building and older children use The Hub. These are separate out-of-school arrangements, rather than preschool rooms or age groups within the afternoon session.

Registration forms allow families to select their requested days and indicate funded or paid preschool sessions. Enquiries can be made by telephone or email, and visits can be arranged. Paid preschool sessions are invoiced ahead of each term; current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

Funding and Paid Extras

Working families funding for 3 and 4 year olds is offered through the partnership with Thorley Hill School nursery and other providers, subject to eligibility. Private sessions are also offered, and tax-free childcare and childcare vouchers are accepted. The funding and fees page sets out the payment structure.

For preschool, including funded afternoons, parents supply lunch in a named, wipeable lunchbox with a cool pack, and the lunch policy requires nut-free contents; Breakfast Club includes breakfast in its session charge, while After School Club includes a light tea. Parents bring nappies and wipes when needed, and apply sun cream before summer sessions.

• The afternoon handover. Sunflowers and Thorley Hill’s morning nursery are separate provisions. During a visit, discuss how the handover would work for your child, including lunch and information shared between adults.
• Healthy routines. In June 2025, more consistent teaching about exercise and balanced eating was the improvement priority. Ask how movement and food education now fit into the afternoon.
• Packed lunches and allergies. Preschool lunch comes from home and must meet the nut-free policy. Families managing allergies should confirm current arrangements for lunch, snacks and any club meals.

Sunflowers suits families seeking term-time preschool afternoons, including those combining them with a morning nursery, as well as families using breakfast or after-school care. Its recognisable strengths lie in the practical detail: children’s interests shape activities, Tapestry connects home and preschool, and WELLCOMM gives language concerns a structured starting point.

The Good judgement from June 2025 sits alongside a specific improvement priority about healthy routines. The decision turns on how the afternoon pattern fits family life, how a child would settle with their key person, and how the separate provisions work together.