Gorefield Pre-School

A preschool dog who joins story time gives Gorefield Pre-School an immediately recognisable character. Buddy listens alongside the children and enjoys being read to, adding an unusual companion to a village setting for children aged 2 to 4. There is capacity for 26 children in total. That is a whole-setting figure, rather than the size of an individual group.

At its 13 March 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities received effective support through work with professionals and targeted help. The practical detail beneath that judgement matters: children used real tools, developed play from stories and took books into their outdoor learning. Vocabulary development was the improvement priority.

Families can choose morning, afternoon or all-day sessions during term time. The combination makes this a preschool with several attendance patterns, rather than a single daily booking option.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage sets the framework for children's learning, development and care, including learning to listen, take turns, build friendships and understand feelings through everyday play. At Gorefield, the daily choice of a story provides a concrete starting point: children help select it each morning, then carry its ideas into their play. A book becomes something to act on, rather than simply something to hear.

In March 2024, a pirate story led to map-making and a treasure search. Children also combined boxes, tubes and craft supplies to build their own pirate ship, with adults allowing them to determine how the play unfolded. Those examples show children making decisions about materials and working together on a shared idea. Adult direction had a place too, including instructions for using tools.

Woodwork was a substantial example of practical learning in March 2024. Children handled hammers, saws and hand-drills while learning how to use them. Elsewhere, dough became pretend food in the home corner. These are different kinds of experience: one introduces techniques and careful handling, while the other lets children combine materials and invent roles.

Outdoor and Community Life

Books extended into the garden in March 2024 through an outdoor literacy corner, giving children who preferred being outside a place to engage with text. Recipe books accompanied pretend cooking, while factual books helped children investigate what they found. During a garden hunt for small creatures, adults introduced identification books in response to the children's interest.

Physical activity was equally practical. In March 2024, children moved materials in wheelbarrows, worked with digging equipment and tackled an obstacle course, with adults gradually withdrawing help as younger children tried balancing independently. Outdoor play therefore included both movement and purposeful tasks. Buddy's participation in group stories adds another recognisable part of the current day, especially for children who enjoy being around a dog.

Relationships and Communication

A key person is allocated before a child begins. That practitioner handles the family's introduction, helps with settling and becomes the main contact for parents, bringing information from home into the child's care and learning plan. Developmental records are shared with parents regularly. The arrangement gives families a clear person to speak to, rather than leaving communication to whichever adult happens to be nearby.

Settling is deliberately gradual. Parents, carers or close relatives are expected to remain for most of the session during the first week, extending their time away as the child becomes comfortable. Some children need longer, and the preschool can require a parent to remain when separation is distressing. This has a direct practical consequence: starting preschool may require time from an adult as well as adjustment from the child.

Within the first four to six weeks, parents and staff begin developing the child's achievement record together. The progress check at age two also identifies developmental concerns and agrees responses with parents, including professional involvement where appropriate. Parents' contributions help shape their child's care and learning plan.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

SEND arrangements include a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator, parental involvement throughout assessment and planning, and a cycle of assessing needs, trying support and reviewing its effect. Liaison with other professionals also covers transfer to another setting or school. For a child needing additional help, these mechanisms make the process and the family's role explicit.

Behaviour support starts with a calm adult response, recognition of children's feelings and help to resolve the difficulty. When behaviour needs closer investigation, the ABC method records what happened beforehand, the behaviour itself and what followed. That gives staff and parents a basis for identifying triggers and agreeing support. A behaviour co-ordinator works alongside the key person and SENCO where concerns persist.

The staff structure includes designated child protection responsibilities, safer recruitment responsibilities and paediatric first aid provision. For children with ongoing medical needs, an individual health plan is developed with parents and sets out emergency measures; medication administration requires prior written parental permission and is recorded. These are practical arrangements, rather than a substitute for the dated safeguarding judgement.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 69 High Road, Gorefield, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire PE13 4NB. Opening hours are 9am to 3pm, Monday to Friday, during term time only.

Morning sessions run from 9am to noon, afternoons from noon to 3pm, and all-day sessions from 9am to 3pm. These are distinct booking choices within the same opening window. The admissions policy allows attendance patterns to accommodate individual families where they preserve continuity for the children.

Applications and enquiries use the Join Us contact form, with telephone and email contact also offered. The waiting list is ordered by birth date, with proximity to the setting and siblings already attending potentially taken into account. That is the admissions rule, not an indication of current vacancies.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible families can use 15 hours or 30 hours of funding. Funded sessions operate during term time across the session choices, and can be taken without a provision charge; additional sessions are charged once the child's funding allocation has been used. Current prices come in the preschool's written quotation.

Snacks are included, including during funded provision, while children attending for lunch bring a packed lunch from home. Activities within the setting carry no extra charge, including for funded sessions. The distinction matters when planning the day: a funded session and a provided lunch are separate considerations.

• Term-time timetable. Morning, afternoon and all-day sessions all sit within the 9am to 3pm opening window. Families needing care during holidays or beyond those hours should weigh that timetable against their routine.
• A gradual start. The settling policy expects an adult to stay for most of each session in the first week, and potentially longer. At a visit, discuss how that process would work for your child and your own commitments.
• Language development. In March 2024, adults did not consistently use sufficiently ambitious vocabulary to extend children's language. Ask how staff now introduce new words through stories, conversation and play.
• Buddy and your child. The preschool dog joins group stories. Families whose children have allergies or are uneasy around dogs should discuss how contact is managed before joining.

Gorefield Pre-School suits families seeking term-time morning or afternoon sessions, as well as those choosing an all-day preschool place. Daily story-led play gives the preschool its character. In March 2024, children also used practical tools and explored books during outdoor learning. The key-person and gradual-settling arrangements give parents an active role in the start.

The Good judgement from March 2024 provides a clear inspection position, alongside a specific vocabulary-development priority. The deciding practical questions are whether the term-time timetable fits and whether the family can support the planned settling period.