Maple Grove Community Group

Mature trees, fenced play areas and a green playing field give Maple Grove Community Group a recognisable outdoor character. Inside, four rooms provide the base for preschool care in March, alongside The Grove, its before-school and after-school provision. This is a setting with separate offers for younger children and school-age families.

At its September 2022 inspection, Ofsted judged the provision Outstanding, finding exceptional teaching, strong progress for children including those with SEND, and effective safeguarding. That judgement belongs to that visit. The current preschool offer runs from two years to school age, while the setting has 76 places in total.

Sessional preschool care sits alongside breakfast and after-school clubs. The practical attraction is that families can combine early education with care around the school day, rather than treating these as entirely separate arrangements.

Rooms and Ages

Green Room, Blue Room, Yellow Room and Red Room are the four preschool rooms. Yellow Room has a Once Upon a Time Corner and creative displays; Blue Room has Crazy Crafts displays, Green Room has autumn and hedgehog displays, and Red Room has Our Art Gallery. These give the rooms their own visual identity without turning the whole-setting place count into a room-size claim.

Books, toys and educational equipment sit alongside access to enclosed outdoor play and the playing field. The preschool day combines adult-organised activities around themes with time for children to choose their play. For a parent, that means both planned experiences and opportunities for children to pursue an interest with others.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for learning, development and care. Here, the preschool's mixture of themed activities and free play gives children opportunities to develop movement, social interaction and thinking through everyday experiences.

In September 2022, staff extended conversation through play dough, introducing words for changing its shape that children then used with one another. Simple signs and visual cues also supported communication. These are useful examples of how an ordinary activity can become a language experience, rather than vocabulary being confined to a separate lesson.

Imagination had a similarly practical place in the September 2022 day. Children searched with magnifying glasses for hidden fairy doors and developed stories of their own. A role-play kitchen prompted conversations about breakfast. The learning came through doing and talking, with staff joining children's interests.

Outdoor and Community Life

The Sandpit and Gravel Pit, Mud Garden and Slide House add different kinds of outdoor play to the grounds. The Library provides another named space. Together, these features give families concrete points to consider when thinking about a child who enjoys messy play, movement or books.

In September 2022, garden activities included balancing, climbing and obstacle courses, alongside daily yoga. Dental role play and practising toothbrushing brought health into children's activities too. These are dated examples of a day that connected physical movement with practical self-care.

Relationships and Communication

Settling centres on learning about the child, establishing routines and building relationships with staff and a key person. The September 2025 newsletter made these the priorities for the opening half term. These priorities connect settling with routines and relationships with the child's key person.

Tapestry is the learning journal used to share children's experiences with families. Parents can contribute photographs and comments, so information can travel both ways between home and preschool. Termly email newsletters and reminders on room notice boards provide a separate route for dates and activities.

In September 2022, familiar resources were used to help individual children settle. Children also included newcomers in their play and shared toys. Those examples show the social side of settling alongside the adult support.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The staff structure includes a SENCo role and designated safeguarding lead roles. These give parents identifiable responsibilities within the team, rather than relying on a general statement about inclusion or safety.

The intimate-care policy requires arrangements to be discussed with families, with a written plan agreed and reviewed. Care is recorded, and communication should match the child's developmental level and preferred way of communicating. For families whose child needs help with toileting, changing or dressing, this sets out a concrete planning process.

Behaviour support is similarly specific: adults help children individually to understand a difficulty and respond differently, while explanations address the behaviour rather than blaming the child. Physical punishment and humiliating techniques are excluded by the policy.

The intimate-care policy also addresses how personal support is carried out. Staff should explain what is about to happen and seek the child's consent where possible. Privacy during changing and toileting is balanced with supervision and the child's support needs. Suitable equipment and hygienic changing facilities are required, and staff providing this care should be familiar to the child. Phones, cameras and other technological devices are excluded from intimate-care areas. Before trips, outings or activities, additional consideration and risk assessment of personal-care needs are required. For a family arranging this support, the plan therefore needs to cover both everyday routines and occasions when care takes place away from its usual setting.

In September 2022, staff encouraged children to bring nutritious lunches and snacks.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Maple Grove School Site, Maple Grove, March, PE15 8JT. Preschool accepts children from two years to school age, and the general childcare opening window is 8am to 6pm during term time and school holidays.

The Grove serves children aged three to eleven. Breakfast care starts at 7.45am and continues until school or preschool begins; after-school bookings run from the end of school or preschool to either 4.30pm or 6pm. School children are escorted to Westwood Primary School in the morning and collected from it afterwards. These are specific wraparound arrangements, separate from the preschool opening window.

Enquiries can be made through the Contact/Join Form, by telephone on 01354 660543 or by email to office@maplegrovecommunitygroup.co.uk. The fee policy requires written notice of four weeks to reduce or cancel sessions, so changes need planning ahead.

Getting There

The group occupies grounds associated with Westwood Primary School. Its car park is reserved for staff, which matters for families planning travel and collections.

Attending preschool does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still apply through the local authority's school admissions process; the shared location should not be treated as an admissions entitlement.

Funding and Paid Extras

The universal fifteen-hour entitlement starts from the beginning of the term after the child's third birthday. Two-year-old funding and thirty-hour childcare depend on eligibility. Additional paid sessions can be arranged alongside funded hours, allowing families to combine the entitlement with private childcare.

The funding declaration requires families to agree their hours and claim pattern with each setting. It also separates funded hours from additional paid hours and any agreed voluntary extras. That distinction matters when assessing the total arrangement, rather than treating the funded entitlement as a promise that every part of attendance is covered.

Fees are billed in advance each half term, with payment due within ten working days of the invoice date. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Preschool alongside The Grove. Preschool starts at two, while The Grove starts at three. At a visit, discuss how a proposed combination of sessions would work for your child's age and routine.
• Outdoor choice and room fit. The Mud Garden and playing field offer different experiences from the indoor rooms. Ask to see the room your child would use and how outdoor access works within its day.
• The complete funded arrangement. Additional paid hours sit alongside funded childcare. Request one written breakdown covering the agreed funding pattern, meals, snacks and consumables before accepting the arrangement.
• Changing attendance. Reducing or cancelling sessions requires four weeks' written notice. Factor that lead time into changes to work or family routines.

Maple Grove suits families seeking sessional preschool education and those combining preschool with breakfast or after-school care. The outdoor spaces, named room displays and two-way Tapestry journal give it practical character, while the September 2022 Outstanding judgement provides a dated assessment of its quality. The strongest fit is for families who value play, outdoor activity and continuity around the school day, with a clearly agreed attendance and funding arrangement.