Parson Drove Pre-School

A mobile building in the grounds of Alderman Payne Primary School gives Parson Drove Pre-School its village setting, but learning reaches beyond the building: home visits, borrowing resources and practical outdoor experiences connect family life with the pre-school day. There are 22 places in total. A committee drawn from parents, school governors and the community manages the setting, giving families a role beyond simply choosing childcare.

At its March 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the pre-school Good and found safeguarding effective. The detail matters: children practised independence, took stories home and used the school grounds for physical play, while planning for individual next steps and explanations of unwanted behaviour needed further work.

Children start from age two; in March 2024, those attending were aged two to four. Attendance is term-time only, with flexible patterns subject to a minimum booking and a breakfast club for an earlier start.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage shapes learning through play across communication, physical development, relationships, literacy, mathematics, understanding the world and creative expression. This is the shared early-years framework; the useful question here is how it becomes a child's day. Adult-guided experiences sit alongside play children choose themselves, and the indoor space has zones for quieter exploration, movement and creative work. Children can move between different kinds of activity rather than treating every experience as a seated task.

In March 2024, familiar books encouraged children to join in with recurring phrases and explore rhyme. Story sacks travelled home, allowing families to return to the same ideas together. Number work was practical too: children grouped objects, compared amounts and linked quantities with written numerals. These experiences gave counting and language a purpose within play.

The Lending Library extends that connection between home and pre-school by making learning resources available to borrow through a child's key person. Home activities include Baking banana bread, Nature walk and Shape sorting. They give parents concrete starting points for shared activity, rather than requiring them to design a learning programme themselves. Further activity ideas can be reached through a QR code displayed at pre-school.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor learning has tangible features. A Bug Hotel helps children explore the ecosystem, while recycled materials are used in creative activity and litter picking connects care for the environment with the local community. Children also use the primary school's Forest School area for outdoor learning through nature. Visits to local farms introduce the care of animals and the growing of crops; no fixed frequency is attached to those trips.

In March 2024, children could move freely between indoor and outdoor play. The school grounds provided extra room for bicycle riding, running and ball games, and a greenhouse held strawberries and potatoes. Growing food made the link between plants, care and meals concrete. Staff also used hide-and-seek to practise cooperation and conversation, turning an ordinary game into an opportunity to negotiate rules and play together.

Cambridgeshire's Physical activity matters programme supports the emphasis on movement. Hopping, changing pace and moving in different directions are ways of exploring what bodies can do. This sits alongside the outdoor space, rather than replacing active play with a programme name.

There is a history of collaborative language work too. Literacy Treasures brought together Fenland early-years settings around communication and literacy, including Walk and Talk Maps that prompted conversations about features encountered on family walks. Helicopter Stories involved training in helping children act out their own stories with other children. These are past projects, rather than a promise of a particular session in today's timetable, but they illustrate practical ways the pre-school has linked storytelling, families and community activity.

Relationships and Communication

Settling begins at home. Before a child starts, the manager and allocated key person make a home visit, using a transitional gift that includes a storybook, crayons and paper to begin getting to know the child alongside a trusted adult. Parents help shape the settling arrangements. That makes their knowledge of their child's habits and responses part of the starting plan.

Each child has a key person and a second practitioner to maintain continuity during staff absence. The key person works with the family on care and development, while observations of everyday activity inform learning plans. Progress is shared throughout a child's time at pre-school, so communication is intended to continue beyond the initial settling period.

In March 2024, families received daily information about wellbeing and activities, alongside regular progress updates. Children were encouraged to manage shoes and coats themselves, serve snacks and pour drinks, with hands-on help where confidence was still developing. These small tasks made independence part of ordinary routines.

Important documents and updates are accessible through QR codes in the welcome pack and on posters. A Facebook group is restricted to families attending the setting. Parents can also help occasionally, and the committee provides another route for involvement in how the pre-school runs.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A designated SENCO coordinates additional support, with another practitioner also trained for that role. The SEND process moves through assessment, planning, putting support into practice and reviewing its effect, with parents involved in agreeing outcomes and review dates. Specialist involvement is considered with parental agreement, and support information can accompany a child to the next setting or school with parental approval.

At the March 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that children with SEND received targeted help, staff worked with other professionals and additional resources supported children needing extra assistance. This dated finding sits alongside a current policy that explains who coordinates support and how families participate; it is not a blanket promise that every need can be met in the same way.

The Supervised Toothbrushing Scheme adds a concrete health routine: children brush daily with fluoride toothpaste under staff supervision. It complements brushing twice a day at home. The scheme supplies training and resources, while the pre-school follows hygiene procedures for brushing and equipment storage.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Alderman Payne Primary School, 9 Main Road, Parson Drove, Wisbech, PE13 4JA, with the pre-school occupying a mobile building on the school grounds. Opening hours are 8.30am to 3pm, Monday to Friday, during term time. Families needing holiday childcare must plan around that calendar.

Attendance patterns are flexible, but the minimum is two three-hour sessions each week. Breakfast club has an 8.30am to 9am option and an 8.45am to 9am option, charged separately. These are useful distinctions: flexible pre-school attendance and an early breakfast booking serve different parts of a family's routine.

Enquiries can be made by telephone or email. Outside term time, email is the contact route and messages are checked daily. The waiting list is ordered by birth, with home proximity and siblings already attending also potentially taken into account. This is a standing admissions rule, rather than an indication of how many places are free.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered during term time, including funded early learning for eligible two-year-olds. Funding can be used throughout the pre-school's opening hours rather than being restricted to separate time slots; families can use remaining entitlement with another provider. Private attendance and additional hours beyond a child's funded entitlement are charged. Current prices come in the pre-school's written quotation.

Hot lunches carry a separate charge and can be chosen without advance booking, or parents can send a packed lunch without a lunch charge; children receiving Early Years Pupil Premium receive a free hot meal for each session they attend. Snacks and sun cream have separate optional charges that families choose whether to accept, including when using funded hours.

Monthly invoices distinguish funded hours, additional attendance, breakfast club and any chosen extras. Non-funded hours remain payable when a child misses a booking through illness or holiday, and late collection attracts a charge. The distinction between booked attendance and actual attendance matters when budgeting.

Sharing grounds with Alderman Payne Primary School does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still use the local authority's school admissions process. For children with SEND, transition planning includes reviewing support and sharing information with the receiving school when parents agree.

• Planning and behaviour guidance. In March 2024, activities did not always give enough attention to the skill each child needed next, and explanations of unwanted behaviour were sometimes insufficient. At a visit, ask how individual next steps now shape play and how staff explain the effect of behaviour on others.
• Term-time attendance. The weekday opening window ends at 3pm and attendance requires at least two three-hour sessions weekly. Compare that pattern, including the separately charged breakfast options, with your working week and holiday arrangements.
• Charges attached to bookings. Missed non-funded hours remain payable for illness or holidays, while snacks and sun cream are opt-in extras. Include those terms when comparing a written quotation with your intended attendance pattern.

Parson Drove Pre-School suits families seeking flexible term-time sessions, including those who want to add breakfast club, and who value a strong connection between home and early learning. Home visits, a backup key person, borrowing resources and daily toothbrushing give that connection practical substance. The school grounds and environmental activities add room for physical exploration and hands-on learning.

The balance is clear: the March 2024 Good judgement sits alongside specific work needed on individual learning priorities and behaviour explanations. Families choosing this pre-school should weigh those points with its session minimum, term-time calendar and payment terms. Its most persuasive features are concrete ones, rooted in everyday relationships and activity.