Haywood Road Pre-School Playgroup

In June 2022, a sensory garden and children helping choose the next day's play gave Haywood Road Pre-School Playgroup a recognisable character. Based at the Community Centre in Mapperley, it has 30 places in total. The June 2022 picture was of children making choices, enjoying outdoor games and building friendships.

At its June 2022 inspection, Ofsted judged the provision Good and safeguarding effective. Children attending then were aged two to four; that age range belongs to the inspection period.

In June 2022, children helped decide which resources they wanted that day and the next, giving staff a starting point for activities. Children also spent time drawing and adding their names to pictures. These examples connect choice with opportunities to practise early writing.

The early years foundation stage is the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care. Here, the June 2022 examples included learning through play: watering plants in the sensory garden, exploring rhythm with kitchen utensils and joining outdoor hide-and-seek games.

Outdoor play offered different kinds of challenge. In June 2022, children climbed apparatus, explored daisies on the grass and used watering cans carefully. A balance bicycle bought with additional funding gave another opportunity to develop physical skills.

In June 2022, key persons knew their children's next learning steps and shared them with colleagues. Information also passed between staff and parents, helping connect experiences at home with the pre-school day. Children had close relationships with adults and other children, and staff responded to achievements with praise.

The June 2022 inspection also identified two teaching priorities: making planned activities achieve their intended learning, especially in mathematics, and drawing quieter children into group activities sooner. Confident children sometimes took more of the conversational space. For families with a quieter child, that distinction matters as much as the choice of activities.

The address is Community Centre, 46 Haywood Road, Mapperley, Nottingham, NG3 6AB.

In June 2022, attendance ran on weekdays during term time, with sessions from 9am to 3pm. This was a daytime, term-time pattern rather than an account of today's arrangements. Funded early education was provided for children aged two, three and four at that time.

Children brought lunch boxes in June 2022, handing them to staff for safe storage. That gives families a concrete picture of how lunch fitted into the day then.

• Quieter children. In June 2022, some group activities gave confident children more adult interaction. During a visit, ask how staff now bring less vocal children into conversations and games.
• Purposeful activities. The June 2022 mathematics example did not develop children's number understanding as far as intended. Look for how practitioners extend a game beyond its initial task.
• Attendance fit. The June 2022 pattern was term-time weekdays, 9am to 3pm. What attendance patterns and funded-hour arrangements apply now?

Haywood Road's June 2022 picture suits families who value child-led choices, outdoor exploration and personal relationships. The term-time daytime pattern described then would fit families organising care around that rhythm. The important balance is between children's independence and adult attention: quieter children need their share of both.