Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre

Woodland sessions on the Ernehale School site and Chatter Box activities that bring treasured objects from home give Weaverthorpe a recognisable character: outdoor exploration sits alongside plenty of opportunities for children to talk. Everyday independence matters too. Finding a coat peg, choosing resources and managing outdoor clothing are part of the learning, rather than jobs automatically done by adults.

Weaverthorpe Pre-School Centre has 30 places in total, accepts children from two years old and operates on Derwent Crescent in Arnold, Nottingham. At its 17 May 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good overall and found safeguarding arrangements effective. That is a dated assessment, while the practical offer now includes morning, afternoon and all-day attendance during term time.

A voluntary parent committee runs the pre-school, with fundraising supporting its charitable, non-profit operation. This gives families a route to contribute to the organisation as well as their own child's experience. It is a setting with a participatory structure and a clear emphasis on preparing children to do more for themselves.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage sets out children's learning, development and care: here, children learn through play, conversation, stories, movement and practical routines. The day alternates between choices children make themselves and activities organised by practitioners. This makes room for individual interests while also bringing children together to listen, talk and cooperate.

Chatter Box gives that conversation a personal starting point. Children can take a box home during the year, fill it with meaningful objects and explain their choices to friends. The objects give them something concrete to discuss; listening to another child's account is part of the activity too. Families help supply the material, linking experiences at home with conversation at pre-school.

Talk time brings small groups together for news, phonics, stories and movement. Later, collective activities include instruments, action rhymes and dancing. Children also choose resources and decide how to use them during play. The balance matters: a child has opportunities both to contribute to a group and to pursue an idea independently.

In May 2022, children followed a picture recipe to make popcorn, working out how to keep it in the pan, while others made pretend cakes with mud and pots. Learning combined practical problem solving with imaginative play.

Outdoor and Community Life

Garden access runs through morning and afternoon sessions, giving children opportunities to move between indoor activities and outdoor play. Severe weather is the exception to the outdoor routine. Outdoor time therefore belongs within the session rather than being reserved for a single break, something families should bear in mind when choosing clothing.

Twice each half term, groups use a small woodland area on the Ernehale School site for outdoor learning. It gives children another setting to explore beyond the pre-school garden.

Murray & Mabel Bear are the pre-school mascots, available by arrangement to accompany family adventures. Children can request a bear through the holiday form. It is a small, concrete connection between home and pre-school, with something familiar travelling alongside the child.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person, responsible for a small group, and an online learning journal covering the foundation stage curriculum. The arrangement gives families a particular practitioner connected with their child, while the journal provides a continuing account of learning. Tapestry, an online learning journal, and email are used for communication with parental consent.

A daily notice board covers the main activities and snack food, giving parents concrete starting points for conversation with their child at home.

Independence is built into ordinary routines. Children practise handling clothing, finding their own belongings, using the toilet and accessing toys. These are practical preparations for managing a day away from home. Tidying resources also gives children a role in looking after the shared space, with cooperation woven into the routine.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the May 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that some children needing additional help did not consistently receive teaching that sustained their engagement, limiting their progress relative to peers, and asked staff to allow children longer to think before answering questions. These are material qualifications to the Good judgement. They concern how adults adapt their teaching and how much room children have to develop an answer themselves.

All staff are trained in paediatric first aid. Children choose when to take their morning or afternoon snack, with water, milk and a healthy snack accessible in the milky bar area. For lunch, families supply a healthy packed lunch, so planning and preparing that meal remains a task for home.

Moving towards school includes visiting teachers and sharing All About Me Records. Where possible, children also visit schools for assemblies, Christmas shows or other events. These arrangements concern familiarity and information sharing; they do not confer a school place. They connect the child's pre-school experience with the adults and routines involved in the next stage.

Sessions and Attendance

Morning sessions run from 9am to noon, afternoons from 12.30pm to 3.30pm, and all-day sessions from 9am to 3.30pm, Monday to Friday during term time. All-day attendance includes a lunch break from noon to 12.30pm.

Breakfast club runs from 8.30am to 9am, with after-school club from 3.30pm to 4.15pm. Both sit outside funded hours and are paid separately. They extend attendance at either end of the core day, but the setting remains term-time provision. Families needing care through school holidays will need to plan for those closures.

Applications can be submitted online using a Google account, or on paper by post or email, with a child's birth certificate required. Session allocation follows the admissions policy and is subject to availability; Weaverthorpe also operates a waiting list.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and privately paid attendance are both offered. Universal funding offers up to 15 hours from the term after a child's third birthday. Eligible working families can apply for 30 hours from the term after their child turns nine months, but Weaverthorpe accepts children only from two years old. Eligible two-year-olds whose families receive qualifying government support can access up to 15 funded hours.

Funding is delivered during term time, across 38 funded weeks within 39 school weeks, and can be used between 9am and 3.30pm. Five days within the school weeks may be designated for training, trips or activity days. This distinction matters when matching childcare attendance with a family's calendar.

There are no chargeable extras for funded hours, although voluntary contributions towards additional enrichment activities are requested. Parents provide lunch for funded and privately paid attendance. Additional private hours are charged; families can contact the office for current breakfast and after-school club fees. The fees and funding information explains the funding structure.

The address is Derwent Crescent, Arnold, Nottingham NG5 6TA. Families can contact the office on 0115 926 5644 or use the enquiry form.

• Support during learning. The May 2022 improvement points concerned sustained engagement for children needing extra help and time to answer questions. During a visit, ask how practitioners now adapt activities and give those children space to respond.
• Term-time attendance. Morning, afternoon and all-day patterns are offered, with paid clubs at either end. Match the holiday closures and the distinction between funded weeks and school weeks against the care your household needs.
• Outdoor clothing and lunch. Garden play continues through the sessions, with woodland learning twice per half term, and families supply packed lunches. Both require some preparation at home.
• Parent participation. A voluntary parent committee runs Weaverthorpe, and fundraising supports the pre-school throughout the school year. Consider whether this community role is something your family would enjoy contributing to.

Weaverthorpe suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as those wanting an all-day term-time pattern, with short paid clubs extending attendance. Chatter Box, regular woodland learning and practical independence give the offer substance. The dated Good judgement provides a useful assessment, qualified by specific concerns about teaching for children needing additional help. For those families, the response to those improvement points deserves close attention when choosing.