Great Gransden Pre-School Playgroup

Fruit grown for snack time, a playground trim trail and books borrowed for home reading give Great Gransden Pre-School Playgroup a practical, hands-on character. Its purpose-built premises at The Sports Field in Great Gransden support a day built around play, outdoor exploration and increasing independence. There is plenty for children to do themselves.

Ofsted rated the playgroup Outstanding at its 26 May 2022 inspection, highlighting children's engagement, progress and close relationships with staff. That judgement belongs to that visit. The current offer accepts children aged two to five, with capacity for 37 children in total, and operates during term time.

Morning, afternoon and all-day attendance are offered, with extended opening from January 2026.

Rooms and Ages

The blue room has accessible construction, pretend-play, mark-making and mathematics resources, plus a large floor area, allowing children to choose and develop their own activities.

Outside, a veranda and large covered sandpit provide space for play. During free-flow periods, children choose between indoor and outdoor activities.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the shared educational framework: children develop language, movement and relationships through play, alongside early reading, number work, creative expression and exploration of their world. Here, seasonal subjects and children's interests help shape the activities and resources. Staff observe play and use what they learn to decide how to extend it.

The Nature Table gives that approach a concrete home. Children can contribute finds such as seeds, acorns or pictures of local woods, then explore and discuss them together. Topics change with the half term, moving through animals, growing and minibeasts as well as seasonal celebrations. Familiar things become starting points for conversation and discovery.

Cooking involves children weighing, mixing and shaping ingredients, taking turns across the cooking week. Easy Bread and Mini Savoury Tarts are among the recipes used. The activity connects early number work with a result children can take home, while the practical tasks give them something purposeful to master.

In May 2022, children used kitchen tools during baking and worked with saws and screwdrivers in woodwork activities under close adult supervision. Repeated reading of familiar books helped them retell stories, and Spanish rhymes and counting also formed part of their experience.

Outdoor and Community Life

Raised beds and fruit trees supply snack produce, while herbs grow for the mud kitchen. Children tend and harvest plants, experiencing seasonal changes through practical tasks.

Movement has several outlets: bikes and trikes, a scramble net, the trim trail and space for games sit alongside a construction shed and woodwork bench. The outdoor choices allow energetic play and more concentrated making to happen within the same part of the day.

Shepreth Wildlife Park is the destination for an annual trip; the playgroup closed for the outing in June 2025. The Children's Sponsored Trike Ride is another recurring event, with children choosing how to complete playground laps and receiving a certificate. Family participation has a practical role here: fundraising helps renew toys and equipment.

Relationships and Communication

Settling starts with a key person and an offered home visit, allowing staff to learn about the child before attendance begins. The All About Me booklet gathers familiar interests and family details, and parents can stay during initial play visits. Shorter, more frequent visits may be used while a child becomes comfortable, building towards a whole session.

Tapestry, the two-way online learning journal, shares photographs and observations between playgroup and home. End-of-term reports and termly parent meetings give families opportunities to discuss development.

Summer report information is shared with children's Reception teachers to support continuity when they move on to school.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Needs are assessed at registration, with SEN inclusion funding sought when support exceeds the core budget. For complex SEND, start dates depend on preparations such as care plans, risk assessments or staff training.

For children finding emotions or conflict difficult, staff use calm-down boxes, a quiet space and adult support with breathing and naming feelings. Recurring difficulties can lead to a plan developed with parents and the key person. The practical emphasis is on helping children understand and manage what has happened.

At the May 2022 inspection, Ofsted judged safeguarding effective, describing staff who understood how to recognise concerns and act on them. Current arrangements include paediatric first-aid certification for all staff and training in child protection, allergy awareness and epilepsy awareness.

Toilet training is not an entry requirement. Parents supply changing items and spare clothing; staff help with toileting and handwashing.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, during term time, with 38 operating weeks a year. The minimum booking is two sessions each week. That requirement makes attendance regular while still allowing a shorter preschool pattern.

Morning sessions can run from 9am to 11.30am or begin at 8am; afternoons run from 12.30pm to 3pm, with an extended finish at 4pm. All-day bookings are either 9am to 3pm or 8am to 4pm. Flexible arrangements are also offered, including morning examples of 9.15am to 11.45am and 9.30am to noon.

Lunch club runs between 11.30am and 12.30pm and can extend a morning or connect attendance across the day. Flexibility for the 12.30pm to 3pm afternoon session requires a lunch-club booking. The early and late extensions can use funded hours or be purchased as additional private hours, so the longer opening window does not require every family to choose the longest day.

A completed registration form is required before sessions are allocated, with the deadline falling at half term in the term before the intended start. Sessions then receive written confirmation. Early submission does not guarantee a place, and session increases are subject to availability and are booked a term ahead.

Getting There

The address is The Sports Field, Caxton Road, Great Gransden, Sandy, SG19 3BG. General enquiries can be made by telephone on 01767 677040 or through the contact form; fee and grant enquiries have a separate email route.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes the 15-hour universal entitlement, extended hours up to 30 for eligible families and funded provision for qualifying two-year-olds, delivered during term time. Additional private hours are charged, and funding claims cannot be altered partway through a term. The itemised invoice separates funded attendance from privately paid hours and extras.

Snacks carry a separate charge during both funded and privately paid attendance. Children bring a packed lunch from home. The playgroup has a no-nuts policy for food brought into the setting, and children help prepare snack fruit and serve their drinks.

Non-food consumables carry a separate charge during both funded and privately paid attendance. Personal changing supplies come from home: nappies, wipes and nappy sacks. The additional-services arrangements allow families to opt out and receive a list of items to provide; participation in an activity depends on supplying necessary items. These choices deserve attention when comparing the complete attendance cost.

Fees are invoiced by half term, with instalments possible by agreement. Reducing sessions or withdrawing requires four weeks' term-time notice or payment instead, and booked attendance remains chargeable during ordinary illness or holidays. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees and cancellation policy explains the payment and notice arrangements.

• Term-time cover. The playgroup operates for 38 weeks each year. Families needing childcare through school holidays will need to plan around those closures, even with the extended day.
• Settling and session choice. A minimum of two weekly sessions sits alongside home visits and flexible settling arrangements. At a visit, discuss how the chosen morning, afternoon or all-day pattern would build up for your child.
• Extras and opting out. Snacks, non-food consumables and additional services sit alongside the childcare charge, with an opt-out arrangement requiring supplies from home. Discuss the itemised quotation and what your chosen arrangement requires you to bring.
• Allergies and cooking. Recipes can sometimes be adapted after discussion with parents, but adaptation is not always possible. Allergy-affected families should confirm current food-handling practice and how their child would take part in cooking.

Great Gransden Pre-School Playgroup suits families seeking morning or afternoon preschool sessions, as well as those needing an all-day term-time pattern. The garden, practical cooking and home-reading arrangements give its play-based offer substance, while home visits and two-way communication make parents part of the process.

The Outstanding judgement from 2022 is a strong historical endorsement. The current decision rests on whether the term-time calendar, session minimum and extras arrangements fit family life. For children who enjoy choosing, making and spending time outside, there is a clear and appealing offer here.