Shepley Pre-School, CIO

Community gardening, farm visits and helping younger children at lunch give Shepley Pre-School, CIO a character that reaches beyond indoor play. In January 2025, children helped improve outdoor spaces, explored where food comes from and took on small responsibilities within the setting. These experiences connected learning with things children could do and understand for themselves.

At its 13 January 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the setting Outstanding overall and found that carefully planned language activities and skilled teaching helped children make significant progress. The strongest examples involved purposeful play: investigating moving cars, experimenting with mark-making materials and using farm knowledge in imaginative play.

The setting has 88 places in total and occupies a portable building within the grounds of Shepley First School, on Firth Street in Shepley, Huddersfield. Children attending in January 2025 were aged one to four; the baby room offers childcare from nine months. Flexible full-time and part-time day care sit alongside school wraparound and holiday provision.

Rooms and Ages

The baby room provides a starting point for children from nine months. In January 2025, activities for younger children included moving across bubble wrap and exploring its texture, while toddlers experimented with marks using their fingers, glitter, ice and snow. Brushes and spatulas extended those experiences into different ways of making marks. Older children practised more controlled colouring, linking physical exploration with early writing.

That progression matters. The examples show related experiences becoming more demanding as children develop, rather than an identical activity being offered to everyone.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for learning, development and care: children build language, physical skills and social understanding through play and interaction. In January 2025, staff organised experiences in a sequence that extended what children already understood.

Counting appeared within construction and practical tasks. Children compared the dimensions of things they built, explored how cars travelled through pipes and considered speed and distance. Older children also counted clothing items and explored quantities. Abstract ideas had something tangible attached to them.

Language work included exercises involving mouths and sounds. Adults used questions during play to encourage children to explain their ideas, rather than simply name objects. Farm visits supplied another connection: children learned about animals and food production, then drew on that knowledge in small-world play. Learning continued after the outing.

Outdoor and Community Life

In January 2025, children, families, staff and other community members worked on restoring outdoor areas and developing a community garden. Children made sheltered places for insects and explored wildlife habitats. This combined practical work with learning about cooperation and the needs of living things.

Litter picking brought environmental questions into everyday experience. Children considered what happens to discarded rubbish and its effects on their surroundings. Visits to churches and farms introduced different buildings, cultures and animals. These were concrete opportunities to connect conversation and play with the wider community.

Relationships and Communication

In January 2025, staff knew children and their families closely, and children formed strong relationships with them. Familiar routines, clear explanations and encouragement supported behaviour. Some children took responsibility for helping younger children at lunchtime, giving independence a useful purpose.

Parents and practitioners agreed goals and made plans together. Individual home-learning activities helped connect experiences at the setting with family life, while managers sought views from both adults and children. For parents, this meant communication could lead to an agreed next step rather than remain a general update.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the January 2025 inspection, Ofsted judged safeguarding arrangements effective and identified personal, social and emotional development as a strength. Individual plans helped children discuss feelings and changes in their lives; yoga, mindfulness and community wellbeing walks gave them practical ways to manage emotions.

Support for special educational needs and disabilities includes planned strategies developed with parents, possible individual help from a key person and work with speech and language therapists or health visitors. Links with the local authority allow referrals and signposting where needed. These are specific routes for organising support around a child's requirements.

Staff hold paediatric first-aid qualifications and undertake safeguarding training. Those arrangements sit alongside the inspection judgement; they describe how responsibilities are organised rather than promise a particular outcome for an individual child.

Sessions and Attendance

Day care offers both full-time and part-time attendance, with flexibility in the hours used. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm. Payment for sessions is due beforehand, and current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Term dates follow Kirklees, with four additional training-day closures aligned with Shepley First School. Families combining preschool attendance with school holidays therefore need to consider the separate holiday provision as well as their usual day-care pattern.

Out of School Club provides wraparound care specifically for children attending Shepley First School. Holiday Club welcomes existing attendees from nine months to ten years, up to the end of Year 5; children who have not attended the setting before must be at least five. It opens Monday to Thursday, 8am to 5pm, during the October, February and May half terms, the first Easter holiday week and the first four summer holiday weeks. New attendees need completed paperwork before a booking is confirmed.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded places are offered for eligible two-year-olds and for three- and four-year-olds, with a 30-hour funded childcare option for three- and four-year-olds. Private day care is also offered. Funding eligibility remains separate from the family's chosen attendance arrangement.

Kirklees supplies hot meals prepared at Shepley School, and the setting publishes a nut-free policy. Food arrangements differ between clubs: breakfast and high tea are included in Out of School Club session prices, while Holiday Club requires a packed lunch and offers an afternoon snack.

Getting There

The address is The Portacabin, Firth Street, Shepley, Huddersfield, HD8 8DD. Families can contact the office by email at office@shepleypreschool.com or telephone 01484 606 022.

The nursery describes close links with local first schools as support for children's transition. Sharing the grounds of Shepley First School does not guarantee a Reception place; families still apply through the local authority admissions process.

• Starting in the baby room. Childcare begins from nine months, while the January 2025 attendance range was one to four. On a visit, ask how settling, sleep and daily communication would be arranged for your baby's age.
• School-linked attendance. Out of School Club is for Shepley First School children only, and attending preschool does not secure a Reception place. Consider the childcare arrangement and school application separately.
• Holiday planning. Holiday Club runs on specified holiday weeks and opens Monday to Thursday. Match those days and its shorter opening window against your family's working pattern.
• Food and allergies. The setting publishes a nut-free policy, but lunch arrangements differ between day care and Holiday Club. Allergy-affected families should confirm current food-handling practice before attendance.

Shepley suits families seeking flexible full-time or part-time day care, as well as those using school-specific wraparound or the scheduled Holiday Club. Its January 2025 examples give that practical offer substance: community gardening, environmental work and learning carried from farm visits into play.

The school-site setting is convenient for the children eligible for its wraparound care, but preschool attendance and Reception admission remain separate decisions. Families whose schedules fit the term and holiday arrangements have a clear reason to consider it: everyday experiences were used to develop language, independence and understanding of the world.