The Alphabet Pre-School

Communication gets deliberate attention at The Alphabet Pre-School in Bedfont: Let’s Talk Together supports early language through conversation, stories and listening, while EyWorks gives parents a digital account of their child’s learning. A garden provides space for daily outdoor play wherever possible. These are practical foundations for families who want early education to connect talking, movement and growing independence.

At its June 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good, found safeguarding effective and recognised the support provided for children with special educational needs and disabilities through work with external agencies. The judgement has an important qualification: activity planning needed sharper learning aims and greater challenge to help children sustain their attention. Warm relationships and purposeful teaching are different questions, and both matter here.

The pre-school has 72 places in total and offers provision for children aged two to five at The Jubilee Priesthood Centre, New Road, Bedfont. Its current routine includes morning and afternoon attendance during term time. That makes the rhythm of the setting as relevant to a decision as its curriculum: families are choosing preschool education with a school-term calendar.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides the learning: children develop language, physical skills, social understanding and early literacy and mathematics through play and activities led by adults. This is the statutory foundation, rather than an extra programme. At Alphabet, it translates into painting, construction, imaginative games, food preparation and sensory exploration using water, sand and materials with different textures.

Let’s Talk Together adds an explicit emphasis on communication. The pre-school holds accreditation in the programme, and its approach includes stories, conversation, listening and opportunities to develop vocabulary during play. Children practise expressing an idea as well as hearing someone else’s. For parents weighing school preparation, this makes language part of everyday participation rather than something confined to a single group activity.

The younger provision emphasises forming relationships, early speech and managing familiar routines. Older children encounter more structured experiences involving early reading and number concepts, cooperation and solving problems. These are age-group programmes, with learning adjusted to individual development. The distinction is useful: preparing for school should build on a child’s starting point rather than simply bringing formal tasks forward.

Regular observation informs the next steps staff plan for each child. Learning journals keep a record of development, and parents contribute information about interests and experiences at home. A child’s enthusiasm can therefore become a starting point for an activity, while observations help staff decide what to introduce next. The curriculum approach combines this individual planning with group experiences and independent exploration.

In June 2023, role play included an ice cream parlour, where questions encouraged children to expand their language and handling pretend payments introduced everyday mathematics. A construction area contained large bricks and tools. Those examples show how a familiar game can carry several learning opportunities, but the June 2023 improvement point remains relevant: staff needed clearer aims so that activities stretched thinking and held children’s attention longer.

Outdoor and Community Life

A secure garden supports outdoor play as part of the daily routine wherever possible. Children have opportunities for active games, exploration and imaginative play alongside indoor activities. The practical benefit is space to use larger movements and interact in a different setting, rather than spending the whole session on activities suited to an indoor room.

In June 2023, children rode bikes along a track with traffic lights and stop signs, practised throwing and catching, and planted herbs and flowers in the garden. These were concrete opportunities to combine movement with following signals, taking part with others and learning about growing things. They describe the day at that time, rather than a promise that every activity remains on today’s timetable.

Relationships and Communication

Each child is assigned a key worker who helps with settling and continues to support their development. Families contribute to the information used to understand the child, rather than leaving that picture entirely to observations during sessions. This gives the relationship a practical purpose: staff can connect a child’s interests, routines and needs across home and preschool.

EyWorks is the online learning journal used to share photographs, video, audio and written observations with parents. Families can access the platform at any time. It provides specific material for conversations about what a child has been doing and learning, including experiences they may struggle to describe themselves. Regular progress updates and guidance about learning at home sit alongside that digital record.

In June 2023, children received staff photographs and personal letters before starting. Staff also used a resolution box to help children consider ways through disagreements, such as sharing an activity, exchanging toys or seeking adult help. A sand timer supported turn-taking. These small, tangible routines made expectations easier for young children to understand than a general instruction to behave well.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

For children with SEND, the current support arrangements include individual plans developed with families and external professionals. Structured routines, clear communication and targeted activities are used to address learning and emotional needs. This describes how support is organised; the important decision for an individual family is how those mechanisms match their child’s communication, sensory and developmental needs.

The afternoon routine includes a quieter period for rest, alongside lunch, social time and structured activities. Meal and snack routines give children opportunities to practise independence and participate with others. Snacks carry a separate charge, and dietary requirements are discussed with families.

In June 2023, children prepared fruit, poured milk for themselves and cleaned their faces using mirrors. They also washed their bowls and spoons. Everyday care was therefore part of learning to manage small tasks, with practical equipment helping children take responsibility rather than relying on adults to do everything for them.

School preparation includes managing belongings, joining group activities, listening and becoming more independent. The 2-Year-Old Progress Check records early development and includes parents’ contributions; progress information and subsequent tracking entries are passed to the child’s next school. That provides continuity in understanding the child, rather than treating the move as a fresh start with no learning history.

Sessions and Attendance

Alphabet operates during term time, with a routine that distinguishes morning and afternoon attendance. In June 2023, the morning session ran from 9am to midday and the afternoon from 12.10pm to 3.10pm, Monday to Friday; whole-day care ran from 9am to 3.10pm. Those clock times describe the June 2023 arrangement.

The morning routine includes group communication, play, snack time, outdoor activity and stories. Afternoon attendance brings lunch, a quiet period and more structured learning. Families comparing the patterns should consider which parts of the day fit their child’s energy and routines, as well as the adult timetable around them.

Getting There

The address is The Jubilee Priesthood Centre, New Road, Bedfont, TW14 8HR. Contact is possible by telephone, email or the enquiry form, and a registration form can be downloaded.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded early education is offered, subject to eligibility, under Free entitlement (15 hours) and Free entitlement (30 hours). Funded hours are taken during term time over 38 weeks. Additional private hours are also offered, so funded entitlement and the hours a family chooses to buy should be considered separately.

Snacks are charged separately. Nappies and Sudocrem are optional consumables that parents opt into; families can instead supply their own consumables by arranging this with the nursery. Optional trips are listed for children aged two to three. These categories matter when comparing a funded attendance pattern with the total arrangements a family chooses.

Registration includes a deposit, and late collection attracts a separate charge. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation. The funding and charges information separates entitlement, additional hours and extras, making those distinctions useful starting points for a family’s budget.

• Term-time rhythm. Funding is delivered across 38 weeks, and the routine includes morning and afternoon attendance. At a visit, establish how the current session clocks and attendance pattern fit your family’s timetable.
• Challenge within play. In June 2023, activity planning needed clearer learning aims and more challenge. Ask staff to demonstrate how they extend an activity when a child is ready for the next step.
• Individual support. Personalised plans involve families and external professionals. For a child with SEND, discuss how the plan would translate into routines, communication and activities during a session.
• Food and chosen extras. Snacks have a separate charge, while consumables and the listed trips are optional. Families managing allergies should confirm current food arrangements and how their child’s needs will be handled.

Alphabet suits families seeking term-time preschool education with morning or afternoon attendance, especially those who value a deliberate emphasis on communication and involvement in their child’s learning. Let’s Talk Together, the key-worker relationship and EyWorks give that offer recognisable substance. The garden adds room for active learning.

The June 2023 Good judgement supports the overall assessment, while the call for more demanding activity planning gives parents a precise issue to explore. The strongest fit is a family that wants play, language development and practical independence to work together, with individual support planned around the child rather than a promise of school readiness alone.