Claydon Pre-school

A purpose-built pre-school, secure outdoor space and a settling process that starts at home give Claydon Pre-school its character. This charity-run setting at Recreation Ground, Thornhill Road, Claydon, IP6 0DZ has capacity for 26 children aged two to five. Parents and carers can join its volunteer committee and help shape decisions, fundraising and events.

At its 13 March 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the pre-school Good, judged safeguarding effective and asked for teaching to extend children's existing knowledge more consistently, alongside better organisation of whole-group routines. Those improvement points matter alongside the strengths. The current curriculum gives children choices about play and resources, while a key person keeps track of each child's development.

Both year-round and term-time attendance are offered, with tailored sessions within weekday opening hours. That makes the setting relevant to families with different working and holiday patterns.

Learning and Activities

Children's interests help shape the day. The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the statutory framework for learning and development: here, children explore through play, develop relationships and practise making choices, with a balance between activities they initiate and those adults lead. Birth to Five is also used as a curriculum. The practical emphasis is on exploration supported by staff, rather than children simply completing the same task together.

Emotional development has a concrete place in that approach. Staff help children find words for feelings and work through disagreements, so that a conflict becomes an opportunity to practise resolving the next one. Children can select resources and use the pre-school's different areas. For parents, this gives a clearer picture of independence than a general promise to prepare children for school.

In March 2023, children chose activities and fetched resources themselves, while staff gave advance notice before a change of activity. Small-group stories prompted conversations about pictures and what might happen next. These examples show how choices, conversation and predictable routines worked together at that time.

The same March 2023 account identified uneven challenge: some activities did not take children's learning far enough beyond what they could already do. Whole-group routines also lost some children's attention. These are useful questions about the balance of the day, rather than reasons to assume that every activity works equally well for every child.

Outdoor and Community Life

Secure outdoor space is part of the purpose-built setting. Spare clothes and wellies belong in the daily bag, and comfortable clothing that can become muddy or paint-covered is encouraged. Aprons are supplied for water, glue and painting activities, but clothes still need to withstand messy exploration.

In March 2023, learning extended into the garden. A search for pretend insects in sand trays developed into looking for real insects outdoors, following the children's interest. Wheeled toys gave children opportunities to share and take turns. The important detail is the connection between play and learning, rather than treating outdoors simply as a break from indoor activities.

Baking, flower planting and hatching chicks are examples of additional activities covered by the weekly activities charge. They bring making, growing and observing into the offer; they are examples across the year, rather than a promise of a particular weekly timetable.

Relationships and Communication

Settling begins with a home visit involving two staff members. One handles paperwork with the parent while the other spends time playing with the child. Familiar surroundings give the child a chance to meet staff before managing the new setting itself.

Stay & Play Sessions follow: two half-hour visits with a parent let children explore the setting and get to know adults and other children. The transition can then include shorter sessions or individual arrangements where a child needs more time. This is a staged introduction, with room to adjust the pace.

Each child has a key person. Developmental observations are recorded through Famly, an app parents can use to view their child's record. Famly also carries the events calendar and provides an absence-reporting route, bringing practical communication and developmental information into the same named system.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that staff adapted activities for different levels of development, used additional funding to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and included them in daily routines and activities. A Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator role is also part of the staff structure. These are concrete support mechanisms, rather than a blanket assurance about every child's needs.

Current safeguarding arrangements include a designated lead and a deputy, with child-protection training for staff. Before starting, families complete permissions and allergy information in Famly and provide an All About Me form. That gives staff information about the individual child before care begins.

In March 2023, staff supported children's rest and sleep needs, and children practised washing their hands before eating. Current illness arrangements require children to stay home until they have been well for 48 hours after sickness, diarrhoea or a temperature. Families can report an absence by telephone or through Famly; unexplained absences prompt contact that day.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Year-round attendance excludes bank holidays and a two-week Christmas/New Year closure; term-time attendance follows Claydon Primary School's days. That calendar alignment is an attendance arrangement.

Sessions can be tailored, with drop-offs at 8am, 9am or 1pm and collections at noon, 3pm, 4pm or 5pm. The booking minimum is two sessions on different days each week, each lasting at least three hours. For both year-round and term-time placements, day sessions require at least two days of six hours each; morning or afternoon placements require at least two sessions and are capped at five-and-a-half hours per day.

The main intake is September, followed by a waiting list for placements arising during the academic year. Applications are handled in birth-date order, with funded children considered before non-funded children. The application form is submitted with a full birth certificate and funding proof where applicable; the office can be contacted on 01473 831648.

Getting There

The address is Recreation Ground, Thornhill Road, Claydon, IP6 0DZ. Parking is outside the single-storey site, a useful practical feature for families bringing bags and outdoor clothing.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funding includes the universal 15-hour entitlement from the term after a child turns three, support for eligible two-year-olds and working-family funding, including up to 30 hours for eligible two-year-olds. Eligibility codes for working-family funding require renewal every three months. Funding can also be shared with another childcare provider.

Funded hours are confined to 8am to noon and 1pm to 5pm, or portions of those windows. Attendance between noon and 1pm attracts the normal childcare charge as well as lunch. A whole-day arrangement therefore needs a budget for the middle of the day even when other hours are funded.

Breakfast, lunch and snacks carry separate charges; the terms allow families who decline the voluntary food contributions to notify the setting in writing before invoicing and provide food approved by staff for healthy eating and allergens. Lunch is a two-course meal for children attending over the lunch period.

Non-food supplies have a mixed arrangement: hygiene products are among the extras supported by contributions, while families supply nappies, barrier cream and sun cream. Additional activities also carry a weekly contribution. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, with the charge structure on the sessions and fees page.

Year-round fees are paid monthly in advance, while term-time fees are paid half-termly in advance. Reducing booked hours or leaving requires four weeks' written notice. Family holidays do not reduce childcare fees, so the choice between the two attendance calendars has a financial consequence as well as a scheduling one.

• Challenge and group routines. March 2023 improvement points concerned extending children's learning and keeping whole-group routines engaging. During a visit, ask how activities now build on what your child can already do.
• A regular attendance commitment. The minimum is two sessions on separate days each week, each at least three hours. Tailored hours still sit within specified drop-off and collection times, so compare the pattern with your working day.
• The funded-day boundary. Funding excludes noon to 1pm, and food and activity contributions sit alongside childcare charges. A written quotation for the intended pattern will make the total commitment clearer.
• A gradual start. Home visits and Stay & Play Sessions precede independent attendance, with shorter sessions possible during transition. Discuss how that sequence would work for your child and your own availability.

Claydon Pre-school suits families seeking either term-time morning or afternoon sessions, or year-round attendance with tailored hours. Its strongest practical features are the introduction at home, the staged settling visits and a day built around play, choices and relationships.

The March 2023 Good judgement sits alongside specific questions about teaching challenge and group routines. Families comfortable with the regular booking minimum and the separate midday and extras charges have a clear basis for considering it: a community setting with parental involvement and a deliberate introduction to pre-school life.