Twiggs Lane Pre-School

An enclosed garden, a cabin for younger children and an allotment give Twiggs Lane Pre-School a character that extends beyond its classroom base. This charity-run setting in Marchwood takes children from two years to school age, with younger children based in a purpose-built cabin and preschool children in the main room. Children can move between areas through free-flow play, so their room base does not define everything they can explore.

At its 2 July 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good and found safeguarding effective. The setting has capacity for 25 children in total.

Family involvement has practical substance here: a key person is appointed before a child starts, parents can join stay-and-play sessions, and learning is shared through Famly, an online journal. Morning, afternoon and all-day attendance patterns give families several ways to organise preschool around their week.

Rooms and Ages

The cabin room accommodates the two-to-three-year-olds, while the main preschool room is the base for children aged three to four; free-flow play lets children explore the setting beyond their usual room.

The enclosed garden combines grass with an all-weather surface, giving outdoor play more than one kind of ground to explore. Direct access to washroom facilities is another practical feature of the preschool room.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning through play, covering communication, physical development, relationships, early literacy and maths, creativity and understanding the world. It is the shared foundation for early-years provision. At Twiggs Lane, activities are shaped around children's interests and their next steps, with adjustments so children with different abilities can participate.

In July 2024, speech and communication had a clear place in the day. Adults drew conversation from children's experiences outside preschool, used pretend play to encourage talk about food, and demonstrated useful language when sharing became difficult. This connects vocabulary with situations children actually encounter, rather than confining language learning to a separate task.

Mark-making also took several forms at that visit: children experimented with chalk, paint, pens and pencils. Older children showed their letters and numbers, tackled counting challenges and changed the equipment in an obstacle course.

There was a clear limitation. In July 2024, adults sometimes stopped at a child's answer instead of exploring the reasoning behind it. Questions about planting pots or changes to an obstacle course did not consistently lead to fuller explanations. The improvement priority was to give children more opportunities to revisit their knowledge and deepen their understanding.

Outdoor and Community Life

The Gardening Allotment adds growing to the outdoor offer. In July 2024, children cared for vegetables and flowers and explored details such as bees pollinating blooms. Looking after plants gives children something to return to over time, with changes they can observe rather than a finished object simply presented to them.

Celebrations also connect learning with family life. Armed Forces Day featured in July 2024's account of activities, recognising families with service personnel, alongside culture weeks exploring faiths and nationalities. Current additional services include celebrations such as Christmas and Easter, visiting contributors, wet-weather waterproofs and investigative experiences. These sit within an optional charge, so the experiences and their payment arrangements need to be considered together.

Relationships and Communication

A child's key person is selected before their start and takes responsibility for observations, assessment and planning. Other staff also help with settling. Parents contribute information about interests, achievements and needs, giving the team a starting point that reaches beyond what a child demonstrates during a preschool session.

Famly holds the online learning journal, with regular sharing and a report each term. Records also accompany children to their next provider or infant school.

Stay-and-play sessions offer another way to take part. Families can share interests with children, support fundraising or contribute through the committee and governance. Family volunteers must undergo a DBS check. The partnership is therefore expressed through specific ways to participate, alongside the routine exchange of information about a child.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO role supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, with links to Portage, the Area Inclusive Officer, health visitors and an educational psychologist. These links bring specialist advice into planning.

At the July 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that specialist recommendations and everyday observations informed developmental targets for children with SEND, who made very good progress in communication and wellbeing, while their parents felt heard and supported. That is a dated assessment of practice, rather than a guarantee of an individual child's experience.

School preparation was concrete in July 2024: children practised contributing to organised group discussion, staff supplied profiles to teachers, and SEND handovers included detailed information. Current arrangements also provide for records to move with the child. Together, these address both the child's familiarity with classroom routines and the receiving adults' understanding of their needs.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Marchwood C of E Infant School, Twiggs Lane, Marchwood, Southampton, SO40 4ZE. Opening hours are 8.45am to 3.15pm, Monday to Friday. The contact form, telephone and email provide enquiry routes.

Morning sessions run from 8.45am to 11.45am without lunch, or from 9.15am to 12.15pm with lunch club. The afternoon runs from 12.15pm to 3.15pm, and children may bring something small to eat. All-day options are 8.45am to 2.45pm, 9am to 3pm, 9.15am to 3.15pm, or 8.45am to 3.15pm.

Registration places children on an admissions list ordered by date of birth. Completing the form does not guarantee a preschool place; contact is made two terms before the intended start, based on the selected starting age.

Twiggs Lane operates on the infant-school site. Attendance does not guarantee a Reception place, and families still apply through the local authority admissions process. Sharing a site and preparing children for school should not be treated as an admissions advantage.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded provision includes the universal entitlement of up to 15 hours each week during term time, for a maximum of 38 weeks, eligible working-family funding of 30 hours, limited to 1140 hours per year, and 15-hour funding for eligible two-year-olds from non-working families. Participation in an entitlement remains subject to the relevant eligibility conditions; the working-family entitlement's younger age threshold does not change this preschool's stated intake from two years.

Private hours and hours beyond a child's funding allowance are charged. Current prices come in the preschool's written quotation. The funding and additional services information sets out an optional service charge, with an opt-out arrangement agreed directly with the preschool.

Snacks are charged through that optional service arrangement; children can bring food for the afternoon session, while hot lunches are also offered. Nappies, wipes and suncream fall within the separately charged optional services, alongside waterproofs, celebrations, visiting contributors and Famly communication.

A voluntary new-starter charge covers a book bag and polo top.

• Depth of learning. In July 2024, questioning did not consistently help children explain their reasoning. During a visit, ask how adults now extend an answer into a conversation about why a child thinks something.
• The two room bases. Younger children use the cabin and older children the main preschool room, with free-flow access across the setting. Ask how room transitions and that shared access are organised for your child's confidence and stage of development.
• Optional services. Snacks, sundries, celebrations and Famly sit within an optional additional charge, with alternatives arranged for families who opt out. Discuss how those alternatives would work alongside your chosen sessions before committing.
• The admissions sequence. The preschool list follows date-of-birth order, and registration does not secure a place. The school-site setting also brings no guaranteed Reception place, so keep preschool joining and the school application as separate decisions.

Twiggs Lane suits families seeking morning or afternoon preschool sessions, as well as those choosing an all-day pattern with different start and finish options. Its separate younger-child cabin, enclosed garden and Gardening Allotment give the daily setting tangible appeal; the key-person system and Famly journal give parents defined ways to follow learning.

The July 2024 Good judgement sits alongside a specific teaching priority: helping children explain and develop their thinking more fully. For families weighing this setting, the strongest case is the combination of play, growing, family participation and organised transition support, with optional services and the school admissions position understood before joining.