St Andrew's Pre-School

A climbing frame, a room for messy play and an enclosed outdoor area with a mud kitchen give St Andrew's Pre-School a practical, play-led character. Based within St Andrews Community Church premises in Dronfield Woodhouse, it combines space for movement with opportunities to paint, build and experiment. This is a preschool offer rather than baby care: children aged 2-5 attend, and there are 30 places in total.

At its March 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the setting Good. The detail behind that judgement included children working together, attempting early writing and making decisions about their play, alongside a clear improvement priority concerning staff's implementation of the curriculum. Those observations belong to March 2022; the current learning offer includes a book corner, changing role play and outdoor access in all weathers.

Attendance is term-time only, with funded hours usable across the opening day.

Learning and Activities

EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) shapes the programme: children learn through play, conversation, movement and practical exploration, with activities taking account of their interests and the seasons. It is the common early-years framework. Here, its everyday expression includes handling books, experimenting with materials and learning to cooperate with other children.

The book corner gives children somewhere to explore books and practise handling them. Stories, rhymes and songs support language, while conversation encourages children to try new vocabulary. Early literacy also includes making marks, so the route towards writing starts with using pencils and other tools.

Mathematics is similarly practical. Children work with counting, matching, sorting and sequences, then develop language for number, shape and position. These experiences connect mathematical ideas to things children can handle and compare. In March 2022, a story activity used stick figures of different sizes to prompt comparisons, while children supplied missing parts of the story. One activity brought language and mathematics together.

Creative play has concrete resources behind it. Children use paint, glue and recycled containers or boxes to explore colour, texture and construction. The home corner changes weekly, giving imaginative play a changing context rather than keeping the same arrangement throughout the term. Dressing-up clothes add another route into acting out ideas and stories.

In March 2022, children also made letters, folded paper into envelopes and worked out how to operate a hole punch. The task combined hand control with discussion and persistence. Staff's curriculum implementation nevertheless needed further development: on some occasions, children were not helped sufficiently to practise new skills, including listening and sitting during group activities. That is the important qualification to the positive examples.

Rooms and Outdoor Play

Two large rooms divide activities by use rather than by a published sequence of age-based rooms. One has an emphasis on movement, with a climbing frame, construction resources, dressing-up and small-world play; the other accommodates painting, modelling and materials children can mould. The distinction gives active and messy experiences their own spaces. It also makes the physical setting more concrete than a general promise of play-based learning.

Outside, the enclosed area includes a mud kitchen alongside footballs and sand-and-water play. Children can use the outdoor space in all weathers. That matters for families seeking an everyday opportunity for outdoor play rather than an occasional excursion.

In March 2022, children used small pallets to construct a doghouse, with staff encouraging them to work out how to move the materials safely. Movement activities also involved imitating animals, including jumping and moving across the floor. These dated examples show how construction and imaginative play were used to practise problem-solving and coordination.

A key person system gives each practitioner responsibility for overseeing the care and development of a small group of children. Observations and contact with carers connect that role to the child's experience at home. For parents, the useful point is a continuing relationship with someone who follows their child's development, rather than relying solely on brief exchanges with whichever adult is nearby.

Progress discussions can take place whenever parents want to talk, and observations are formally shared twice a year. That combines an ongoing conversation with scheduled opportunities to review development. Staff training includes first aid, safeguarding and food hygiene; the team also has SENCO roles. These are practical arrangements for care and additional support, rather than a promise that every child's needs will be identical.

At the March 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and SEND support effective, with staff monitoring development, seeking specialist advice and arranging early intervention. In March 2022, communication support included social groups for children needing additional help with language. The mechanism matters: support involved identifying needs and bringing in advice, rather than simply expecting children to manage within the usual activities.

Quiet time was also part of the March 2022 experience. Meditation sessions gave children opportunities to attend to their feelings and thoughts. During routines, staff prepared children for changes of activity, and children helped put resources away. These observations give a dated picture of how emotional awareness and manageable transitions were built into the day.

Parents can contribute through the committee, which helps with policies, fundraising and communication between families and staff. Meetings take place once or twice each term. This offers a route into decisions about the preschool as well as involvement in a child's individual progress.

Sessions and Attendance

St Andrew's Pre-School is on Pentland Road, Dronfield Woodhouse, S18 8ZQ. It opens from 8am to 5pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and from 8am to 4pm on Thursday. Care runs during term time, so the calendar is a central part of the decision for families arranging work and childcare around school holidays.

Funded hours can be used throughout those opening windows. The earlier Thursday finish deserves attention when planning a regular week: it changes the latest collection time even though the other weekdays share the same hours. Enquiries can be made through the contact form or by telephone on 07814 941343.

Funding and Paid Extras

Both funded childcare and privately paid hours are offered. Up to 15 hours can be claimed through the local authority from the term after a child's third birthday. The term-time calendar is the attendance model, and funded hours can be used from the start to the end of the opening day.

Hot meals are charged separately, including when funded hours are used. There is also a registration charge covering administration and a personalised drawstring bag for bringing belongings to sessions. Families should obtain a current written quotation for their intended attendance, including the hot-meal charge and registration arrangements.

For illness, children must have been free of sickness or diarrhoea symptoms for 48 hours before returning. Parents should notify the preschool on the day their child is absent. This is a concrete return-to-care rule to build into family plans, rather than treating an improvement in symptoms as an immediate return date.

• Term-time calendar and Thursday finish. Thursday closes at 4pm, while the other weekdays close at 5pm. Consider both that shorter day and the holiday calendar against the care your family needs.
• Curriculum implementation. In March 2022, staff needed to improve how they helped every child acquire new skills. At a visit, ask how practitioners now support children who find group listening difficult and how this connects with key-person observations.
• Active and messy spaces. Movement and construction share one large room, while painting and modelling use another. Ask how a new child is helped to settle across these spaces and how their key person supports the early sessions.
• Costs beyond funded hours. Hot meals carry a separate charge, and registration includes administration and a drawstring bag. Request a written quotation for the attendance you intend to book so these items are clear before joining.

St Andrew's suits families seeking term-time preschool care with practical activities, space for movement and regular outdoor access. Its strongest concrete features are the different uses of the two rooms, the weekly changes to the home corner and the mud kitchen outside. The key person system and scheduled progress sharing give parents clear points of contact.

The March 2022 Good judgement supports that picture, with a material qualification about curriculum implementation. Families choosing it should weigh the term-time calendar and shorter Thursday against the appeal of a play-led day in a community setting.