St Paul's Pre School

Feelings, friendships and outdoor challenges give St Paul's Pre School its character. At its May 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good overall, with Outstanding personal development and effective safeguarding. The strongest thread was children's confidence: learning to manage emotions sat alongside physical play and cooperation with friends.

Based at St Pauls Church Hall in Scunthorpe, the setting has 24 places in total. Children attending in May 2025 were aged two to four; that age range describes the inspection group.

In May 2025, children chose activities for themselves, while staff used shared activities to introduce language and mathematical ideas. Circle time brought counting and positional vocabulary into ordinary conversation. Books prompted children to arrange pictures into a sequence and recall what they had heard, linking listening with storytelling.

The early years foundation stage sets requirements for children's learning, development and care. Here, the May 2025 examples show those strands through play: handling potatoes and radishes in compost, remembering planted bean seeds and talking about how plants change. These were concrete starting points for exploring the world.

Outdoor play in May 2025 gave children opportunities to practise movements using both small and large muscles, with challenges indoors too. Outings included country parks. Links with care homes, dentists and road safety teams widened children's encounters beyond the pre-school, bringing community life into their learning.

At the May 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that staff worked exceptionally well with other professionals to support individual needs, including those of children with SEND and disadvantaged children. That joined-up work mattered because learning, welfare and safety were considered together.

In May 2025, staff gathered information about children before they started, helping relationships begin with knowledge of the individual child. The Colour Monster, a book used to explore feelings, gave children language for emotions. Children played cooperatively and showed confidence with staff and friends.

Early language support also involved families in May 2025. Staff attended programmes alongside parents to help children's speaking skills, and leaders directed funding towards early intervention. Support therefore extended beyond conversations during the pre-school day.

The address is St Pauls Church Hall, Ashby High Street, Scunthorpe DN16 2ND.

In May 2025, attendance ran during term time on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, with sessions from 9am to 12.45pm. At that date, the pre-school provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four. These are the arrangements at the inspection, rather than a current booking offer.

• Extending child-led play. In May 2025, staff did not consistently identify the next learning steps arising from children's spontaneous interests. Ask during a visit how staff now turn a child's chosen activity into further learning.
• Older children's mathematics. The May 2025 improvement priorities included shape, space and measure. Counting was evident, but extending these other mathematical ideas needed attention.

St Paul's merits consideration for families who value emotional development, community connections and outdoor experiences. Its May 2025 practice showed how those priorities translated into activities and relationships. The attendance pattern at that date suited families seeking term-time sessions; the educational questions centre on extending spontaneous play and broadening older children's mathematics.