Winteringham Under Fives

In June 2024, garden number hunts, strawberry-growing conversations and books borrowed for home gave Winteringham Under Fives a practical, everyday character. At its June 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good and found safeguarding effective. The clearest appeal is learning that connects activities with things children can count, discuss and handle.

Based at The Village Hall, Frost Close, Winteringham, DN15 9PL, the setting has 26 places in total. In June 2024, children attending were aged two to four, and attendance followed a term-time pattern.

In June 2024, children chose activities and persisted with tasks such as cutting pictures for a healthy-meal plate. Staff encouraged them to try again and celebrated their achievements. This gave children opportunities to practise careful hand movements and finish something they had chosen.

The early years foundation stage sets requirements for children's learning, development and care. Here, the June 2024 activities connected those areas: children searched the garden for numbers, counted their finds and used their fingers to represent quantities. Conversations about protecting strawberry plants from birds gave staff opportunities to introduce vocabulary with a clear purpose.

Stories also shaped experiences in June 2024. Children connected a familiar caterpillar story with fruit at snack time and acted out a caterpillar becoming a butterfly outdoors. A lending library extended book-sharing into family time. Reading, movement and conversation were linked through an experience children could revisit.

At its June 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that children made good progress across the seven areas of learning, with targeted plans supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. In June 2024, staff used their knowledge of children and families to plan learning, while the special educational needs coordinator worked with parents and other agencies.

The management team was new to its roles in June 2024 and worked with committee support. Staff felt supported, but supervision did not consistently identify opportunities for further development. That distinction matters: positive working relationships and purposeful staff development are separate parts of care.

In June 2024, sessions ran from 9.15am to 3.15pm on Monday and Tuesday, with a shorter Wednesday session from 9.15am to 12.15pm. The setting operated during term time, from Monday to Wednesday. This attendance pattern combined longer sessions with a morning option rather than providing the same length of day throughout the week.

At that time, funded early education was provided for two-, three- and four-year-old children. The premises were The Village Hall on Frost Close, Winteringham, DN15 9PL.

• Attendance pattern. The June 2024 timetable combined Monday and Tuesday daytime sessions with Wednesday mornings, all during term time. At a visit, does the current pattern fit your family's childcare needs?
• Additional learning funding. In June 2024, the use of early years pupil premium funding needed further development to strengthen children's learning. Its use was an explicit improvement priority, relevant to families whose children receive this support.
• Staff development. June 2024 supervision arrangements sometimes missed training and development needs. More purposeful supervision was the other improvement priority, with implications for how practitioners develop their work.

Based on the experiences observed in June 2024, Winteringham Under Fives suits families seeking a village-based preschool with practical learning, garden activities and book-sharing. Its June 2024 attendance model served both longer daytime sessions and a Wednesday morning option during term time. Those concrete experiences were its strengths; the improvement priorities concerned how additional funding and staff development supported them.