Yaddlethorpe Pre-School

A book voting station, a garden for exploring nature and café-style snacks give Yaddlethorpe Pre-School a day built around children making choices. Its home is Bottesford & Yaddlethorpe Village Hall, with a spacious shared room and separate outdoor spaces for wheeled play and exploration. The practical emphasis is independence: choosing a story, serving a snack and learning to manage everyday routines.

At its 14 November 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the pre-school Good and found safeguarding effective. The same visit identified two improvements: stronger teaching interactions from some staff and better preparation of resources for certain adult-led activities. Those details matter more than the grade alone.

Yaddlethorpe has capacity for 30 children, with an accepted age range of 24 to 60 months. Morning, afternoon and full-day bookings sit alongside breakfast and lunch sessions, within a term-time offer.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the learning framework: children develop language, movement and social skills through play, alongside early experiences of books, number, creativity and the world around them. Yaddlethorpe combines activities children choose with adult-directed teaching. Practitioners plan individual next steps using what children can already do and information shared by families.

Small-group time gives children opportunities to exchange news, listen and practise taking turns in conversation. Adults also introduce unfamiliar language and skills, then allow time for repetition. This gives the day a clear teaching purpose while preserving space for children to follow their interests.

The main room has areas for reading and role play, sensory exploration, music, craft and mark making. Tabletop activities and small-world play add other ways to investigate and imagine. The main room brings these activity areas together.

The book voting station makes choosing a story part of the routine. Show and tell, singing and group stories provide further opportunities to speak and listen. The timetable is adaptable, so these activities form a pattern rather than a rigid sequence that every child must follow.

Outdoor and Community Life

Bikes and scooters use a hard-surfaced outdoor area; the established garden provides a different setting for exploring nature and practising manageable risk. Outdoor play features in both morning and afternoon routines. That gives movement and investigation their own place in the day.

In November 2023, older children took part in forest school twice a week, learning outdoors through practical exploration and attention to safety. They explained firepit rules, hammered nails into wood and searched for insects with magnifying glasses and checklists. These examples show the substance of those sessions: using tools, looking closely and understanding boundaries.

During that visit, books were accessible across play areas and a lending library extended reading into family life. Staff introduced precise vocabulary, including the difference between a mallet and a hammer. However, some children's learning received less challenge because staff engagement varied, while resources for an adult-led activity prevented some children from taking a full part. The improvement priorities were specific to how activities were taught and prepared.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who helps with settling, acts as the family's main contact and plans the child's next learning steps. This creates a clear connection between care, teaching and communication: parents contribute information about their child, and the key person uses it when planning what comes next.

Stay and play gives parents an opportunity to spend time playing with their child as they settle. Lunch also brings children and key persons together to eat and socialise, with everyday self-care woven into that shared time. Independence is practised in ordinary routines, rather than reserved for a separate activity.

Parents Evening takes place in November and June. In November 2023, daily conversations with families included children's learning needs and ideas for activities at home. The recurring meetings and those dated everyday exchanges offer different opportunities to discuss development.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO and deputy support practitioners, with parents and relevant professionals involved in planning. The graduated approach means assessing a child's needs, planning support, putting it into practice and reviewing it. This gives families a defined process for discussing emerging needs and adjusting support.

Safeguarding arrangements include work with other agencies and participation in family support meetings and reviews. These are practical mechanisms for sharing concerns and information; the dated safeguarding judgement belongs to the inspection above.

Morning and afternoon snacks rotate between fruit or vegetables and foods such as toast, crackers and breadsticks, with cheese sometimes included. Children help themselves using a café-style arrangement, and fresh water is accessible throughout the day.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Bottesford & Yaddlethorpe Village Hall, Bramley Crescent, Bottesford, DN16 3SN. Opening hours run from 8am to 3.30pm, Monday to Friday, during term time; the pre-school closes for school holidays.

The Morning Session runs from 9am to noon, while the Afternoon Session runs from 1pm to 3.30pm. Full Day covers 9am to 3.30pm, and Full Day & Breakfast extends that booking to 8am. A separate Lunch Session runs from noon to 1pm, providing a bridge between the morning and afternoon patterns.

Breakfast Club operates Monday to Friday, 8am to 9am, with cereal, fruit and wholemeal toast, plus milk or water. The earlier start is therefore a defined session with food, rather than simply an earlier opening time.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by email or by calling 01724 852425. The range of session lengths gives families several ways to fit attendance around their working day or other commitments.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered for children aged two and for three- and four-year-olds, including up to 30 hours a week for children eligible for that entitlement. Attendance is term-time. Tax-free childcare is also accepted.

Hours beyond a child's funded hours are charged privately, and the breakfast session is non-funded. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, allowing families to compare the cost of their chosen attendance pattern rather than treating funding as covering every part of the day.

• Term-time attendance. Yaddlethorpe closes during school holidays. Families needing childcare throughout the year will need arrangements that cover those breaks.
• Teaching and participation. The November 2023 improvement priorities concerned uneven staff interactions and resources for some adult-led activities. On a visit, ask how activities now keep children involved and extend their learning.
• Funding and food costs. Extra hours and breakfast sit outside funded entitlement. Ask for a written breakdown covering the chosen sessions, meals, snacks and non-food consumables before agreeing a booking.

Yaddlethorpe suits families seeking term-time morning or afternoon sessions as well as those choosing a full day with an optional breakfast start. Its shared room, garden, book voting and self-service snacks give children concrete opportunities to make decisions and practise independence.

The November 2023 Good judgement provides a positive starting point, balanced by clear teaching improvements to explore on a visit. The strongest match is a family that values a play-based pre-school day, a named key person and several attendance patterns, and can accommodate the school-holiday closure.