Ashby Castle Pre-Preparatory School

Tortoises, pet millipedes and a fresh hen’s egg to take home gave school preparation an unusually practical character here in August 2022. Ashby Castle Pre-Preparatory School combines that inspection-era picture with a current programme of family participation, outings and learning through play. The emphasis is on children becoming capable as well as knowledgeable.

Ofsted rated the setting Outstanding on 4 August 2022. Its current age range is three to five, with capacity for 40 children in total. This is the pre-preparatory provision in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, at Trentham Close on North Street, LE65 1HU, rather than the wider organisation’s provision for younger children.

Full-day attendance features in the charging arrangements, alongside funded childcare stretched across the year. For parents, the important combination is preschool education, practical independence and an attendance model that can include privately paid hours.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning and care: children build language, early number skills, relationships and independence through play and everyday experiences. The curriculum adds an emphasis on conversation, creativity and responding to children’s interests. Planning uses assessments of children’s development to decide what support or challenge comes next, rather than treating everyone’s next step as identical.

In August 2022, early literacy activities moved from matching objects to their starting sounds to writing items for a shopping list. Children used visual clues to help them form letters and repeated sounds as they wrote. These were practical reasons to use emerging literacy skills, with the shopping-list example connecting writing to something children could recognise.

Animal care supplied another route into language in August 2022. Children handled tortoises carefully and talked about millipedes using words associated with their bodies and classification. The garden was a learning space as well as somewhere to play. The eggchiever award, which let children take a hen’s egg home, also connected an achievement at nursery with cooking and conversation in the family.

Outdoor and Community Life

Dumbles Forest School encourages exploration, independence and an interest in the environment. The October 2026 programme includes parents joining pre-preparatory children there on 13 and 15 October. That gives families a specific opportunity to share this part of the nursery experience rather than hear about it afterwards.

The November 2026 programme reaches further afield. Visits to the National Memorial Arboretum are planned for the week beginning 2 November, with a remembrance visit to the Cenotaph in Ashby on 11 November. These are dated outings, not a promise of a weekly trip schedule. A Bonfire Event at Dumbles Forest School on 1 November includes pre-preparatory children and their families.

Family involvement also extends to the October events programme. Pre Prep Grandparents Day is scheduled for 12 October 2026, while Halloween Fancy Dress on 30 October brings a costume expectation worth putting in the diary. These events make the calendar relevant to the adults around a child, as well as to the child’s own day.

Relationships and Communication

A key person helps shape planning around each child’s interests and needs. For children requiring additional support, that person works with the special educational needs coordinator, or SENCO, to put agreed strategies into practice. Parents contribute to the plan and its reviews, giving them a defined role beyond receiving updates.

In August 2022, staff shared information about children’s next learning steps with one another. Everyday routines also gave children opportunities to practise independence: at lunch they poured drinks, handled cutlery and waited for their turn. Animal handling included washing hands afterwards, linking care for living things with personal hygiene.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the August 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and judged that children with additional needs progressed exceptionally well through targeted help and coordination between the SENCO, families, outside professionals and schools. Those are dated judgements; the current support arrangements set out the practical process families can expect.

Before a child with SEND starts, staff meet parents to discuss interests, strengths and support needs, consider adjustments and arrange settling sessions. Support follows an assess, plan, do and review cycle, with agreed targets recorded in an individual plan. Where appropriate, families and professionals contribute to the review. The useful point is the sequence: a concern leads to discussion and planned action, followed by another look at how the child is getting on.

School transition can include meetings, visits, preparation through stories or visual prompts, and sharing support records with parental consent. This is preparation for a change of setting, rather than a claim to an admissions advantage. The inclusion policy also supports children learning English as an additional language and treats bilingualism positively, while activities can be adapted through extra time or alternative resources.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The setting operates across the year, with bank holiday and Christmas closures. For Christmas 2026, it closes at 6pm on 21 December and reopens at 7.30am on 4 January 2027, a substantial break for families arranging work cover.

The charging arrangements include full days, with funded examples based on attendance over two or three days and additional full-fee days beyond those patterns. These examples describe how charges work; they do not establish a minimum booking requirement. Enquiries and visits can be arranged through forms that let parents select the pre-preparatory provision.

Funding and Paid Extras

The funded offer covers 15 hours funded childcare under the universal entitlement and 30 hours for eligible working families. Funding is stretched over 52 weeks, with charges smoothed into consistent monthly payments. Funded education and care carry no top-up fee, and purchasing additional services is not a condition of accessing funding.

For families opting into the package illustrated in the Autumn Term 2026 charging schedule, meals, consumables and enrichments are charged separately alongside any additional private hours. The funding guide describes additional charges as optional. Children without government funding pay the private daily rate; current prices belong in a personalised written quotation. Parents should distinguish the free funded hours from the extras and privately paid attendance when considering the overall arrangement.

• The right provision. This pre-preparatory setting accepts children aged three to five, while the wider organisation also serves younger children. Select the pre-preparatory option when arranging a visit and discuss how your child will settle into this stage.
• Funding and extras. The Autumn Term 2026 examples assume families have opted into a package with separate meal, consumable and enrichment charges. Ask for a written breakdown for your intended days, including the arrangement if you decline those services.
• Christmas cover. The closure runs from 21 December 2026 to 4 January 2027. Factor that break into family childcare plans rather than treating year-round operation as uninterrupted attendance.
• Outdoor participation. Parents can join children at Dumbles Forest School on 13 and 15 October 2026. Use the visit to discuss how outdoor experiences fit into your child’s normal attendance pattern.

Ashby Castle Pre-Preparatory School suits families seeking preschool education with practical independence, outdoor exploration and opportunities to participate in nursery life. Full-day attendance, funded hours and additional private hours give the offer a clear practical shape.

The August 2022 examples make its educational character memorable: writing a shopping list, handling animals carefully and bringing an egg home all connect learning with real tasks. The current support process is similarly concrete, with parents involved in planning and reviewing help. The deciding practical questions are how the funded package fits the family’s chosen days and how the Christmas break fits working commitments.