Charles Booth Pre-School

An allotment, Forest School and football with Mega Strikers give Charles Booth Pre-School a recognisable outdoor and active character. Based in Thringstone House at the Charles Booth Centre, this village pre-school combines gardening and community visits with music, movement and preparation for school. There is plenty beyond the playroom.

Charles Booth Pre-School offers 28 places in total for children aged two to five. At its October 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good and found a curriculum that built on children's interests, with older children demonstrating developed early counting and writing skills. The qualifications to that judgement matter: questioning sometimes moved too quickly, and group teaching did not consistently engage every child.

Term-time and year-round attendance sit alongside morning, afternoon, school-day and full-day bookings. The choice is useful, but the funded package deserves close attention because attendance hours, food, consumables and access to activities are separate decisions.

Rooms and Ages

Lower Pre-School caters for two-year-olds, while an Upper Pre-School leader role forms part of the team structure.

Thringstone House provides a spacious indoor setting. In October 2023, children also used a large garden daily, practising balance on planks and tree stumps with adults helping them steady themselves. This was practical physical learning: children tried movements, assessed what they could manage and received guidance as they played.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage sets the common requirements for early learning and care: children develop language, relationships, movement, early reading and number skills through play and planned experiences. Here, creative work, sensory exploration, role play, phonics and number activities sit alongside outdoor learning. These are ways of putting that shared framework into a child's day.

The additions are concrete. Regular football sessions involve Mega Strikers; My Kind of Yoga provides yoga sessions, and Little Beats brings Street Dance. Weekly music sessions and regular drama workshops with Ray of Stars add opportunities to participate in sound, movement and performance.

Forest School adds learning outdoors, including exploration of the natural environment. Visits to the allotment connect that exploration with growing things. In October 2023, children grew produce and went den-building; younger children also squeezed pipettes during firefighter play, while older children shaped and cut dough. These examples show how physical skills and imaginative play can occupy the same activity.

Questioning and group organisation were the weaker points in October 2023. Adults sometimes asked questions too rapidly for children to formulate an answer, and some group experiences failed to match individual learning needs. Both issues affect participation: an appealing activity still needs enough thinking time and the right level of challenge for each child.

Outdoor and Community Life

Regular community experiences include visits to a local care home and church activities. In November 2024, children from Charles Booth Pre-School attended a remembrance service at St Andrew’s church. That gives a specific example of the village links behind the broader programme.

Relationships and Communication

Settling starts with information about the individual child. An online all about me form records likes and dislikes, and introductory sessions are free of charge. The approach follows the child's pace, giving staff a starting point for understanding interests before regular attendance begins.

In October 2023, adults encouraged turn-taking during construction and imaginative play. Older children managed their belongings, while younger children received reminders and help, making independence part of daily routines.

Communication differs between packages. The fully free arrangement provides statutory documentation, including the two-year check, with other progress updates given verbally; it excludes the online learning journey, care diary and weekly photographs. Families who value regular digital updates should weigh that difference alongside the hours they need.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the October 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and SEND support good, with the special educational needs coordinator monitoring children, using individual strategies and working with families and outside professionals, including a speech therapist. That is a dated judgement with a practical mechanism behind it, rather than a general promise about suitability for every child.

Food also requires family preparation. Breakfast, a morning snack and light tea are included in the relevant private session fees, while parents supply a packed lunch and refillable water bottle. The nursery's food policy asks families to avoid nuts, and food brought from home must be suitable to eat without reheating and packed with ice packs.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Charles Booth Centre, The Green, Thringstone, Coalville, Leicestershire LE67 8NR. Attendance can be term-time or across the year, with the pre-school open for 51 weeks; closures include bank holidays and a week at Christmas.

Private bookings include a full day from 7.30am to 6pm, a morning from 7.30am to 1pm, an afternoon from 1pm to 6pm and a school day from 9am to 3pm. The funded-session arrangements separately offer a full day from 8am to 6pm, a morning from 8am to 1pm, an afternoon from 1pm to 6pm and a school day from 9am to 3pm. The start-time difference needs resolving for the chosen booking.

Fully funded term-time sessions run from 9am to noon or 1pm to 4pm. They can be taken as a five-session block or tailored, such as three mornings, but extra hours cannot be attached to these sessions.

The same-site Holiday Club caters for children up to eight. Its school-day booking runs from 9am to 4pm, with wraparound between 8am and 9am and between 4pm and 6pm; places are booked in advance. This can help families coordinate holiday care for preschool children and older siblings. Enquiries and tour bookings use the contact form or telephone.

Getting There

Free parking is provided in the spacious car park behind Charles Booth Pre-School.

Funding and Paid Extras

The Free Early Education Entitlement offers 15 or 30 hours, subject to eligibility. Funding is allocated over 38 term-time weeks, with stretching possible for attendance across 51 weeks provided attendance is less than 30 hours per week. Billing is averaged over 10 months for term-time attendance or 12 months for all-year attendance.

Meals and snacks, non-food consumables and additional activities are charged separately within funded packages that include extras; these contributions are voluntary. Parents ordinarily provide nappies, wipes and creams. The fully funded short sessions include snacks, while the unwilling or unable to pay arrangement requires families to supply food and care items, including nappies, wipes and sun cream.

Some physical education and outdoor activities are included in private fees; others, such as swimming, can carry an additional charge, with an option to decline. The fully free package excludes additional activities, outings and certain celebrations, including Christmas, Halloween and graduation. It also prioritises disadvantaged children under its admissions policy and allows families to request a place on the waiting list when the fully free spaces are all full.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The funding and charges page explains each package.

• Start times differ. Private full-day and morning sessions begin at 7.30am, while the funded arrangements and contact timetable start at 8am. Confirm the agreed start time for your booking before arranging work commitments.
• Fully free attendance changes the experience. The package excludes digital learning updates, additional activities, trips and some celebrations. Discuss how your child's session will operate alongside the wider programme, including Forest School.
• Participation needs attention. In October 2023, questioning could be rushed and group activities did not consistently engage each child. On a visit, ask how staff now give children thinking time and adapt group work for different needs.
• Packed food and allergies. Families provide lunch, and the food policy prohibits nuts and requires food that needs no reheating. Allergy-affected families should confirm current practice and agree the food arrangements for their chosen package.

Charles Booth Pre-School suits families seeking morning or afternoon attendance as well as school-day or full-day care, with term-time and year-round options. Mega Strikers, allotment visits and community experiences give the offer substance. The October 2023 Good judgement supports that picture, with clear teaching points to examine on a visit.

The decisive choice is the package. Fully free short sessions and attendance with paid extras differ in hours, family supplies, communication and participation. Families comfortable with those distinctions have a useful set of options in a village setting with parking and sibling holiday care.