Tiddley Peeps Pre School

A story snake, rainbow rhyme puppets and wooden blocks give Tiddley Peeps Pre School a recognisable character: stories and materials that children can put to their own use. Based at New Life Church in Coalville, this church-hall preschool combines an indoor play space with free-flow access to an outdoor area. It has 24 places in total and accepts children from age 2 to school age. The appeal is practical, hands-on learning.

At its September 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the preschool Good and found safeguarding effective. That is a dated judgement. The current approach centres on following children's interests, developing communication and making resources accessible to children at different stages of development. Books, action rhymes and everyday conversation give language a place throughout play, rather than reserving it for a single activity.

Attendance is term-time only, with morning, afternoon and full-day sessions. That makes the preschool relevant to families seeking a shorter session as well as those wanting a school-hours day.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning and care, with play supporting their development. Tiddley Peeps adds an in the moment approach: practitioners watch for occasions when a child is ready to learn and use that interest to extend the activity. The emphasis is on responding to what children are doing, supported by an environment planned to let children at different developmental stages participate.

Loose parts play gives that approach tangible substance. Wooden blocks, pebbles and cardboard tubes can be moved, combined and repurposed, so the same materials can serve different ideas. A stick might become part of a construction or a tool for stirring. Children can take materials between areas of the preschool, subject to safe use, while adults observe and add language.

Language runs through the day. Books are used across the play provision, alongside songs and action rhymes, while adults describe what children are doing. The story snake and rainbow rhyme puppets bring storytelling and rhymes into this work. Letters and Sounds Phase one adds pre-phonics activities involving listening, attention, vocabulary, rhythm and rhyme. For parents, the emphasis is on the skills needed to hear, understand and join in before formal reading becomes the task.

Writing preparation includes painting, cornflour gloop, shopping lists and adults writing down children's stories. These activities link marks with meaning while also giving children opportunities to strengthen their fingers. Playdough is made each morning, adding a material children can shape and manipulate themselves.

Mathematics is woven into number songs, parachute games and sorting natural objects. Measuring equipment in the home corner and mud kitchen connects quantity with practical play; children also work on matching numbers to amounts, sharing objects equally and recognising small quantities without counting each object. At the September 2022 inspection, Ofsted identified a need for staff to make better use of play to develop counting and number recognition. That remains a useful point for parents to explore alongside the current mathematical activities.

Outdoor and Community Life

Free-flow outdoor access gives children a choice between the hall and outside play. Larger toy animals and construction vehicles can be used in the sand pit or gravel pit, and natural materials support small-world play. Climbing, jumping, painting and playdough offer different kinds of physical practice, from whole-body movement to hand control.

In September 2022, children used a plank and logs for balancing, explored a mud kitchen and worked with small tools in an outdoor woodwork area. One activity involved hammering nails into pumpkins. These are examples from that period, showing how practical tasks and imaginative play featured in the day, rather than a promise of a fixed activity timetable now.

Current experiences include watching live caterpillars develop into butterflies and exploring cameras, scales and whisks as screen-free technology. Walks to the library and market connect learning with the surrounding community. Monthly visits from church visitors bring stories, songs and arts and crafts into the preschool. These experiences give children things to observe, talk about and revisit in their own play.

Relationships and Communication

Support for emotions is concrete: adults name and acknowledge feelings, model behaviour and help children learn to play alongside one another. This matters at an age when sharing materials and waiting for a turn can be as demanding as a learning activity. Kindness and helping other children are part of the same approach.

Communication is broader than speech alone. The total communication approach responds to facial expressions and body language as well as Makaton, visual prompts, choice boards and devices. Children therefore have several ways to express a choice or join an interaction.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The deputy manager holds Co-SENDCo and safeguarding lead roles, and practitioners have paediatric first-aid certificates and safeguarding training. These are arrangements and responsibilities; the dated safeguarding judgement belongs to the inspection. Alongside those roles, planning aims to make activities accessible at different developmental stages, while the communication tools offer practical routes into participation.

In September 2022, adults spoke calmly at children's level during disagreements and prompted turn-taking. Children practised independence by managing outdoor clothing, washing their hands and serving themselves at snack time. Everyday care tasks therefore also provided opportunities to do things for themselves.

Daily conversations with staff were used for progress updates in September 2022, and information about children's experiences at home helped shape subsequent activities. That connection between home interests and preschool play fitted the interest-led approach: an activity could extend something meaningful to the child, rather than begin from an identical starting point for everyone.

Sessions and Attendance

The preschool operates during term time and opens from 8am to 5pm. Its typical morning session runs from 9am to noon, the afternoon from noon to 3pm, and the full day from 9am to 3pm. These are different booking choices within the wider opening window, so a full day here means the school-hours session rather than the entire period the building is open.

Earlier starts at 8am and later finishes at 5pm are subject to arrangement, with flexibility accommodated where possible. Term-time operation is a central planning consideration for families whose work or childcare needs continue through school holidays.

Getting There

The address is New Life Church, Margaret Street, Coalville, LE67 3LY. Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by telephone on 07597836652 or by email at tiddleypeeps.preschool@gmail.com.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government-funded hours are accepted without additional charges. The funding offer includes up to 30 hours of 2-year-old funding for qualifying children and the new working family 2 year funding. For children aged 3 and 4, the offer includes 15 hours a week from the term following their third birthday, with 30 hours over 38 weeks for working families who qualify.

The preschool is term-time only, so the funded offer follows that attendance model. The sessions and funding page brings the attendance choices and funding offer together.

• Term-time attendance. Morning, afternoon and school-hours full days serve different routines, but the preschool operates during term time. Families needing care during school holidays should account for those periods in their childcare plan.
• Counting through play. The September 2022 improvement point concerned counting and number recognition during activities. At a visit, ask how practitioners now use the mud kitchen, sorting materials and number games to extend those skills.
• Communication and care. Makaton, visual prompts and choice boards are part of the total communication approach. Use a visit to discuss how these would fit your child's communication, settling and everyday care, including arrangements for food and non-food supplies.

Tiddley Peeps suits families seeking term-time morning or afternoon sessions as well as a school-hours full day. Its strongest identity comes from materials children can rearrange, language threaded through play and a church-hall setting with outdoor access. The story snake, rhyme puppets and community walks add recognisable detail to that approach.

The Good judgement dates to September 2022, with counting and number recognition the specific improvement point. Parents who value interest-led play and practical communication tools have clear reasons to consider it, while the term-time calendar needs to fit the family's wider care arrangements.