Hemingbrough Pre School

A sensory room, stories that carry into play, and a garden where children grow food give Hemingbrough Pre School a clear character: exploration has a practical purpose here. Based at Hemingbrough Village Institute, it has capacity for 15 children in total. That is whole-setting capacity, not an activity group size.

At its March 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good and found safeguarding effective. The strongest current details are the story-based curriculum, opportunities for parents to contribute to learning, and a structured process for children needing additional support. There is also a clear improvement point from March 2024: quieter children sometimes had fewer chances to practise speaking than confident talkers.

Attendance can be booked as a full day or a half day, within a term-time opening pattern.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the required framework for learning and care: children develop language, physical skills, relationships and early mathematical understanding through play and exploration. Hemingbrough adds its own curriculum pillars, including Independence, Book Lovers and Excellent Communicators. Those names have practical meaning. Children make choices, connect play with books, and learn to explain their ideas to others.

Stories for Talking uses repeated storytelling and discussion to build language and confidence. Environmental Text takes a story into the play environment, allowing children to return to its characters and sequence through their own activities.

The June 2026 programme made that distinction concrete. Explorers worked with The Journey Home from Grandpa's, drawing on familiar places and personal experiences, while Investigators used The Three Little Pigs for prediction, storytelling and solving problems.

Explorers and Investigators are learning groups, identified for children aged 2 to 3 and 3 to 4 respectively. Mathematics also receives deliberate attention: counting, comparing, recognising patterns and thinking about shape are woven into the curriculum rather than confined to a single activity.

Hoot, the pre-school's owl character, connects routines, achievements and family contributions. Children encounter him in scrapbooks and displays, while families share their child's successes through wow moments. This gives the curriculum a familiar character that can link conversations at home with experiences in the setting.

Outdoor and Community Life

The physical environment includes a sensory room, role play areas, a curiosity corner and outdoor space. The Home Corner makes everyday experiences useful learning material. Preparing pretend meals, caring for dolls and negotiating roles give children reasons to talk, make decisions and work with friends.

A Sustainability Champion role brings environmental learning into everyday activity through composting, sorting materials, tending the garden and growing fruit and vegetables.

The June 2026 programme planned for children to measure and compare their sprouted beanstalks, care for plants from Stay and Play and observe seasonal changes in the bug hotel. That combination joins early maths with close observation. A growing plant supplies something real to compare, describe and revisit.

In November 2025, the Challenge Ladder gave children a concrete way to talk about learning. Its stages move from trying through practice and mastery to applying a skill. The emphasis is on recognising progress and persisting with something unfamiliar, giving children language for the effort involved in learning.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who builds a relationship with both the child and their family. Observations are shared with parents, alongside termly assessments and the two-year review.

Stay and play sessions run for one week each term, allowing parents to see activities and their child's participation. Scrapbooks can also go home for families to add photographs, drawings or other records of learning. The value lies in the exchange: a new interest discovered at home can become useful information for the key person.

In March 2024, staff helped children tackle everyday tasks such as hanging up coats and using the toilet, encouraging them to persist. Creative ideas were taken seriously too: children devised fruit faces on crumpets, and adults encouraged friends to join the activity. Care and learning met in ordinary tasks, with children practising independence as well as cooperation.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Support for additional needs has a defined structure. The SENCo works with the Early Years Advisory Teacher, and the child’s key person and family help develop an Individual Learning Provision Plan when a need is identified. Plans use achievable targets and are reviewed half termly, so support can be adjusted as the child develops.

Referrals and information-sharing with other agencies require parental consent. For children with higher needs, the SEND offer includes working with services such as Speech & Language and Educational Psychology, plus guidance for families where an Education, Health & Care Plan is needed.

At its March 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that the manager understood how to support children needing extra help, communicated effectively with families and knew when to involve outside agencies. Current arrangements also include a Designated Safeguarding Lead role and paediatric first aid and food hygiene certificates held by all staff.

Moving to school is supported through review meetings and sharing relevant learning plans or health care plans with the receiving setting. For a child already receiving additional help, that gives the next team information about the support in place before the transition.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Hemingbrough Village Institute, Garthends Lane, Hemingbrough, Selby, YO8 6QW. Opening hours are 9am to 3pm, Monday to Friday, during term time only. Bookable options are a morning half day from 9am to noon, an afternoon half day from noon to 3pm, or a full day from 9am to 3pm.

The enquiry form provides the initial contact route, and families ready to apply can complete an admissions form.

Funding and Paid Extras

Both privately paid and funded childcare are offered. Eligible children can access 15 hours of Early Learning Funding for 2-year-olds, up to 30 hours of Working Families Funding for eligible 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds, or 15 hours of Universal Funding for 3- and 4-year-olds. Attendance is term-time, and funded hours are applied before additional charges.

Parents provide packed lunches, while the pre-school supplies healthy snacks, including vegetables, fruit and toast, and provides milk and water during the day. Snacks fall within a separately charged, optional consumables contribution, so lunch and snack arrangements have different cost positions.

That contribution also covers wipes, baking resources and other everyday items. It is separate from both childcare fees and funded hours, and paying it is not a condition of accepting a funded place.

Invoices cover the month ahead. Fees remain payable during sickness or holidays, and late collection attracts an additional charge. Current prices come in the pre-school's written quotation; the fees and funding information explains the funding categories and links to the fees policy.

• Quieter children. In March 2024, support intended to give less confident speakers more practice was not fully established. Use a visit to explore how Stories for Talking and everyday conversations now involve a child who tends to hang back.
• Committee involvement. March 2024 brought an improvement point about induction for committee members, following a delay in adding new members to the registration. The pre-school continues to recruit volunteers, and its committee is necessary for sessions to operate; prospective families can discuss what involvement would entail.
• Term-time fit. Morning, afternoon and full-day bookings all fall within a term-time-only calendar. Families needing childcare during school holidays will need an arrangement that covers those periods.
• Costs beyond attendance. The optional contribution covers snacks and everyday resources, while families supply lunch and attendance fees continue during sickness or holidays. Read the quotation alongside those terms when deciding which session pattern fits the household budget.

Hemingbrough suits families seeking morning or afternoon preschool sessions, as well as those wanting a full day within term time. Its appeal is specific: stories recur in discussion and play, the garden gives children things to grow and observe, and parents can contribute directly to scrapbooks and support planning.

The Good judgement from March 2024 provides a positive inspection position, with a clear qualification around opportunities for quieter speakers and committee induction. For families who value a small village setting, practical independence and an active connection between home and preschool, this is a well-defined option. The term-time calendar and separate lunch arrangements are central to the decision.