Scorton Village Pre School

Herbs, homemade obstacle courses and flowers delivered to neighbours give Scorton Village Pre School its village character. In June 2025, children were using practical experiences to explore ideas, make decisions and take responsibility for everyday tasks. This is preschool learning with something tangible to do, rather than simply something to listen to.

At its 10 June 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the setting Outstanding across all assessed areas. The preschool occupies an extension built for preschool use at Scorton War Memorial Institute, with exclusive use of its building during operating hours. It has capacity for 30 children aged 24 to 60 months. That whole-setting figure is a capacity, rather than the number sharing any particular activity.

Attendance is term-time, with hours negotiated within the weekday opening window. For families, the combination to weigh is a village setting, practical play and an attendance calendar that follows school terms.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning and care: children develop through play, conversation, movement and everyday routines. Here, painting, model making, sand and water activities sit alongside stories, singing and imaginative play. Children can reach equipment themselves, giving them opportunities to choose what to use rather than waiting for an adult to supply it.

A quiet book area offers a calmer option, while the role play area changes with children's interests. Adult-led activities and children's own play both have a place in the day. This matters for a child who wants to pursue an idea independently, as well as one who benefits from a practitioner introducing something new.

In June 2025, elephant-making became an opportunity to compare African and Indian elephants using a factual book. Snack preparation also brought mathematics into an ordinary task: children considered the chopping boards needed and discussed dividing food into halves. These examples show how practical activity can carry factual knowledge and mathematical language together. The activity gives the discussion a purpose.

Conversation extended beyond naming objects. During that same month, children discussed milk and teeth using vocabulary connected with nutrition, while staff allowed time for answers to develop. For parents, the useful detail is the connection between talk and experience: children had something concrete to explain, question and discuss.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor activity forms part of the daily offer. In June 2025, children grew herbs, invented obstacle courses and handled real tools. These were different kinds of physical involvement, from careful hand movements to larger challenges designed by the children themselves.

Village walks take place with parental permission. The June 2025 account also included children taking flowers to neighbours and exploring other countries through stories, language and food. Community life therefore reached beyond the preschool's own activities. Children had opportunities to connect what they were learning with other people and places.

Relationships and Communication

A key person meets the family before a child starts, discussing the child's strengths and support needs. Stay-and-play opportunities are part of settling, with parents involved in preparing their child for the change. This gives the first conversations a practical purpose: familiar routines and individual needs can shape the start.

Parents contribute to learning plans through an all about me sheet, and learning journals contain photographs of activities. HOME/SCHOOL BAGS are borrowing resources for continuing learning at home. They give families something practical to share with their child beyond a conversation about the day.

Communication has clear boundaries. Key-person emails receive replies during that practitioner's working hours, and same-day messages during a session should be telephoned through. That distinction matters when information needs to reach staff before collection rather than wait for an email response.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the June 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and praised personalised support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and children learning English as an additional language, finding that they were fully included and progressed rapidly. Current support arrangements include a SEND coordinator, a deputy and individual plans developed with parents.

The SEND process follows assessment, planning, implementation and review. An ILPP sets out the child's targets, interventions and review arrangements; reviews normally take place every six weeks, adjusted to individual needs. With parental permission, the Inclusive Education Service can contribute further advice. Families therefore have a structured way to discuss support and revisit whether it is helping.

For children learning English, the policy includes signs and symbols for routines, attention to the home language and efforts to learn useful phrases from it. The building has wheelchair access. These are specific arrangements to consider against a child's needs, rather than a blanket promise about provision.

A quiet resting area is available, and sleeping children have recorded checks every 15 minutes. The preschool also has a designated safeguarding lead and deputy, while its health policy provides for paediatric first aid training across the staff team.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is The Annex, War Memorial Institute, Scorton, DL10 6DN. Opening hours are 8am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday, during term time. Attendance hours are negotiable; from September 2026, the minimum booking is two sessions across two days. Families need to accommodate both that minimum and the term-time calendar.

Funding and session enquiries use the preschool email account, scortonpreschool1@live.co.uk. Bills are issued each term. Children should start at their agreed time, with earlier attendance arranged with staff in advance.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes 15 Hours universal funding and 30 Hours extended funding, negotiated within term-time opening hours from the term following the child's third birthday. Private childcare is also offered. Families should obtain current prices in the preschool's written quotation.

Parents supply packed lunches, with a cool block because lunch storage is not refrigerated; the Healthy Eating Guide helps families choose suitable food, and the allergy policy records dietary needs and provides for risk assessments where allergies are severe. Parents also supply nappies, wipes and nappy bags, including for funded attendance.

Getting There

Drivers must keep the area beside the black railings clear so neighbours can pass. This is a practical restriction to build into collection arrangements, rather than treating that space as a stopping point.

• Term-time attendance. Hours can be negotiated between 8am and 5.30pm on weekdays, but attendance follows school terms. The two-session, two-day minimum introduced in September 2026 also needs to fit the family's week.
• Lunch and personal supplies. Families provide packed lunches, nappies, wipes and nappy bags. For a child with allergies, discuss current practice and how their individual dietary arrangements will work, alongside a written quotation covering the intended attendance.
• Settling and support. Families meet a key person before starting and can use stay-and-play opportunities. At a visit, discuss how settling would work for your child and, where relevant, how an ILPP would be agreed and reviewed.

Scorton Village Pre School suits families seeking term-time preschool care with negotiated attendance hours, practical learning and close involvement in their child's plans. The strongest examples are concrete: accessible play equipment, village walks, resources borrowed for home and a structured SEND planning process.

The Outstanding judgement from June 2025 gives the educational account substantial weight. The practical fit still matters: families must accommodate the term-time calendar, the minimum attendance across two days and lunches and personal supplies brought from home.