Carnarvon Pre School

A pond, a copse and an allotment give Carnarvon Pre School an outdoor life that stretches well beyond its own playground. Based within Carnarvon Primary School in Bingham, it combines a separate classroom and fenced play area with access to the wider school grounds. For children who like investigating living things, growing food and moving freely, the physical setting has clear appeal.

Ofsted rated the pre-school Good at its 30 June 2023 inspection. Its current capacity is 57 children, with an age range of 24 to 60 months. These are whole-setting figures, rather than the size of an individual activity group. Morning, afternoon and all-day attendance are offered during term time, with bookings spread across at least two days.

In June 2023, children visited different parts of the on-site school, giving them practical preparation for school life. Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still need to use the local authority admissions process.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage is the shared framework for learning through play, conversation, movement and exploration. Children choose activities and join practitioner-led groups, combining their own interests with learning alongside others.

Construction, role play, mark making and experiments fill the indoor programme. Natural materials, small-world play and turn-taking games encourage investigation and cooperation. Displays connect learning with families, feelings and the wider world.

In June 2023, physical activities included dancing, action songs and practising balance outdoors. Play dough and cutting activities helped children practise movements used in early writing. A discovery of a ladybird became an opportunity to consider its habitat and count its spots: a useful example of staff connecting children's curiosity with mathematical language and care for living things.

In June 2023, adult-led planning needed clearer next steps and greater challenge for children further ahead. Younger children also lost interest in larger groups. Adapting activities to different developmental stages was the key weakness.

Outdoor and Community Life

The pre-school's own outdoor area has a soft-play surface and a covered awning, plus a separate grassed garden for independent exploration. These spaces offer different kinds of movement and play close to the classroom. Beyond them, the school grounds provide room for sport, running and investigating nature.

Pond dipping in the oasis area, mini-beast searches in the copse and growing and harvesting fruit and vegetables at the allotment make the natural world something children can investigate directly.

Walks around the grounds include the copse, wildflower areas and allotment. Major outings require separate parental consent. In June 2023, children recognised a warning sign near the pond and understood that they should remain beside an adult, linking outdoor exploration with learning how to respond to hazards.

Relationships and Communication

Each child's key person works with parents on care, learning and settling in. Together they agree support for the first days, informed by registration questions about interests, worries, comforters, home languages and family celebrations.

Tapestry Online Learning Journal connects home and pre-school through photographs, learning observations and next steps. It includes two-year reviews and half-term home learning, while parents can contribute their own photographs and videos. Contributions from home can become show-and-tell material, giving children something familiar to talk about with others.

A closed Facebook group shares daily activities and important notices with current parents and staff. It excludes wider family members. Parents can also volunteer through a session rota or share their interests and skills with children, offering a more direct way to participate in the pre-school's life.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the June 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective, children making progress from their individual starting points and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receiving timely support through work with parents and other professionals. That is a dated judgement about practice, separate from the current procedures families can discuss with staff.

Practitioners work with a Special Educational Needs Coordinator to identify additional needs. Behaviour support involves agreeing adjustments with parents, reviewing plans and seeking specialist help when needed. The ABC approach examines an incident's preceding events, the behaviour and its consequences to identify triggers.

The behaviour policy rules out shouting, humiliating children and leaving them alone as punishment. When a child needs help to calm down, an adult can accompany them to a quieter space. In June 2023, staff used conversations about feelings to help children recognise emotions and manage their responses.

School preparation is practical. In June 2023, children visited classrooms, the playground and pond, practised managing school uniform through role play and used a lending library with a school book bag. The pre-school employed 11 childcare staff at that time, nine of whom held level 3 early-years qualifications; those figures describe the team at that visit.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Carnarvon Primary School, Nursery Road, Bingham, Nottingham, NG13 8EH. Attendance runs Monday to Friday during term time: morning sessions are 8.50am to 11.50am, afternoons 12.20pm to 3.20pm and all-day attendance 8.50am to 3.20pm. A lunch club runs from 11.50am to 12.20pm between the shorter sessions.

Children must attend across at least two days. The calendar follows Nottinghamshire County Council term dates and the school’s INSET closures, so this pattern needs to fit a family's holiday arrangements as well as its weekly routine. Applications record preferred days and sessions; a registration form follows shortly before a child starts.

Telephone and email enquiries have separate contact arrangements during and outside sessions. Children younger than two can join the waiting list by application form; the pre-school contacts families when the child is old enough and a place arises.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and privately paid sessions can be combined. The offer includes funding for eligible two-year-olds, 15 funded hours for three-year-olds from the academic term following the term in which they turn three and an additional entitlement for eligible working parents, delivered during term time. For children attending all five weekdays and using their full 30 funded hours here, the additional 2.5 hours attract no extra charge.

Parents can send a packed lunch or buy a separately charged hot school meal, including when using funded hours; the pre-school also provides a morning snack and milk or water. Its food policy asks families to avoid products containing nuts because of allergies, and hot meals are paid for through ParentPay in advance or when ordered.

There are no consumables charges, including for funded attendance, but parents bring nappies and wipes when needed. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the funding and fees page explains the main charging arrangements. Fees remain payable for sickness or holidays, and leaving outside the move to school requires four weeks' written notice or fees instead.

Getting There

Parents must park outside the school site and keep emergency access clear. Parking near the school entrance on Nursery Road is prohibited by the pre-school's instructions, so collection arrangements need to account for parking farther away.

• Learning across ages. June 2023 findings called for sharper next-step planning and better engagement of younger children in larger groups. During a visit, ask how an activity is adapted for a newly starting child and one ready for greater challenge.
• Term-time commitment. Bookings span at least two days, and school holidays and INSET days interrupt attendance. This suits a school-calendar routine, while families needing holiday childcare must plan that separately.
• Lunch and allergies. Hot school meals cost extra and packed lunches are an alternative; families also supply nappies and wipes. If allergies affect your child, confirm how the food restrictions and individual dietary arrangements work in practice.
• School familiarity. The school grounds and June 2023 transition activities offer useful preparation. Attendance does not guarantee Reception admission, so keep the local authority application separate from the pre-school booking.

Carnarvon suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as all-day attendance within a term-time routine. Its strongest practical assets are the school grounds, the separate indoor and outdoor spaces, and opportunities for parents to contribute through Tapestry and the volunteer rota.

The June 2023 Good judgement gives a clear inspection position, with specific improvement points around planning and younger children's participation. For a child drawn to outdoor investigation and a family comfortable with the school calendar, there is a substantial offer to weigh alongside those teaching questions.