Horrington House Pre School

Village walks to watch tadpoles, a dance session at Studio Sofia and ice-cream making at Palette and Pasture give Horrington House Pre School a recognisable character: learning reaches beyond the preschool room. This parent-run charity occupies the Horrington Primary School site in Wells, serves children aged two to four and has 16 places in total.

Ofsted rated the setting Good at its July 2021 inspection. That is a dated judgement, while the activities described below include outings and projects from 2025 and 2026. The strongest practical distinction is its term-time calendar, with opening hours running from 8.30am to 3.30pm.

Learning and Activities

Children choose activities and have time to see a task through. That gives them practice in making decisions as well as completing something they have started.

February 2026's role-play farm shop brought number work into an everyday situation. Children explored food growing, tried food preparation and tasting, and practised sorting, sharing and listening to instructions. The shop connected mathematical ideas with something children could recognise from shopping with their families.

A space project described in November 2025 combined rocket building, crafts and pretend astronaut play with directional instructions. Stop and go, up and down, left and right became part of the game. Bubble painting in June 2025 explored colour mixing, while the butterfly project that May let children watch a life cycle and release the butterflies into the garden. These are concrete examples of learning through doing, rather than a list of topics alone.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School activities use the local environment for outdoor learning, including regular village walks to observe tadpoles and seasonal changes. Children also have outdoor activities they choose themselves alongside those led by adults. The distinction matters: there is room both for children's interests and for a practitioner to introduce something new.

The June 2026 Wells outing combined dance and music at Studio Sofia with play on the Cathedral Green and a visit inside the Cathedral. Shapes, colours, letters and numbers became things to spot in the building. Library trips into Wells include bus travel and storytelling, bringing books together with practical road-safety learning.

Another 2026 outing took the preschool to Palette and Pasture near Frome. Children saw farm animals, rode on a tractor, visited the milking parlour and helped make vanilla ice cream. Food production became something they could experience directly. Closer to home, nature walks supplied materials for bird feeders in January 2026, linking making activities with caring for local wildlife.

A personal key person provides a point of continuity for each child. Parents also have a structural role: an elected parent committee runs the charity, giving family involvement a place in how the setting is organised, rather than limiting it to conversations about an individual child.

Daily activities take account of changing energy levels, with rest and quieter options available according to individual needs. This matters within a busy programme of outdoor play and outings: participation does not mean keeping every child at the same pace throughout the day.

Staff undertake further training covering paediatric first aid, safeguarding and SEN. These are arrangements for maintaining staff knowledge; they should be read separately from the dated inspection judgement.

Breakfast with buddies, held to celebrate Father's Day in 2026, invited children to bring a special adult for breakfast, share their work and introduce their friends. For children approaching Reception, it also provided a final opportunity to share preschool life with their families. The event made parent involvement tangible through children's own experiences and work.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is The School House, Horrington, Wells, BA5 3EB. Opening hours are 8.30am to 3.30pm on five days each week, across 38 weeks annually. The calendar follows Horrington Primary School's terms and includes its INSET training days. This is a term-time arrangement, so families need to plan separately for care during the holidays.

The preschool can be contacted by email at hello@horringtonhouse.org.uk, by telephone on 01749 673516 or through its contact form. Attending the preschool on the school site does not guarantee a Reception place.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered for two-year-olds and through Nursery Education Funding for three- and four-year-olds. The funding information describes fifteen funded hours for three- and four-year-olds over up to thirty-eight weeks, beginning in the term after their third birthday; funding for some two-year-olds depends on household income.

Private childcare is charged by the hour, with payment due monthly in advance. Families should obtain a current written quotation, using the session times and fees page as the starting point for the payment structure. The term-time calendar is an important part of comparing that quotation with the care a family needs across the year.

• Term-time hours and wraparound. The core opening window is 8.30am to 3.30pm over 38 weeks. A tentative proposal referred to wraparound from September 2025; ask whether it now operates and how it would fit your child's attendance.
• The school-site relationship. Sharing the Horrington Primary School site does not secure admission to Reception. Keep preschool choice and Reception admission separate.
• The complete cost of attendance. Hourly charges are payable monthly in advance. When reviewing a written quotation, ask how meals, snacks and non-food consumables are handled for funded and privately paid hours.

Horrington House suits families seeking term-time preschool for a two- to four-year-old, with child-chosen activities and learning that makes use of Wells and the surrounding village. The farm shop, village nature walks and visits to Studio Sofia and Palette and Pasture give substance to that offer.

Its parent committee and key-person arrangement provide two different routes for family involvement. The decision rests on whether the term-time calendar and opening window fit family life, alongside a Good inspection judgement dating from July 2021.