Puddleducks Pre-School Mulbarton

A garden harvest that becomes snack food, a reading den and visits around the village give Puddleducks Pre-School Mulbarton its character. Based in the Jubilee Room at Mulbarton Village Hall, this charity-run preschool combines play indoors with outdoor activity in all weathers. Its appeal is concrete: children can tend plants, explore messy materials and practise everyday skills.

At its February 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good and found safeguarding effective. That dated judgement sits alongside improvement priorities concerning staff deployment and the consistency of teaching, both relevant to families whose children need extra help joining activities.

Children can attend from 18 months until school age, and the setting has 22 places in total. Term-time attendance includes morning, afternoon and full-day sessions, with Breakfast Club and Twilight extending the day on their specified days.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the shared foundation for learning and care: here, children develop social, physical and thinking skills through play, with activities led both by children and adults. That means room for a child's own ideas alongside planned experiences appropriate to their development.

A large indoor room is divided into play spaces, while a smaller room accommodates group activities, movement, sensory exploration and construction. The layout responds to children's interests and contributions from parents. Role play, books, art materials and small-world play give children different ways to participate; an investigation station and mark making add opportunities to explore and record ideas.

Tuff spots hold materials such as playdough, gloop and cloud dough for hands-on sensory activity. A child can investigate texture and shape through handling materials rather than needing to explain everything in words. The book corner provides a quieter alternative.

Visitors extend that play into the wider world. Examples include a dentist, a vet and a ballet dancer, while the local Police Community Support Officer makes regular visits about road safety. Fire brigade visits introduce fire safety and give children a chance to look inside a fire engine. The practical subject matter connects learning with people and situations children may encounter beyond preschool.

Outdoor and Community Life

The Eco garden involves children in planting, tending and harvesting, with produce used for snacks or cooking activities. A mud kitchen supports outdoor imaginative play, while bikes, scooters and a grass area offer different kinds of movement. Bug hunting and the reading den make space for close observation and quieter time outdoors too. The garden is used in all weathers, so suitable clothing is part of participating fully.

Community experiences include nature walks on the Common and a Christmas service at Mulbarton Church. Groups have also visited the post office, bakery, library and farm shop. Each year, additional outings for children and parents include destinations such as The Playhouse and Roarr ! These extend the preschool's world beyond its rooms and garden, while keeping parents involved in some of the experiences.

Ducklings Stay & Play is a separate group overseen by Puddleducks, with parents or carers remaining alongside their children. It meets at the Scout hut in Mulbarton on term-time Wednesdays, from 10am to 12pm, and needs no advance registration or booking. It serves babies through to school starters, giving local families a social activity distinct from the preschool's childcare sessions.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who works with the family. Staff aim to stagger start dates to help children settle, and parents are encouraged to remain for the first session. Further settling sessions can be discussed with that key person. This gives the family a specific relationship through which to share what helps their child feel comfortable, rather than leaving settling to a single fixed introduction.

Tapestry is the online learning journal, allowing parents to see activities and development milestones in their own time. It adds a way to follow a child's experiences beyond the conversations possible during a busy day. Parents' knowledge also contributes to the arrangement of indoor activities, making their child's interests relevant to planning as well as settling.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the February 2023 inspection, Ofsted identified occasions when staff positioning left children needing help disengaged, and asked leaders to strengthen deployment, supervision and mentoring so teaching became more consistently effective. This is a meaningful qualification to the Good judgement: individual support depends on staff noticing when a child needs assistance, as well as providing the activity itself.

A SEND contact route is available to families. Changing facilities accommodate children in nappies, and staff support toileting. A trained first aider attends each session; accidents are recorded for parents, and families are contacted to collect a child who becomes ill. These are practical arrangements, rather than an assurance about every child's experience.

School preparation emphasises sharing, following routines, listening together and managing everyday tasks. In July 2019, school preparation included opportunities to visit Mulbarton Primary School and passing information to children's teachers. The value is familiarity and continuity of support. These transition activities do not secure a school place; families still use the local authority admissions process.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Jubilee Room, Village Hall, Mulbarton, Norwich, NR14 8AE, across from the common. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01508 571285 or through the contact form. Admissions operate in order of registration, and families may register from birth; registration is separate from the age at which preschool attendance begins.

Puddleducks operates during term time, Monday to Friday. Full day runs from 9am to 3.30pm, Morning from 9am to 12pm and Afternoon from 12pm to 3.30pm, each Monday to Friday. Breakfast Club is 8am to 9am on those days, while Twilight runs from 3.30pm to 5.45pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Opening hours are 8am to 3.30pm on Monday and Friday, extending to 5.45pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Regular bookings use fixed sessions, which can be combined across days. Additional sessions are conditional on staffing ratios, space and reasonable notice. The practical distinction is important: later collection is part of the offer on three named weekdays, rather than throughout the week.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and privately paid sessions are both offered. Accepted entitlements include universal funding for three- and four-year-olds, working-family funding, support for families claiming eligible benefits, and the working entitlement for parents of children over nine months. Attendance itself starts at 18 months, so acceptance of that funding category does not change the preschool's starting age. Funding is used within the term-time offer.

Breakfast and the Twilight light dinner are included in their respective session costs, parents send lunch for full-day and afternoon attendance, and staff prepare morning snacks using produce from Paddock Farm shop in Mulbarton. The packed-lunch policy excludes nut products, and dietary requirements are collected at registration.

Parents provide sun cream and all nappy-changing items their child needs. Indoor-only footwear, outdoor clothing and a named change of clothes are also part of the everyday preparation. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the sessions and funding guide explains the booking options and charge structure.

• Support during activities. The February 2023 improvement priorities concerned staff deployment and mentoring. During a booked visit, ask how staff recognise and help a child who has stopped participating, especially if your child needs additional support.
• Different collection times. Twilight operates on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, while Monday and Friday finish earlier. Match the proposed weekly booking to those differences before committing to a pattern.
• Food and allergies. Lunch comes from home, while breakfast and Twilight dinner are included in those sessions. Families managing allergies should confirm current food-handling practice and how the nut-product restriction applies to their child's needs.
• Starting before school age. Attendance begins at 18 months and settling can extend beyond the first session. Ask how the key person would organise your child's introduction and how rest is accommodated within the preschool day.

Puddleducks suits families seeking term-time morning or afternoon attendance as well as a full-day pattern, with breakfast and later sessions offering additional options on their specified days. Gardening, village experiences and practical school preparation give the offer substance. The main qualification is the February 2023 concern about consistent support during activities: families should give that issue proper attention when assessing how the setting would meet their own child's needs.