Sacred Heart Pre-School

Composting food scraps, tending plants and taking recycling beyond the classroom give Sacred Heart Pre-School a practical environmental character. Known as Little Hearts, this Henley-on-Thames setting combines gardening and community litter-picking with woodwork, creative activities and time outdoors. Children take part in caring for their surroundings, rather than simply hearing about why it matters.

The preschool has 24 places in total and enrols children aged two and a half to five. Ofsted rated it Good on 4 February 2022. That dated judgement sits alongside a current offer with clear emphasis on nature, emotional wellbeing and family involvement.

Morning and afternoon sessions can be combined flexibly during term time. The preschool is a charity managed by a committee of parents and community professionals, so family participation extends beyond conversations about an individual child.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the foundation for learning and care: children develop communication, relationships and understanding through play and everyday experiences. Here, the additions include gardening, woodwork, cooking, music and movement, with mindfulness exercises bringing quieter moments into the day. These activities offer different ways to participate, from making and moving to observing and reflecting.

Woodwork introduces decisions about risk and safe action. Gardening connects sensory exploration with plant life cycles and responsibility, while cooking and eating activities introduce healthy food choices through experience. Art supports imagination and the small hand movements children use when handling creative materials. The offer is practical and varied, with both adult-guided activities and opportunities led by children’s interests.

In February 2022, children explored contrasting textures with their bare feet during a story-based activity, then talked about the sensations. Staff also extended conversations during play, introducing descriptive vocabulary while children used toy cars. These examples show how an ordinary activity can become an opportunity to use language and make connections.

The same February 2022 account identified limits to children’s independence in learning. They tended to seek organised activities with adults rather than start play alone or with friends, and explanations sometimes stopped before children understood the purpose of a task. Staff also needed to make more of opportunities to extend interests and knowledge, while management interventions occasionally interrupted teaching already working well. A separate improvement action called for staff to develop their teaching so that children experienced consistently good learning. These are useful points to explore alongside the current balance of child-led and adult-guided activity.

Outdoor and Community Life

An outdoor space and garden support the nature emphasis. Children sort food waste for compost and reuse scrap materials in creative work. Recycling bins indoors and outside become learning resources too: children help prepare them and take responsibility for sorting what goes where. Environmental care becomes something they can practise.

Community litter-picking and outings exploring trees, parks and meadows take that learning beyond the preschool. No fixed outing frequency is implied. The value lies in connecting what children do inside the setting with the places around them.

Family events add another dimension. The International Festival celebrates cultural traditions and food, while the Welcome Event for New Families takes the form of a September bacon butty morning. TLC (Tender Love and Care) Days invite families to help improve the preschool. These are concrete ways for parents to become involved in the setting’s life.

Relationships and Communication

Tapestry Online Journal System records children’s development so parents and carers can follow activities. That gives families a continuing connection with the day, alongside the preschool’s work with parents. Its inclusion policy also calls for discussion of a child’s family identity during settling, giving practitioners a starting point for understanding the child’s background.

In February 2022, children took turns helping with snacks and recycling, and used a sand timer to manage turns. Quiet music and time lying calmly together formed part of daily mindfulness sessions. These were simple routines through which children practised responsibility, cooperation and moving between activities.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the February 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described targeted plans for children with SEND and additional funding, supported by work with other professionals. The current SEND arrangements include working with parents and outside agencies to identify and meet individual needs. This describes the support mechanism; the dated inspection supplies the judgement on its effectiveness.

Families of different religions and backgrounds are welcomed. The inclusion policy addresses children’s identity, family differences and languages, and involves parents in settling discussions. For families, the useful point is the attention to what an individual child brings from home, rather than an assumption that everyone starts in the same place.

Snacks come through voluntary donations from families, with no separate snack charge.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8.30am to 3.15pm during term time. Morning sessions run from 8.30am to 11.30am, lunch from 11.30am to 12.30pm, and afternoons from 12.30pm to 3.15pm. Families can combine session types flexibly, and the minimum booking is two sessions each week. Ad-hoc sessions are also offered to children already enrolled.

This gives families a choice between shorter attendance and combinations spanning more of the preschool day. The term-time calendar remains the key practical boundary: these arrangements suit a family whose childcare plans can accommodate school holidays.

The address is Sacred Heart Roman Catholic School, Greys Hill, Henley on Thames, RG9 1SL. Enquiries can be made by telephone, email or the contact form. The preschool occupies separate premises within the grounds of Sacred Heart RC Primary School; attending the preschool does not guarantee a Reception place, and families still apply through the local authority’s admissions process.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible children can use the 15-hour entitlement, with the extended 30-hour working-parent entitlement offered where eligibility applies. Funding is delivered during term time, and funded hours can be used across morning, lunch and afternoon sessions. Private paid sessions are offered too.

Contributions towards the preschool’s costs are voluntary. There is no enrolment deposit, and invoices for allocated sessions are issued in advance during the early part of each term. Families donate snacks voluntarily, with no separate snack charge. Current prices come in the preschool’s written quotation; the fees and funding page explains the charging structure.

• Independence in play. In February 2022, children relied heavily on adult-led activities and staff missed some opportunities to extend learning. On a visit, ask how children now choose activities and how practitioners develop an emerging interest.
• Term-time attendance. The day ends at 3.15pm and bookings start at two sessions weekly. Match the morning, lunch and afternoon combinations to your working hours and holiday arrangements.
• Lunch and shared food. Snack donations are voluntary and cooking activities form part of the curriculum. What are the lunch arrangements, and how are allergies managed during lunch, shared snacks and cooking?
• A school-site setting. Separate preschool premises sit within primary-school grounds. This can appeal to families seeking that setting, but preschool attendance does not secure a Reception place.

Sacred Heart suits families seeking term-time morning sessions, afternoon sessions or flexible combinations, with practical nature activities and opportunities to participate in preschool life. Gardening, composting and community litter-picking give the offer substance, while Tapestry keeps parents connected with children’s development.

The Good judgement dates to February 2022, and the teaching points from that visit deserve attention. For a family comfortable with the preschool-day timetable, this is a setting with a clear environmental character and an active role for parents.