Greendown Playgroup

A music wall, tyre planting beds and kitchens for mud and loose parts give Greendown Playgroup a hands-on character. This Grange Park setting occupies its own building within Lydiard Park Academy in Swindon, with front and back gardens that put digging, making and exploring into the nursery day.

Ofsted rated Greendown Good at its 19 April 2023 inspection, finding effective safeguarding and good progress, including for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Greendown has 30 places in total, with a current age range of three to five. It operates during term time, with morning, afternoon and full-day sessions plus booked wraparound care. Families looking for holiday childcare need to weigh that calendar carefully.

Rooms and Ages

The room names are Terrific Two’s and Awesome 3 & 4’s. The building contains two playrooms, with a sleeping and changing area within the right-hand playroom. Three toddler beds give rest a physical place in the setting, alongside changing facilities; sleep and personal care have space beyond the main play areas.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the shared framework for learning through play, covering communication, physical development, relationships and early literacy and mathematics. Greendown combines activities children direct themselves with experiences led by an adult. This gives children opportunities to make choices as well as practise taking part with others.

The learning programme makes those broad areas concrete. Children explore quantity through counting and changes made by adding or taking things away; books introduce stories and information; paint, movement, music and pretend play help them express ideas. Personal independence also belongs in the curriculum, including dressing and looking after personal hygiene. These are useful everyday skills, alongside preparation for reading and writing.

World Transport was the January 2026 topic, exploring how people travel and why different forms of transport matter to health and the world around them. Earlier topics included Mark Making in April 2025, using drawing, painting and other marks to communicate experiences and feelings.

In April 2023, children experimented with tools and materials and practised hand control ahead of writing. Older children changed into clothes for PE and tried different movements, bringing self-care and physical activity together. Another example was children working jointly to make a pond for toy figures in the sandpit: a small project that involved solving a practical problem and sharing ideas.

Outdoor and Community Life

The front garden was refreshed in April 2025 with a log-inspired mud pit, a music wall, separate kitchens for mud and loose parts, and tyres repurposed for planting. The back play area supported homemade obstacle courses and bear hunts. There is room here for messy experimentation as well as movement.

January 2026 activities used both gardens for planting, digging, searching for small creatures and playing with water, mud and sand. Weatherproof clothing matters because these are activities children get involved in physically. The sun-care policy also provides for shade and drinking water, with parents supplying their child's sun lotion and authorising staff to apply it.

Relationships and Communication

Key persons provide a link between home and playgroup. In April 2023, they gathered information from parents about children's interests and needs at the start and continued those conversations afterwards. They used assessments to identify what children already knew and plan their next steps, making the relationship part of teaching as well as care.

Current parent participation has practical outlets. The WOW board displays achievements and family pictures from outside playgroup, while a parent rota gives families a way to contribute during sessions. These arrangements make room for experiences staff would otherwise miss, rather than limiting communication to what happened at the setting.

The book lending rack lets families take a story home to share. In January 2026, story bags were also offered each term for borrowing for up to a week. These resources support reading together at home.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The staff structure includes a SENCO, a designated safeguarding lead and a deputy safeguarding lead. Admissions arrangements also provide for translated information and access to an interpreter where needed. These are specific mechanisms for communication and support; a family's individual needs still deserve a detailed conversation.

Intimate care is planned with parents. The key person discusses changing preferences at the child's first visit, and staff work with families when a child is ready to use the potty or toilet. Parents supply nappies or pull-ups, wipes and creams. This keeps familiar products and routines connected to care at playgroup.

The nut-allergy policy sets out separate storage for an affected child's lunch box, allergen-free snacks and cleaning arrangements when another child's lunch contains nuts. It also covers emergency action and carrying the child's emergency medication on outings; allergy-affected families should discuss how these procedures apply to their child during a visit.

In April 2023, staff used conversation, distraction and negotiation when children struggled with emotions or sharing. Adults modelled words, listened and left time for children to answer.

Sessions and Attendance

Greendown opens Monday to Friday during term time, for 38 weeks each year. The opening window is 7.45am to 4.45pm. Morning sessions run from 8.45am to 11.45am, afternoons from 11.45am to 2.45pm, and full days from 8.45am to 2.45pm.

Every child must attend at least 12 core hours each week. Wraparound runs from 7.45am to 8.45am and from 2.45pm to 4.45pm, and must be booked alongside the adjoining core hours. It is not an occasional add-on: families book it through the same process as their core sessions. Four weeks' notice, counted in term time, is required for all hours.

Applications use the registration form, with a response aimed for within four weeks. The waiting list takes registration date first, then birth date, with an exception for looked-after children and conditional priority for four-year-olds newly arrived locally without playgroup experience who are not attending another playgroup. There is no geographical catchment restriction.

Getting There

The address is Lydiard Park Academy, Grange Park Way, Swindon, SN5 6HN; enquiries can be made on 01793 882234 or by email to greendown@btconnect.com. Parents cannot use the academy car park, and access procedures require the red Greendown Playgroup card and prohibit mobile-phone use on the academy site.

Sharing the academy's site does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still apply through the local authority admissions process for a state-school place.

Funding and Paid Extras

Greendown accepts 15 and 30 funded hours, delivered within its term-time calendar, and accepts tax-free childcare. Funding can cover core and wraparound hours; additional private hours are charged, and current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The hourly charge depends on whether funded hours are all used at Greendown or also used elsewhere.

Snacks are charged separately, while children bring a lunch box from home. Parents also provide nappies, pull-ups, wipes, creams and sun lotion, so these supplies need to be considered alongside paid hours when planning attendance.

• Regular attendance is required. The minimum is 12 core hours a week, and wraparound must accompany core sessions. This suits a planned weekly arrangement rather than occasional childcare.
• Group participation and shared care. In April 2023, Greendown was asked to improve support during group activities and strengthen information-sharing with other settings children attended. During a visit, ask how newer children are helped to join stories and how planning is coordinated if your child attends elsewhere.
• Individual care arrangements. Parents provide changing supplies and sun lotion, and the nut-allergy policy includes specific lunch and emergency procedures. Use the visit to agree how your child's toileting, rest or allergy needs will be handled.
• Term time and site access. The 38-week calendar and prohibition on academy parking affect everyday logistics. Families need a workable holiday-care plan and a collection routine that follows the academy's access rules.

Greendown suits families seeking regular term-time preschool education through morning or afternoon sessions, as well as those combining full days with booked wraparound. Messy garden play, borrowing resources and parent contributions give its offer substance beyond the attendance timetable.

The Good judgement from April 2023 is a useful reference point, with group support and coordination between settings providing precise matters to explore. The strongest fit is a family comfortable with the minimum core commitment, school-site access arrangements and a calendar that leaves holidays outside the offer.