Chudleigh Preschool

Pretend pizza-making, stories with deliberate mistakes and outdoor counting games give Chudleigh Preschool a recognisable character: learning grows out of play, conversation and everyday routines. Its base is Chudleigh Town Hall. The childcare offer is for children aged 9 months to 5 years, bringing babies and older preschool children within its age range.

At its February 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the preschool Good overall, with imaginative play and reading among the strengths of its education. That judgement came with two practical improvements: quicker help for children struggling to participate, and smoother changes between activities. Those points matter alongside the positive examples, especially for a child who needs encouragement to join a group.

Flexible hourly childcare is the central booking approach, allowing families to choose hours around their commitments.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care here. In parent terms, learning involves play, language, growing independence and relationships, rather than simply completing adult-led tasks. Chudleigh's learn-through-play approach gives that work a practical starting point: children's interests become opportunities to explore ideas.

In February 2025, pretend restaurant play brought several kinds of learning together. Children made and sold imaginary pizzas, using their understanding of money, quantities and shapes while developing conversations and ideas with staff. The value lies in the combination: number work had a purpose within the game, while talking helped the play develop.

Storytelling was similarly active at that time. Children joined repeated passages and rhymes, predicted what might happen next and spotted mistakes deliberately introduced by staff. Listening was only part of the activity. Children also had reasons to remember, respond and explain their understanding.

Daily focused group work with key children was used in February 2025 to build towards their individual next steps. Alongside that directed learning, staff joined imaginative play and extended children's ideas through conversation. For parents, these examples distinguish the approach more clearly than a broad promise to make learning enjoyable: adult interaction shaped what children took from familiar games.

Outdoor and Everyday Life

In February 2025, the outdoor area hosted What's the time, Mr Wolf?, with children calling out times and counting their steps. Staff helped them take turns. Movement, counting and learning to wait for another child were brought together in one shared game.

A drinking station also supported everyday independence at that time, with children finding their own water bottles when thirsty. Songs accompanied handwashing, and children helped put toys away. These are small routines with a useful purpose: they give children opportunities to act for themselves and contribute to the shared space.

At the February 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective, the key-person arrangements successful and communication with parents helpful, including around children's additional needs. The findings support a positive judgement about care at that date, rather than a blanket assurance about every child's future experience.

In February 2025, key people knew their children well and used that knowledge to plan challenges building on existing learning. Parents were kept informed about progress and what children would work towards next. That makes the key-person relationship useful in two directions: it informs activities for the child and gives the family a continuing point of contact about development.

The current staff structure includes a designated safeguarding lead and a deputy safeguarding lead. Key-worker responsibilities and paediatric first-aid training are also identified within the team. These are concrete arrangements for allocating responsibility; they sit alongside, rather than replace, the dated safeguarding judgement.

Individual support is part of the childcare approach, with an intention to accommodate families' home choices where possible. In February 2025, some staff had undertaken extra training about special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). However, children who found group participation difficult did not always receive help promptly enough, and could leave the activity without another purposeful occupation. That is an important distinction between understanding a child's needs and responding quickly at the moment support is needed.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Chudleigh Town Hall, Market Way, Chudleigh, Newton Abbot, TQ13 0HL. Opening hours are 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, across 45 weeks of the year. These are the opening hours; the booking approach allows families to select the hours that suit them.

The 2025/2026 calendars distinguished stretched childcare across 45 weeks from term-time childcare across 38 weeks, with bank-holiday closures. Those calendars describe that dated attendance cycle. The flexible hourly model is the more useful starting point for understanding how care is booked.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by email or by telephone. That gives families a direct route to discuss the care they want rather than treating the full opening window as a required booking.

Funding and Paid Extras

Charges are hourly, with no additional fees, and prices are reviewed annually. Families should obtain current prices in the preschool's written quotation. The opening times and fees page brings the charging structure and attendance calendars together.

In February 2025, the setting offered government-funded childcare places. That establishes participation at that date; it does not guarantee an individual family's eligibility or a particular funded booking.

• Joining activities. In February 2025, children who struggled to participate sometimes needed a quicker response from staff. During a visit, ask how a key person now helps a hesitant child join in or find another purposeful activity.
• Changes in the day. February 2025 findings included lengthy waits for snacks and uneven changes between activities. Ask how staff organise those moments now, especially if your child finds waiting difficult.
• Hourly care and everyday supplies. The charging model is an hourly rate with no additional fees. Before agreeing a booking, ask how meals, snacks and non-food supplies fit into your child's chosen hours, including any funded hours.

Chudleigh Preschool suits families seeking hours chosen around their own commitments and a learn-through-play approach. Its February 2025 examples give that approach substance: pizza role play connected conversation with maths, while stories encouraged children to predict and respond. The Good judgement supports that positive picture. The decision also deserves attention to the less successful moments: helping reluctant children participate and keeping changes between activities purposeful.