Broughton Pre-School

Conker Lodge gives Broughton Pre-School its character: a purpose-built home for early learning, with children able to move freely between the indoor space and an outdoor area equipped for digging, climbing and imaginative play. It shares the Broughton Primary School site in rural Hampshire. The scale is small, with capacity for 20 children from age 2 to school age.

At its 27 January 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good and found safeguarding effective. The strongest practical attractions are the outdoor spaces, learning shaped around children's interests and flexibility within a term-time timetable. There is also a clear improvement point: staff needed a more consistent way of helping children understand how their behaviour affects others.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for children's learning, development and care, including language, early number skills and physical development. Here, play and children's interests shape the activities, giving practitioners starting points from which to extend learning.

In January 2025, staff planned together around a book, a celebration or an interest for each half-term. One activity involved moving objects with tweezers, then timing another attempt. That combines precise hand movements with a concrete reason to compare and solve a problem. Children could choose activities and play alongside one another, so learning included both independent exploration and shared games.

Language had a practical purpose in the same January 2025 account. Children described animals' positions to one another and recreated what they saw using props. The task required them to make their meaning clear to a friend, rather than simply repeat a new word to an adult. Music sessions also introduce movement, rhymes and songs, giving children another way to join in and express themselves.

Outdoor and Community Life

A covered deck extends outdoor use across different weather conditions. Beyond it are a timber trail, a mud kitchen, a playhouse and space for ride-on toys, alongside a sandpit. These provide different kinds of play: balancing and movement, pretend cooking, building and exploration. The indoor room is arranged into learning areas, with free-flow access connecting it to the outdoor provision.

Gardening adds something tangible to the day. Children grow vegetables, flowers and fruit, dig for worms and hunt for bugs. Access to the school's field and a fenced nature area containing a pond extends the setting beyond its own play space. It gives children opportunities to explore living things as well as use their bodies.

The link with Kajwenge Nursery, through Education Uganda, brings another setting into children's learning. In January 2025, children compared toys used in the two settings, including learning about handmade footballs, and explored music from different countries. The useful point is the concrete comparison: children encounter other lives through familiar things such as play and music.

Relationships and Communication

In January 2025, children formed close relationships with their key person, and staff responded to sadness with conversation, comfort and shared play. Children used bags representing different feelings to communicate their mood. That gave staff a starting point for understanding what a child needed, including children who might find a direct explanation harder.

Tapestry is for current parents and relatives. In January 2025, parents shared photographs of holidays and family traditions online, bringing experiences from home into the children's learning. A familiar comfort toy can also come from home when a child is settling, helping connect the new routine with something recognisable.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the January 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities received effective support and made good progress. Current arrangements include a Special Educational Needs coordinator working with families and other professionals, while indoor and outdoor areas have disabled access. These are concrete mechanisms for discussing an individual child's needs.

Children can start before toilet training is complete: there are nappy-changing facilities, and staff work with parents on toilet training. Families supply nappies and wipes. Permanent staff hold paediatric first-aid training, and the team includes designated safeguarding lead roles.

Preparation for school was practical in January 2025. Staff used feedback from schools about pencil handling to plan activities involving tools used with one hand and materials children could manipulate. This connects preparation with everyday play, rather than treating it solely as practising letters.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Conker Lodge, School Lane, Broughton, Stockbridge, SO20 8AN. Opening hours are 8.45am to 3.30pm, Monday to Thursday, during term time; the pre-school closes for school holidays.

Flexible sessions use start times of 8.45am, 9.30am, noon or 1pm, with finishes at noon, 1pm, 3pm or 3.30pm. The pattern gives families choices about how much of the day their child attends, with days and sessions dependent on demand. Children must attend at least two sessions each week, on different days, so flexibility comes with a regular-attendance requirement.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes 15 hours for children from the term following their third birthday, 15 hours for eligible two-year-olds from the term after their second birthday and up to 30 hours for eligible three- and four-year-olds. Attendance is term-time. Unfunded hours are charged by the hour.

Families provide a daily fruit or vegetable snack, and lunch can be a packed meal from home or a separately charged hot meal prepared in the primary school's kitchen. Parents also provide nappies and wipes when their child needs them, along with a water bottle and spare clothes.

Sharing the Broughton Primary School site does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still apply through Hampshire's local authority school admissions process. The shared grounds and school-transition work are useful parts of the experience, but the admissions decision remains separate.

• Behaviour support. January 2025 brought a specific request for greater consistency in helping children understand the effect of their actions. At a visit, ask how practitioners now respond when children hurt or upset one another.
• The weekly pattern. Opening is Monday to Thursday in term time, with at least two sessions on different days required. Consider how that fits Friday care and school holidays, and discuss which start and finish combination would suit your child.
• Lunch and personal supplies. Hot lunches carry a separate charge, while snacks, nappies and wipes come from home. Factor these arrangements into the daily routine and the overall cost of attendance.

Broughton suits families seeking a small, term-time pre-school with substantial outdoor play and flexible attendance, whether that means shorter sessions or a longer stretch across the day. Conker Lodge's covered deck, gardening and access to school grounds give the offer physical substance; the Kajwenge Nursery link adds a concrete connection beyond the village.

The regular-attendance rule and Monday-to-Thursday timetable are central to the decision. So is the January 2025 behaviour-support improvement point. For families whose care arrangements fit that pattern, the combination of play, outdoor exploration and practical preparation for school makes this a setting with a clear identity.