Chatterbox Community Pre-School

Growing herbs, choosing what to play and learning a Makaton sign each week give Chatterbox Community Pre-School its character: children practise doing things for themselves, with adults close enough to help. This Romsey pre-school welcomes children from age two and has capacity for 26 children. Its emphasis is on independence, conversation and friendships, built through ordinary tasks as well as planned activities.

At its June 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated Chatterbox Good, praising education and relationships but identifying a need for greater challenge for the most able children.

Attendance is term-time only, with flexible start and finish times and Early Bird and Owl Club arrangements for families needing an earlier start or later finish.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), the framework shared by early years settings, guides learning through play across communication, physical development, relationships and the other areas of learning. Chatterbox combines children's own choices with activities led by adults. A child can pursue an idea through imaginative or construction play, then join a shared song, discussion or movement activity.

Children discuss their plans with their key person, then try them out through play. This gives them practice in expressing intentions and experimenting with ideas.

Makaton, used here to support communication through signs, includes a sign of the week learned alongside the morning songs. Storytelling also uses props to help children listen. These give children ways to join in beyond spoken answers alone, and connect language with actions and objects they can understand.

Fledglings leave for school at the end of the school year; Seedlings return the following year. Fledglings have number and literacy games and stories with props, while Seedlings combine action songs with a shorter story. Activities reflect their different next steps.

In June 2025, mathematical play included matching ladybirds by their spots and counting them. Songs, books and new vocabulary were woven into play, with pictures and signs helping children understand. The examples show how an apparently simple game can introduce number, comparison and conversation together.

Outdoor and Community Life

Doors to the outdoor area stay open for much of a session, linking indoor and outdoor play. Messy, construction, imaginative and physical activities fill that time. Putting on coats with help gives children another practical step towards independence.

Chatterbox Garden brings growing and food together. Children plant vegetables, fruit, herbs and other plants, then cook and taste produce they have harvested. The connection is concrete: food is something they help grow, rather than something that simply turns up ready to eat.

In June 2025, children cut garden herbs and mixed them into pretend teas, talking about the herbs as they experimented. Another activity involved children working together to release toy animals from ice. Both examples gave children something to handle, discuss and investigate, with opportunities to learn from one another.

Occasional outings to the woodland walk, park and local post box take place when staffing ratios allow. These extend the day beyond the pre-school's outdoor area, bringing familiar local surroundings into children's conversations and experiences.

Relationships and Communication

Key-person time includes children's plans and news from home, giving them a regular adult contact and time to be heard. Clearing up and pouring drinks provide further practice in independence.

Settling can include a familiar comfort object. Parents can also follow their child's Tapestry learning journey online and speak with staff about how their child is doing. In June 2025, daily conversations covered wellbeing and progress, and staff shared ideas for learning at home. That makes communication useful beyond a brief account of which activities happened.

Rhyming bags can be borrowed through the key person, and resources for practising fine motor skills can also go home. Support sacks contain books, leaflets or props for situations including a new sibling, moving house, bereavement, sleep difficulties and potty training. These provide something practical for families to use when a change or difficulty extends beyond the pre-school day.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A special educational needs and disabilities coordinator and a Makaton Champion support the team. A visual timetable helps children understand changes between activities, adding visual support to spoken explanations.

At the June 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and good progress among children with SEND and those learning English as an additional language, but also recorded late notification of committee changes, with minimal impact because members awaiting suitability checks had no unsupervised contact with children. This administrative failing belongs alongside the positive judgement, rather than being lost behind it.

For allergies, families complete an All About Me form and work with staff on a healthcare plan. Medication requires a completed form; ongoing medication is discussed with the Health and Welfare Officer and key person and covered by a healthcare plan. These arrangements make the child's individual needs part of the care discussion.

Parents supply packed lunches and snacks, including a snack for children staying after 3pm; Chatterbox also offers tasting experiences such as its vegetable of the week. The pre-school publishes a nut-free lunchbox policy, and packed lunches need an ice block or another cooling item throughout the year.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Halterworth Lane, Romsey, SO51 9AD. Opening hours run from 8am to 5pm Monday to Thursday, with a 4pm finish on Fridays. Attendance follows school terms, so this is a choice for families whose childcare arrangements can accommodate holidays and closure days.

Flexible attendance includes Early Bird for earlier starts and Owl Club for later finishes, with stories, snacks and quiet activities after 3pm. Friday's earlier closing time applies.

Chatterbox prefers children using grant funding to take their full 15 hours with the setting. That is a preference, rather than a stated compulsory minimum. For the 2026/27 cycle, closure days include 2 November 2026, 25 February 2027 and 28 May 2027, which families need to build into their plans.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded early education includes 15 hours from the term following a child's third birthday and the extended 30-hour entitlement for eligible working parents of three- and four-year-olds. Funded attendance follows term dates.

Private hours are charged by the hour, with invoices issued at the start of each half-term. Parents provide lunches and snacks; this arrangement also applies to children attending on funded hours. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, with payment arrangements explained on its fees page.

A deposit secures an offered place and is returned at the start of the autumn term; it is retained if the child does not attend. Families paying childcare fees must give half a term's notice when leaving during the year, or pay for that period. Holiday and sickness absences are not refunded, and collection after the agreed finish time attracts a charge.

• Challenge for confident learners. In June 2025, some activities did not extend the most able children sufficiently. During a show-around, ask how staff now adapt number, language and other activities when a child is ready for a harder task.
• Term-time fit. Holidays and closure days require another childcare arrangement, and Friday finishes at 4pm. Weigh those constraints alongside the flexibility to choose start and finish times on attending days.
• Settling and individual care. Show-arounds and virtual tours can be arranged. Use that conversation to discuss the key-person relationship and, where relevant, confirm current allergy practice and the healthcare plan for your child.
• Leaving and absences. Fee-paying families face half a term's notice when leaving during the year, and holiday or sickness absences do not bring refunds. These terms matter when planning a change of childcare or time away.

Chatterbox suits families seeking term-time preschool with shorter, flexibly timed attendance as well as those using Early Bird or Owl Club to extend their day. Its character comes through in child-led planning, garden growing, signing and practical independence. Borrowable resources also give parents ways to continue that work at home.

The June 2025 judgement supports a positive choice, with clear qualifications around challenge for the most able and committee notification procedures. For a family whose calendar fits the term-time pattern and earlier Friday finish, the combination of purposeful play and practical parent support gives Chatterbox a clear appeal.