The Woodland Pre-School

Books to borrow, vegetables to grow and drawings to measure: in August 2025, The Woodland Pre-School combined play with practical opportunities to learn. Based at West End Academy in Hemsworth, it serves children aged two to five and has capacity for 70 children. Its school-site setting gives families a preschool base with outdoor space, while its named key workers provide a continuing point of contact.

At its 13 August 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good and found that curriculum planning reflected the children attending. The detail gives that judgement substance: children used rulers in their play, made choices about resources and practised doing things for themselves. There were also clear next steps in spoken language and teaching about healthy eating.

Sessional care and full-day care are both offered. The distinction matters for families seeking either shorter attendance or care across a working day.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for children's learning, development and care, with play giving children opportunities to practise communication, social skills and independence. Activities are shaped around children's interests and their stage of development. That makes the child's starting point part of the planning, rather than assuming everyone should approach an activity in the same way.

In August 2025, storytelling included questions that encouraged children to remember and understand what they had heard. A lending library allowed families to take books home, extending access to stories beyond preschool. Written labels and children's name cards also connected spoken language with print. These are concrete ways to make words part of ordinary play.

Mathematics had a similarly practical form that August. Children measured their drawings with rulers and used measurement vocabulary independently. Resources were arranged so that children could select them themselves, linking choice with the activity they wanted to pursue. Independence was practised through small decisions, rather than reserved for a separate lesson.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor space is part of the West End Academy setting. In August 2025, children helped grow vegetables and fruit outside, giving them direct involvement in producing food. A mobile zoo visit also introduced animals and their characteristics. These experiences supplied real things to investigate alongside books and indoor resources.

The same month's activities included cutting fruit with adult help and waiting for a turn. Such tasks brought practical skills and patience together. The value lies in children taking part themselves, with support where a task requires it.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a named key worker who works with them and maintains contact with their family. For parents, this identifies the practitioner responsible for that continuing relationship. Communication can centre on the individual child rather than remaining a general update about preschool life.

In August 2025, managers sent activity packs home so children could practise skills with their families. This gave parents resources to use, rather than simply an account of what had happened during the day. Staff also used group activities to reinforce listening, taking turns and considerate behaviour, making expectations part of shared routines.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the August 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities making good progress. That August, special educational needs coordinators set achievable targets and ensured practitioners understood the support each child needed; additional funding helped children participate in the curriculum. The useful detail is the connection between an individual target and the adults carrying it through.

Food also formed part of the day in August 2025: staff supplied nutritious food and reminded families bringing packed lunches about nutritional guidance. However, children did not consistently receive explanations about why a balanced diet matters. Providing suitable food and helping children understand food choices were separate issues.

Before moving on to school, children visited a local school and managers shared information about their learning in August 2025. Those arrangements supported continuity between settings. They concern preparation and information sharing, rather than an admissions advantage.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is West End Academy, Regent Street, Hemsworth, Pontefract, WF9 4QJ. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across the year. Sessional and full-day care give families different ways to organise attendance within that opening window.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered alongside the preschool's care provision. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. Families comparing attendance plans should consider the booked care and its charge structure together, rather than treating funding participation as a complete description of the arrangement.

West End Academy is the preschool's base, but attending The Woodland Pre-School does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still need to use the local authority's school admissions process. The school-site location and the separate admissions decision should be kept distinct when planning the move into Reception.

• Spoken language. In August 2025, staff did not consistently replace children's incorrect vocabulary with a sensitive example of the correct wording. During a visit, ask how practitioners now build that modelling into play and conversation.
• Understanding healthy eating. The August 2025 improvement priority concerned consistent explanations about balanced diets. Ask how growing food and preparing fruit are used to help children understand their choices.
• Your attendance plan. Sessional and full-day care serve different family routines. Use a visit to discuss the pattern you need and request a written quotation covering funded hours, meals and consumables together.

The Woodland Pre-School suits families seeking either sessional attendance or full-day care for a child aged two to five, with a key-worker relationship and a school-site base. Its August 2025 strengths were tangible: book borrowing, practical mathematics, accessible resources and activities that encouraged children to do things themselves. Language modelling and explanations about healthy diets remain the right subjects for a visit. The case for choosing it rests on everyday learning and care.