Old Hall Pre- School & Link Club

School preparation has a concrete shape at Old Hall: children can visit Westbrook Old Hall Primary School before Reception, while everyday play gives them practice in handling feelings, making choices and doing things for themselves. The setting occupies the school's Community Room in Warrington and has 42 places in total. Preschool care starts from age two.

At the inspection on 9 May 2024, Ofsted rated the provision Good and found safeguarding effective. The strongest examples involved ordinary moments made useful: cutting fruit, talking over snacks and turning an interest in babies into pretend medical play. These give parents a clearer picture of the children's experience than the grade alone.

Morning and afternoon preschool sessions sit alongside a lunch club and term-time breakfast and after-school care. That combination gives this setting a practical role for families using the primary school as well as those choosing preschool sessions.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage brings learning, development and care together through children's activities and routines. Here, the May 2024 examples show how play could draw several skills into one experience. An interest in babies led to a pretend clinic, where children weighed dolls and experimented with writing prescriptions. Familiar ideas became reasons to count, talk and make marks.

Mathematics also entered snack time in May 2024. Staff used sliced fruit to discuss quantities and encouraged children to estimate how many others were attending. The useful point is the connection between an abstract idea and something children can see or handle. Number work did not depend solely on a separate activity.

A fire-engine visit supplied another starting point. In May 2024, children recreated a rescue vehicle using hoses, tyres and milk crates, with adults helping them develop the language for their play. This combined a real-world experience with construction and imaginative storytelling. It is an example of the learning approach, rather than a promise of a recurring visitor programme.

Outdoor and Community Life

An outdoor play area extends the preschool's indoor learning space. Children therefore have an outdoor setting for play as well as the classroom, a useful consideration for families who want movement and exploration woven into the day.

Westbrook Old Hall Primary School is the named local connection. Preschool children have opportunities to visit during the year before Reception, including those who will eventually attend another school. That makes the visits preparation for a change of setting rather than an admissions pathway.

Relationships and Communication

In May 2024, children turned to adults for comfort, help with disagreements and a chance to share something they had achieved. Staff explained the purpose of rules, helping children connect behaviour with other people's safety and enjoyment. A traffic light system also supported children through transitions in May 2024.

Independence was practised through manageable tasks. During May 2024, children used safety knives to prepare fruit and selected the resources they needed, with patient adult help. These are small responsibilities with a practical benefit: children can take part in their own care and learning rather than waiting for everything to be done for them.

Close working with parents and carers forms part of the preschool's approach. In May 2024, staff knew families' circumstances and offered support when difficulties arose. Accurate assessments by key people were another strength of the working arrangements, although using that knowledge to shape the next activity needed more attention.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At its May 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that shared staff plans supported children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and helped them make good progress. The important mechanism is the common plan: adults worked towards the same support goals for a child.

Health learning had everyday examples too. In May 2024, daily toothbrushing and conversations about food helped children connect routines with looking after themselves. Meals and snacks gave them opportunities to talk together, share and try food. These observations describe care at that time; they also provide useful topics for a visit discussion.

The improvement point was specific. In May 2024, staff did not consistently turn their accurate knowledge of children's learning into sufficiently prompt next steps during general activities. For parents, the relevant issue is how an adult uses an observation to decide what challenge or help a child needs next.

Sessions and Attendance

Morning preschool sessions run from 9am to 11.30am; afternoons run from 12.30pm to 3pm. A lunch club bridges the interval, from 11.30am to 12.30pm. In May 2024, preschool attendance was term-time only.

Breakfast Club, offering food and activities before the day begins, runs from 7.30am to 8.30am, Monday to Friday during term time. It serves children attending Old Hall Pre-School or Westbrook Old Hall Primary School, with school children taken to their classrooms and preschool children staying in the main room.

After School Club provides a snack, planned activities and time for children to choose their own play. It runs on term-time weekdays from school collection until 6pm, with a full session of 3.15pm to 6pm and shorter options ending at 4pm or 5pm. Outdoor access and opportunities for reading or homework give older children different ways to spend the afternoon.

Getting There

The address is The Community Room, Westbrook Old Hall Primary School, Old Hall Road, Old Hall, Warrington, WA5 9QA. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01925 635903 or by email to officemanagerlittlelearners@gmail.com.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes support-based funding for two-year-olds, universal funding for three- and four-year-olds, and 30-hour funding for eligible working families. Old Hall's preschool starting age remains two; the wider age wording attached to the working-family entitlement does not change that offer. Private preschool sessions are also offered.

Outside funded hours, lunch club carries an additional charge that includes lunch; where the lunch hour forms part of funded attendance, families are asked for a voluntary contribution towards the food. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, and preschool sessions and Link Club bookings should be considered separately when planning costs.

The nursery describes close links with Westbrook Old Hall Primary School and offers preparatory visits. Attendance does not guarantee a Reception place: families still use the local authority admissions process.

• Assessment into action. The May 2024 improvement point concerned using children's assessments more effectively in planning. During a visit, ask how a key person's observations now shape the next activity for an individual child.
• A session-based day. Morning and afternoon preschool sessions can be connected through lunch club, with breakfast and after-school options around them. Consider which combination matches your child's routine and your working day.
• Reception preparation. School visits are offered even when children will move elsewhere. The benefit is familiarity with school life; a Reception application remains a separate step.

Old Hall suits families seeking morning or afternoon preschool sessions, including those who want to connect them through lunch club or use breakfast and after-school care. Its school-site setting and Reception visits give preparation for the next stage a practical form.

The May 2024 picture combines thoughtful everyday learning with a clear planning issue to examine. Pretend medical play, fruit preparation and rescue construction show how children could learn through doing. The strongest visit discussion would connect those examples with how staff now build each child's next steps into the day.