Westgate Pre School

A mud kitchen, a school forest school area and a preschool day built around play give Westgate Pre School a clear character. Sharing a site with Westgate Primary School and Westgate Children’s Centre brings access to additional outdoor spaces, while the preschool itself has capacity for 24 children and accepts children from two years old until school age.

At its June 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good and found that children progressed well from their starting points, with staff helping them develop conversation and thinking skills. That judgement sits alongside two practical improvement points: making the purpose of activities clear to every practitioner and giving children more scope to make things themselves.

Attendance is term-time only, with morning, afternoon and all-day patterns.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage shapes learning through play, covering language, physical development and social confidence alongside early maths, literacy, creativity and understanding the world. At Westgate, these areas translate into counting games, stories, construction, drawing and imaginative play. Children can choose activities or join a small group with their key person, giving the day both individual choice and shared experiences.

The main room has a carpeted gathering space, group-work tables, a kitchen and adjoining cloakroom and toilets. Children can move between the home corner, sandpit, construction area and reading corner for pretend play, building and books.

Registration includes using picture and name cards, followed by a story or an activity exploring letters and sounds. Later, songs and games revisit numbers and letters. This puts early learning into repeated, recognisable routines rather than treating it as a separate lesson. The home corner also changes with the topic, so familiar resources can prompt new ideas.

Wednesday PE sessions with Fitt4Kids add organised physical activity, and dance takes place on alternate Tuesdays, alongside periods of child-chosen play.

In June 2023, imaginative play included a tent turned into a house from the three pigs story, with cushions used to build a wall and binoculars incorporated into the game. Children also followed caterpillars as they developed towards butterflies.

Outdoor and Community Life

The outdoor area has artificial grass, a mud kitchen, balance bikes and equipment for sand and water play. A climbing frame includes a slide and fireman’s pole, while a playhouse supports pretend play outside. Access in different weather gives outdoor exploration a regular place in the day, rather than reserving it for sunny afternoons.

Children sometimes use the school playground with trikes and other wheeled toys. Weather-dependent Thursday access to the forest school area adds different surroundings for outdoor exploration.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who follows their learning and keeps a progress record. Staff talk with parents before and after sessions; termly parents’ evenings provide longer discussions about progress, concerns and next steps.

Tapestry is the online journal recording children’s learning activities. Online progress summaries and observations allow parents to contribute comments and examples from home, broadening the picture of their child’s development.

A welcome pack contains settling information, policies and permission forms. An optional home visit lets a practitioner get to know the child and family before preschool starts.

Behaviour support involves parents when difficulties recur. Staff use observations to explore what is happening and agree a response with the family; the policy rules out humiliating sanctions and allows supported reflection with an adult. The emphasis is on helping children understand their actions and practise consideration for others.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO coordinates support for additional needs, including Individual Education Plans developed with parents and other professionals. Plans are reviewed every six to eight weeks, with further targets or outside-agency involvement considered as needed and with parental consent. This provides a defined process for identifying a difficulty, planning support and reviewing what happens next.

The Integrated Disability Service (IDS) and Speech and Language Therapist (SALT) services have links with the preschool. Accessible toilets, changing facilities and ramps to parts of the building are concrete parts of the provision. Communication support can include signs, symbols and Makaton, while staff undertake relevant specialist training according to children’s needs.

At the June 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that children with SEND received strong individual support involving parents and professionals, that personal care respected children’s privacy, and that safeguarding arrangements were effective. Current arrangements include designated safeguarding lead roles and paediatric first aid training for staff; these describe the mechanisms in place rather than replacing that dated judgement.

Moving towards Reception includes a final parent meeting about the information transferred to school. In June 2023, children could try school uniforms, school staff visited and shared lunch, and transition documents helped receiving staff understand children’s learning. These activities made the next setting more familiar while preserving information about each child.

Sessions and Attendance

Westgate is on Bowling Green Street, Warwick, CV34 4DD, on the Westgate Primary School site. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01926 494351 or by email at westgatepreschool@welearn365.com. The application form places a child on the waiting list and does not guarantee a place.

Opening hours are 8.30am to 2.45pm Monday to Thursday and 8.30am to 1pm on Friday. The preschool operates for 38 weeks of childcare each year. Families therefore need an arrangement that fits school-term attendance and the shorter Friday opening.

Morning sessions run from 8.45am to 11.45am, afternoon sessions from 11.45am to 2.45pm, and all-day sessions from 8.45am to 2.45pm. Early bird sessions cover 8.30am to 8.45am. The minimum booking is two sessions a week, intended to support continuity and relationships.

The funded pattern for the 30-hour entitlement uses 8.30am to 2.45pm Monday to Thursday and 8.30am to 1pm Friday. It uses 29.5 hours of the entitlement because that is the preschool’s weekly opening total. Families should distinguish this pattern from the later start of the ordinary morning and all-day sessions.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes the 2Help funding of 15 hours entitlement, the universal entitlement for children aged three and four, and 30 hours childcare for eligible working families. Delivery is term-time, and private sessions and additional paid hours are also offered. Current prices come in the preschool’s written quotation.

Snacks carry no separate charge, while a hot lunch ordered from the school is charged separately; families choosing the alternative provide a healthy packed lunch. The preschool requests a contribution towards additional activities, so that category needs to be considered separately from childcare and food.

Fees are invoiced monthly and paid in advance, including during absence, with prolonged absence discussed individually. Withdrawal requires at least one month’s notice, and fees continue through that period unless another arrangement is agreed. These terms matter when planning a change of setting or stopping attendance.

Sharing the Westgate Primary School site does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still apply through the local authority admissions process; preschool attendance and school admission are separate decisions.

• The week finishes earlier on Friday. The opening ends at 1pm rather than 2.45pm, and childcare runs in term time. Consider that pattern alongside work commitments and holiday care.
• Making and creating. In June 2023, staff did not consistently know the intended learning behind activities, and prepared craft materials reduced opportunities for children to practise making things themselves. During a visit, ask how planning is shared and how children now use tools and choose materials.
• Additional-needs planning. Support includes parent involvement, regularly reviewed plans and discussion of access and session arrangements before admission. A visit is an opportunity to discuss how those arrangements would work for your child, including any non-food supplies families should bring.
• Separate costs and notice. Hot lunches are charged separately, an activity contribution is requested and withdrawal normally requires a month’s notice. Compare the written quotation and terms with your intended attendance pattern.

Westgate suits families seeking morning or afternoon preschool sessions, as well as those wanting an all-day term-time pattern. Its appeal is concrete: an equipped outdoor area, access to school spaces, a key person system and structured communication with parents. Additional-needs support has defined planning and review arrangements, while preparation for Reception includes information sharing rather than an admissions advantage. The shorter Friday and the June 2023 recommendations on activity planning and creative independence deserve attention alongside those strengths.