Broughton Gifford Preschool

Child-led play, a purpose-built setting in school grounds and a parent committee give Broughton Gifford Preschool a clear character. Children can move between indoor and outdoor learning, while Woodland Fun Sessions bring den building, minibeast searches and seasonal exploration into the mix. This is a preschool with room for children to follow an interest rather than move together through a tightly fixed day.

Ofsted rated the setting Good on 17 January 2023. That judgement provides a useful foundation, although the improvement priorities deserve attention: stronger support for staff teaching and more opportunities for children to understand communities beyond their own.

There are 20 places in total. The Under 2’s Room and flexible childcare arrangements extend the offer to children from nine months, alongside the Preschool Room for older children. Attendance is term-time, with families choosing their hours within the opening day.

Rooms and Ages

The Under 2’s Room serves children from nine months to two years, combining sensory exploration, early communication and movement with indoor and outdoor play. Stories, messy play and music fit around individual routines.

For children aged two to four, the Preschool Room combines child-initiated play, an art area, construction and imaginative play with outdoor access throughout the day. Choosing where to play and when to eat gives children everyday opportunities to practise independence.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage is the common framework guiding learning and care, covering language, physical development, relationships, literacy, mathematics, creative expression and understanding the world. Children explore these areas through conversation, movement, stories and play.

Broughton Gifford uses In the moment planning: practitioners respond to what children are already doing, choosing when an interaction could extend their understanding and when to leave them to explore. The approach makes a child's current interest the starting point for teaching. Assessment draws on observations, photographs, videos and information from home, so planning can connect what happens at preschool with what families notice elsewhere.

In January 2023, practical play gave children opportunities to test ideas. Adding water to dough became an investigation into changing its texture; pasta play prompted comparisons of quantity. Shared books also led to questions that helped children connect a story with something they already knew. These examples show the intended teaching pattern in concrete form: an adult develops the learning inside an activity the child has chosen.

Clear Light Yoga, Boogie Beats Music & Movement and Balanceability are specialist enrichment sessions offered during the week, with voluntary contributions invited towards their costs. They add organised experiences alongside the child-led day. Families can distinguish those contributions from the charges for childcare itself.

Outdoor and Community Life

Woodland Fun Sessions combine seasonal exploration, minibeast searches, nature-inspired artwork, den building and woodland storytelling. Outdoor learning gives children opportunities to observe, create and work together.

In January 2023, children grew vegetables and explored life cycles. Outdoor play included sand and mud, while the forest school area hosted cooking over an open fire. Those are dated examples of the setting's outdoor learning, rather than a promise that each activity forms part of today's timetable.

The prospectus asks families to leave wellies and indoor footwear at preschool, with outdoor shoes removed in the cloakroom. Protective clothing is supplied for messy activities. This makes the outdoor emphasis tangible: families should expect clothing and footwear that let children participate comfortably, including when play becomes muddy.

Relationships and Communication

A key person works with each family on their child's interests, needs and development, including helping them settle when they first start. Staff and parents agree how to approach those first days. For families, that creates a particular person with whom to discuss the child's experience, rather than relying only on whichever adult happens to be available.

Tapestry Online Learning Journeys records children's development through photographs, videos and observations, with email links allowing parents to view entries and add comments. The key person combines those observations with conversations about interests at home when considering next steps. It gives parents a way to contribute, as well as receive updates.

Assessment summaries are usually made each term and at transition points, including moving to school. Parents contribute information about learning at home.

Parents also have a role in how the preschool operates. The Parent Committee manages the charitable, not-for-profit setting, with funds put back into its resources, environments and enrichment. It meets three times a year, and an Annual General Meeting takes place each September. This offers a practical route for parents who want to contribute to decisions, fundraising or the future direction of the preschool.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the January 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and good progress for children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, supported by liaison with local authority advisers and other agencies.

A SENCo role forms part of the current team structure. Policies cover SEND, inclusion, safeguarding, behaviour and complaints; families can read them in the setting or through Tapestry. Those arrangements provide defined routes for discussing needs and understanding how the preschool handles concerns.

Practitioners undertake continuing professional development. In January 2023, however, day-to-day mentoring and monitoring needed further development, with group-time resources sometimes used less effectively than they could have been. Training therefore needs to translate into better interactions and participation, rather than simply more courses.

For younger children, the Under 2’s Room places emphasis on working with families around individual routines and developmental needs. School preparation in the Preschool Room similarly involves working with families on transition. Both depend on communication about the particular child, rather than expecting every child to make the same adjustment in the same way.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, during term time. The current booking arrangement is flexible hours: families choose the days and hours that meet their needs, subject to availability. The opening window gives the boundaries for those choices; it does not require every child to attend for the whole day.

Application forms and showarounds can be arranged by telephone on 01225 782638 or by emailing bgpreschool@hotmail.co.uk. Term-time attendance is an important planning consideration for families whose work continues through school holidays.

Getting There

The address is St Mary's School, The Street, Broughton Gifford, Wiltshire SN12 8PR. The preschool occupies a purpose-built setting within the grounds of St Mary's Primary School.

Sharing a school site does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still need to follow the local authority admissions process for a state-school place; preschool attendance and school admission are separate decisions.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered within the term-time arrangement, and eligible funded hours can be used across the opening day and spread between days. Private childcare is also offered. The fees and hours page explains the charging structure.

Families supply a packed lunch, healthy snacks and a labelled water bottle, with drinking water accessible during the day. Children choose when to eat within free-flow snack and lunch periods, supporting individual routines rather than a single fixed mealtime.

Contributions towards specialist enrichment are voluntary. That distinction is useful when considering the childcare budget: attendance charges and contributions for additional experiences should be understood separately.

• Teaching development. In January 2023, staff needed more consistent mentoring and support to improve teaching, including better use of resources during group time. At a showaround, ask how staff now review their practice and help children participate.
• Understanding other communities. January 2023 brought an improvement priority around children's experience of the wider world. Woodland learning is well represented; ask which experiences now introduce children to people and communities beyond their own.
• Care for younger children. The Under 2’s Room supports individual routines from nine months. Discuss how your child's settling, sleep and feeding needs would fit the day, including arrangements for nappies and wipes.
• Term-time planning. Flexible hours sit within a term-time service, with food supplied from home. This suits families able to organise holiday care and packed food around their chosen attendance pattern.

Broughton Gifford Preschool suits families seeking term-time childcare with a choice of shorter booked hours or longer attendance within the day. Child-led learning, indoor and outdoor choice, Woodland Fun Sessions and parent involvement give the offer substance. The younger room also makes individual routines an important part of the decision.

Outdoor exploration and parent involvement are clear attractions. The January 2023 Good judgement also carries teaching and wider-world improvement priorities that deserve attention.