Springboard

Specialist play, family support and links with mainstream provision define Springboard’s role in North Wiltshire. This charity supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and their families, with a service spanning ages 0 to 5. Its specialist preschool is for children aged 2 and above; younger children attend with their parents or carers. The distinction matters: Springboard is a specialist support setting, with different ways for children and families to take part.

At its February 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated Springboard Outstanding and found that children made excellent progress from their individual starting points through activities shaped around their interests and needs. That judgement belongs to the dated inspection. Springboard has 24 places in total.

Based at the King’s Centre in Chippenham, Springboard serves the wider North Wiltshire area. Morning and afternoon sessions sit alongside parent-and-child provision, while referrals and assessment determine whether a specialist placement is appropriate.

Learning and Activities

EYFS provides the framework for care and learning: children develop communication, physical skills, relationships, early literacy and mathematics through play. Springboard’s addition is an individualised approach for children with additional needs, alongside opportunities for parents to understand ways of supporting their child’s development. Play has a practical purpose here.

In February 2022, communication activities included a balloon game in which children indicated when inflation should stop. Picture boards helped children understand routines and choose their next activity. These examples show different routes into participation, rather than requiring every child to respond in the same way.

Other February 2022 activities combined movement with letter sounds, and introduced counting through pictures placed on the floor during a listening game. Staff also allowed children time to attempt everyday tasks, including fastening their coats, before helping. Learning extended beyond an adult-led activity into the small steps of doing things independently.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden connected the two playrooms in February 2022, allowing children to play together across those spaces. Outdoor equipment and activities supported different areas of learning, and staff joined children’s games with bean bags. For children who engaged more readily outdoors, the garden offered another setting for participation.

Rabbits Group is a stay-and-play session supporting under-2s and their families, as well as children aged 2 who have recently been assessed or diagnosed with developmental delay. Parents or carers remain with their children for indoor and outdoor group play using specialist resources. It also gives adults access to professional support and contact with other families.

Independent Sessions are for children from age 2, attending without a parent or carer. Children generally combine these sessions with mainstream provision. Some begin in Rabbits Group before moving into independent sessions at Springboard, a mainstream setting, or both; that gives families a supported route between different forms of participation.

Relationships and Communication

Support extends to the adults around the child. Saturdads brings together fathers and other male carers of children with special educational needs or disabilities, meeting monthly on a Saturday from 9.30am to 11.30am. Painting and messy play sit alongside access to quiet spaces, the sensory room and garden, giving carers opportunities to share experiences while playing with their children.

During the 2024-2025 academic year, Cuppa & Chat ran each weekday morning during designated weeks, with younger siblings welcome. In fine weather, families met in the sensory garden. This was a scheduled opportunity for informal conversations with staff and other parents, rather than a daily event throughout the year.

In February 2022, staff exchanged useful information by telephone with other settings children attended, and invited their practitioners to specialist training. For a child attending more than one setting, this helped connect the adults involved in their care. Children were also given time to settle at their own pace.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the February 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and praised the individual support children received, including sensitive responses to disagreements and help with personal care. Concrete examples included reminders supported by signs and spoken words, assistance with sharing toys, and encouragement to wash hands before eating.

Springboard operates as the District Specialist Centre for North Wiltshire and works with Wiltshire Council. Its approach involves parents and professionals, with support intended to address the particular challenges associated with a child’s developmental delay or disability. The service is specialist in purpose, and the referral criteria determine its fit for an individual child.

School transition is also part of its work. Springboard has supported children with additional needs as they move into local mainstream primary schools. This is preparation and coordination around the child’s needs; families should distinguish that support from the separate decision about a school place.

Sessions and Attendance

Morning and afternoon sessions last two and a half hours. Independent Sessions involve children attending without their parent or carer, while Rabbits Group retains that adult support. These are different forms of attendance, so the choice concerns both the child’s needs and whether a carer stays.

In February 2022, the setting opened on weekdays from 9.15am to 2.30pm during school term time. These were its opening hours at that date, rather than clock times for the individual morning and afternoon bookings.

Parents and professionals can make referrals through the online referral form. The child’s home must fall within the catchment area, and a professional referral requires parental awareness and consent. Following referral, an initial discussion helps staff understand the child’s needs and decide whether a placement is appropriate.

Getting There

Springboard’s address is King’s Centre, Lodge Road, Chippenham, SN15 3SY, in the Pewsham area. Regular and disabled parking spaces are immediately outside the building; visiting adults and professionals who do not need accessible parking are asked to use the free car park across the street.

Funding and Paid Extras

Independent Sessions can form part of a child’s free entitlement at age 2 or 3, and children generally attend alongside mainstream provision. Funding therefore needs to be considered across the child’s attendance arrangements, rather than treating the specialist session as a separate entitlement.

• Specialist placement criteria. Springboard supports children with specified additional needs across North Wiltshire, and a referral leads to a decision about whether a placement is needed. Discuss how your child’s needs match that specialist remit during the initial meeting.
• Care across settings. Independent Sessions generally run alongside mainstream provision. For a child already attending elsewhere, discuss how information and support will be coordinated between the adults involved.
• Attendance patterns. Morning and afternoon sessions last two and a half hours, while Rabbits Group involves a parent or carer staying. At the initial discussion, ask which pattern fits your child and its current clock times.

Springboard suits North Wiltshire families seeking specialist early support, whether through morning or afternoon independent sessions or parent-and-child participation in Rabbits Group. Its purpose is clear: individualised play, support for carers and cooperation with mainstream settings. The February 2022 Outstanding judgement gives a dated assessment of quality, while the referral process keeps the decision centred on whether this particular provision meets the child’s needs.