The Lenches Pre-School

An orchard, a village hall and outdoor play beside vegetable planters give The Lenches Pre-School a recognisable identity. Nature shapes the offer here: Forest School takes children into Yates’ Community Orchard, while Curiosity Corner brings water play and mud kitchens closer to the hall. This is a parent and committee led village pre-school, with community spaces extending what children can do beyond its main premises.

Based at Church Lench Village Hall in Evesham, it welcomes two-, three- and four-year-olds. Families have opportunities to contribute to its direction through the charity’s volunteer trustees, rather than encountering a setting run solely by its paid team. The hall and gardens are used throughout opening hours, and term-time provision forms the core offer.

At its July 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good overall, while identifying two priorities: planning needed to respond more precisely to individual children, and staff needed closer support to make their teaching conversations more challenging. Those reservations matter alongside the outdoor offer. Interesting experiences provide the starting point; what adults help each child learn from them matters just as much.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the foundation for learning through play, covering language, movement, relationships and the other areas of early development. Here, the daily routine gives that framework a practical shape: children choose activities during free play, with art, crafts and outdoor play on offer. Registration includes singing, sound work and a monthly sign. The emphasis is on participation rather than a formal classroom routine.

Funics adds an interactive language session on Wednesday mornings, helping children prepare for reading and writing through stories and activities at their own pace. It sits alongside everyday singing and shared books. For a child who enjoys words and storytelling, there are several ways into early literacy, rather than a single activity that everyone must approach in the same way.

After lunch, story time and discussion create a quieter part of the day. That change of pace matters in a setting with so much outdoor activity: children have time to rest and reflect before returning to their chosen play. The routine allows variation, so its sequence is best understood as the shape of a typical day.

In July 2025, children helped settle disagreements, practised sharing and talked about their work with adults. Their creations retained their own ideas and choices. These observations give useful substance to school preparation: independence includes making decisions and managing relationships, as well as becoming familiar with letters and sounds.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School means repeated learning in a natural setting, with exploration and supported risk taking. Sessions take place in Yates’ Community Orchard, where children can build dens, learn to handle tools safely and take part in supervised fire building and cooking. Autumn fruit tasting includes pears, apples and plums. The experience connects practical tasks with the changing seasons.

The Forest School leader delivers sessions on Tuesdays and Fridays. Those days give the outdoor programme a clear place in the week.

Curiosity Corner is accessible throughout the year. Its balance boards, water play and mud kitchens provide opportunities for movement, experimenting and imaginative play beside the main setting. Vegetable planters add another connection with growing things. The value is concrete: children can return to familiar materials and try different ways of using them, rather than relying entirely on occasional outings.

The Wellness Garden offers a different outdoor pace across the road in the grounds of Church Lench C.E First School. It includes a log cabin, growing space and outdoor library, with an emphasis on quiet exploration and wellbeing. Together, these spaces give outdoor learning more than one mood: energetic practical activity, messy play and calmer time with books can all have a place.

The Lenches Lakes extends the possibilities further. Children have made bird feeders, built dens and enjoyed picnics there, with herons, kingfishers and ducklings among the wildlife spotted. Church Lench Playground and regular village walks add movement and exploration closer to home. These are concrete community connections, not simply a countryside address.

Relationships and Communication

A key person system gives children and families a continuing relationship with a member of staff. The behaviour policy links that relationship to open communication with parents, including working together when a child is finding something difficult. An agreed action plan can be shared between home and pre-school and reviewed, giving both sides a way to judge whether their approach is helping.

Promoting Positive Behaviour takes a clear position on discipline. Staff help children understand feelings, repair friendships and consider the effects of their actions; the policy excludes sticker or treat rewards and time-out sanctions. A child who needs space to calm down can be accompanied by an adult. For parents, the practical distinction is between supported regulation and being left alone as a punishment.

Community volunteers also contribute to shared reading. In July 2025, regular visits from local readers complemented songs and rhymes used during routines such as handwashing. Books and conversation therefore reached beyond planned language activities, with familiar daily tasks providing further opportunities to join in.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The staff structure includes a designated safeguarding lead, a deputy safeguarding lead, a SENDCo, a deputy SENDCo and an early years SEN support role. These are identifiable responsibilities for families discussing a concern or arranging additional help. They describe how support is organised, rather than guaranteeing an outcome for every child.

At the July 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described SEND support involving outside professionals, with leaders adjusting staffing and child numbers to meet needs. That dated finding gives a firmer basis for assessing support than a general promise of inclusion. Families still need a plan that addresses their own child’s circumstances.

Food is brought from home: children are encouraged to bring a healthy, nut-free snack to share and a balanced packed lunch. For allergy-affected families, the snack expectation makes a discussion about sharing food and current precautions important.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Church Lench Village Hall, Main Street, Evesham, WR11 4UE. Contact is through the enquiry form, email or telephone. The core pre-school provision runs during term time, using the hall and gardens.

In July 2025, opening hours were 8.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. The January 2025 committee minutes also recorded wraparound care operating daily until 5.30pm. The term-time structure remains central to planning childcare.

The 2025/26 Holiday Club arrangements offered Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday attendance during half terms, with day options running from 8.30am until 3.30pm, 4.30pm or 5.30pm. Pre-school children and their siblings had booking priority. That cycle is now past, but it illustrates an important distinction in the attendance model: holiday provision was organised separately from ordinary term-time attendance.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government-funded childcare was offered at the July 2025 inspection, alongside specific funding for disadvantaged children. The 2025/26 Holiday Club hours were private hours and could not be funded. Families comparing the two arrangements therefore need to distinguish term-time childcare from separately paid holiday attendance.

Parents provide lunch and the sharing snack. For Forest School, the parent handbook also asks families to supply wipes with spare clothes and a drinks bottle, and to apply sun cream beforehand. These are practical preparations for outdoor attendance. Current prices come in the pre-school’s written quotation.

Getting There

School preparation includes links beyond the village hall. The pre-school describes close links with Church Lench CE First School, opposite its premises, including regular visits and joint activities. Attendance does not guarantee a school place; families still apply through the local authority admissions process.

In July 2025, teachers visited children and children visited their next school, including practising how to carry a lunch tray. That small, practical task captures the purpose of transition work: making unfamiliar routines more manageable before the move.

• Individual learning. The July 2025 priorities concerned personal planning and the depth of adult interactions. On a visit, ask to see how a child’s current interests become a specific next step and how staff review that learning.
• Forest School participation. Sessions are delivered on Tuesdays and Fridays. How are orchard activities arranged for younger children and those using nappies? Discuss this before choosing days around the programme.
• Term-time and holiday childcare. Term-time provision is the core offer; the 2025/26 Holiday Club operated separately, with private hours and priority for pre-school children and siblings. What attendance pattern and holiday dates would your family book now?
• Shared snacks and allergies. Children bring a nut-free snack for sharing as well as a packed lunch. Families managing allergies should confirm current food-sharing practice and the arrangements for their child.

For families drawn to outdoor play, village connections and a parent led organisation, The Lenches Pre-School has a clear appeal. Yates’ Community Orchard, Curiosity Corner and the Wellness Garden offer different settings for exploration, while Funics gives language work a regular place in the week.

It suits families seeking term-time pre-school places or daily wraparound care, recorded in January 2025, as well as those interested in separately organised Holiday Club days. The July 2025 priorities remain the essential counterweight to the attractive surroundings: parents should look closely at how staff personalise learning and extend children’s thinking. The strongest choice here rests on both the outdoor experiences and the teaching within them.