Preston Village PreschoolOfsted report card, 21 Sept 2026

Preston Village Preschool

Unique reference number (URN): 2826588 Address: School Lane, Preston, Hitchin, SG4 7UE Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 17/12/2024 Registers: EYR Registered person: Fairey, Jacqueline

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Children's behaviour and attitudes are a significant strength of the setting. Children clearly understand the expectations. Staff initially focus on ensuring that personal, social and emotional development is well supported. They ensure children have the language to talk about how they feel and express their needs. Children eagerly join in the morning register where they remind each other of the rules they need to have a lovely day. They are kind to each other because staff explicitly teach the skills children need to get on well. Children pass each other resources and play extremely well together. For example, children in the mud kitchen work together to make 'mashed potatoes', 'meatballs' and 'chocolate cake' for dessert. Children feel secure in the positive and trusting relationships they build with their key worker and they snuggle on to their laps for stories. Children demonstrate the ability to

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

focus on activities because staff recognise their interests and know how to fully engage them. For example, children carefully examine shells in the water and compare their sizes. Children show great concentration as they carefully stick sequins to make a pattern.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Leaders have created a hugely positive and respectful environment where children are motivated to engage with activities, staff and each other. Staff are excellent role models. They behave politely to each other and use excellent manners. As a result, children behave in the same way.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Leaders fully recognise the importance of attendance and punctuality, particularly for disadvantaged children or those with other barriers to learning. They work closely with parents to support them with this. When necessary, leaders are flexible in their approach to ensure all children arrive at the setting at the correct time.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

The children's welfare and wellbeing are at the heart of the setting. All staff have a deep understanding of each child's individual circumstances and their family background. They understand the child's lived experience outside of the setting and apply this to the care and welfare of the child. This builds extremely positive relationships and secure attachments which underpin practice. This allows those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities to fully receive the individual support they need. Leaders and staff emphasise children's emotional wellbeing. They use support boxes with books and sensory items for children to begin to explore and manage their own emotions. As children grow through the year, regular sessions to discuss their feelings take place during registration. Daily interactions and ongoing discussions with parents and carers ensure consistency in continuity of care.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders are proactive in encouraging healthy lunches. They provide parents and carers with examples of healthy items to ensure children eat well. They actively follow up with parents if these are not adhered to. They provide healthy snacks and fully encourage children's independence throughout everyday routines. Children wash their hands independently and peel and cut their own fruit. Leaders and staff have a secure understanding of safer eating

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Expected standard

and sleeping and are alert to the possibilities of allergies and choking. They have created safe sleep spaces for children that need them.

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Expected standard

Leaders support children's oral health. On their initial home visit, they give toothbrush packs to children with a song and guidance. They follow this up with practical activities in the setting. Leaders make drinking water into a game by having regular alarms that children recognise as 'water time'. They rush to get a drink, calling their friends to join them.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders have rigorous systems in place to find out children's individual needs very early. For example, leaders and the children's key person carry out home visits before the child starts in the setting. This ensures children develop familiarity and security early in the relationship. Parents and carers praise the settling-in process. They say it is thorough and has helped their children settle well. The key person establishes children's individual needs. Using guidance and information from parents, they explore if there are gaps in learning and how they can be addressed. Children are further assessed once they have fully settled in.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Staff offer children individualised support. For example, they use Makaton signing to support children with language development. They use continual observation and assessment processes to ensure children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or other barriers to learning are making progress and achieving their targets. Staff consistently monitor and update children's progress. They work closely with parents sharing information on a regular basis to ensure targeted adaptations have a consistent and positive impact. Staff work closely with other agencies to ensure continuity of learning across all areas of the child's life. As a result, children with SEND make rapid progress in their learning.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The key person is fully supported in their role. Leaders are extremely dedicated and passionate. They ensure staff have all they need to provide targeted support for children with SEND. Leaders responsible for supporting these children have secure knowledge, experience and understanding to ensure that adaptations put into place result in rapid progress. They work closely with parents to use extra funding wisely.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children generally make consistent and steady progress through the curriculum. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities or other barriers to learning make rapid progress because of the consistency of the activities and focus on their individual needs. Children particularly make secure progress in their personal, social and emotional skills because of the positive, trusting and warm relationships they build with their key person.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children recognise when they have done well. They are proud of their achievements and want to share them with others. For example, children bring in things they have made from home and proudly share them with staff and their friends. Children are equipped with the skills, knowledge and confidence for school. They learn to get on well with each other and develop secure social skills. Children become independent in their self-care, such as washing their hands and putting on their own coats. Children are confident to talk to adults and ask for help when they need it. This will support them in settling into school quickly.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders have devised a highly inclusive curriculum that is ambitious for all children. They have ensured that children's individual needs are at the forefront of their planning. The initial focus on developing personal, social and emotional skills, alongside language and physical skills, ensures that children develop confidence to access all other areas of learning as they play. Key persons explain to all staff the reasoning behind planned activities, so that all staff engage with children purposefully. However, on occasion, some staff do not consistently enhance teaching and interactions to support and build on children's learning. Sometimes, resources are not used to their fullest to enhance children's understanding, language, or enjoyment of the activity. For example, children wear shoes on a textured trail.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Conversation is a large part of the setting's day. Staff generally support children's language as they play together. They are quick to address misconceptions. For example, they gently correct children who mix up pink and purple and put them side by side to compare the difference. Staff use children's play to explore mathematical concepts, such as size. For example, they talk about the long necks of dinosaurs and count their toes. Children talk about the 'tiny' shells as they move them about in the water. Staff count with children as they use blocks to build castles.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Children develop strength in their arm and hand muscles through a variety of activities, such as 'mashing the potatoes' in the mud kitchen or scooping rice into tiny egg cups. This helps build the strength and skills for writing when they start school.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders have a clear intention to provide the best childcare and education they can, especially for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or other barriers to their learning. They have a vision of how they want the setting to be and have made great steps, particularly in the development of the outdoor area. Their vision has now moved on to developing a cohesive leadership team, and staff are still settling into new roles and learning their responsibilities. Staff wellbeing is high, and staff enjoy working at the setting. They are motivated to improve and move forward in their own development.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders regularly monitor and review staff performance. However, they have not taken action to ensure that all staff are consistently using every available chance to teach effectively. They ensure that staff have access to professional development and that necessary courses, such as safeguarding, and changes to the curriculum or welfare are completed.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders and staff have positive relationships with parents and carers, and work hard to build them with the local community. They have secure links with the local schools, especially when children leave to start there. They work extremely well with outside agencies to support children with SEND or other barriers to learning. Leaders do not share information with all parents regularly enough to ensure that they can consistently support their child's learning at home.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children are warmly welcomed into this nurturing and caring setting. They happily greet staff as they arrive. They demonstrate feeling cared for and comfortable and snuggle up to staff to look at books together. Children benefit from the embedded and secure key-person role as staff know them and their family circumstances very well. They develop trusting and warm relationships with their key person, which helps them to feel relaxed and safe. As a result, children develop high levels of confidence to try new things and persevere at tasks. They learn to listen carefully to what adults and other children say. They speak freely with staff because they know they will be listened to. This helps to promote their learning and emotional wellbeing within the setting.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children are extremely well behaved. They fully engage with and enjoy a wide range of activities based on their interests and needs. They are well supported with staff who know their next steps. For example, children develop the vocabulary and concept of size as they compare tiny and larger resources. They learn to get on well with each other, and they take turns and share resources. Children learn to name and understand their emotions through stories and interactions with staff. Children develop a love of early reading. They snuggle into boxes with blankets and cushions to read stories to themselves and each other.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children enjoy exploring the outdoors and go on walks from the setting to find out about the wider world. They look at different types of houses and investigate nature, such as finding conkers, which they bring back to their mud kitchen to play with. They have lots of opportunities to develop their physical skills through climbing and running. Parents and carers speak highly of the setting and are pleased with how their children develop confidence and independence. Leaders ensure that parents understand the importance of regular attendance and punctuality.

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure that the quality of staff teaching and interactions across the staff team consistently builds on children's learning.

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 09:00 - 17:00

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Facts and figures used on inspection

Leaders should consistently share information with all parents and carers about their child's progress and next steps of learning more frequently so they can also support at home.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners, the special educational needs coordinator, parents and children during the inspection.

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About this inspection

We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage. This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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