About us
Barnett Wood Pre-School was established in 1993 and has grown to a point where today it welcomes up to 44 children each session. The Pre-School provides term-time childcare in a friendly, stimulating and nurturing environment where children can play, learn and make friends. It is situated on the same site as Barnett Wood Infant School, but is independently run. Children are invited to join the Pre-School from the September after their 2nd birthday.
As a limited company with charitable status, the Pre-School aims to put the needs of the families and children who attend at the forefront of everything it does. The setting is led by a group of directors who give their time voluntarily to help ensure it is run as a successful business, re-investing any surplus funds back into the setting. Day to day, the setting is managed by Louise Pruthi, who is supported by a team of dedicated and experienced staff. Click here for letter from the directors explaining their roles and how parents can get involved.
Sessions
The Pre-School offers sessional care during term-time only. Our session times are as follows:
Early Birds Club from 8.30am available Monday to Friday (self-funded only)
Morning sessions 9.00am - 12.15pm available Monday to Friday
Afternoon sessions 12.15pm - 3.15pm available Monday to Thursday
Full day sessions 9.00am-3.15pm available Monday to Thursday
With effect from Monday 17th April 2023, our opening times will be as follows:
Morning sessions 8.30am - 12.15pm available Monday to Friday
Afternoon sessions 12.15pm - 3.00pm available Monday to Thursday
Full day sessions 8.30am - 3.00pm - available Monday to Thursday
Children must attend a minimum of 2 sessions per week (a full day is counted as 2 sessions), until they are eligible for government funding (Universal/Extended funding) when they must attend for a minimum of 3 sessions per week.
All children, regardless of their age, are welcome to attend full day sessions. However parents/carers must be aware that we do not have sleep facilities so they should be confident that their child can manage without an afternoon nap.
Ofsted
The Pre-School was last inspected in September 2017 and we are delighted to be rated as "Outstanding" in all areas. The summary of the key findings were as follows:
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Staff are supported by extremely effective supervision processes, highly reflective practice and continuous professional development. Management sets highly effective targets and works alongside staff to share their excellent childcare knowledge and skills.
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Consistently excellent teaching and nurturing, provided by a well qualified and committed staff team, ensure all children build strong foundations for future learning. Children make exceptional progress given their starting points.
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Support for children who have special educational needs is exceptional. Management and key staff work extremely well with parents and a number of early years professionals. They ensure that timely interventions enable children to reach their potential.
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Staff make excellent use of additional funding they receive for children. They accurately identify the very best ways to target funding to help make an extremely positive difference to children.
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Children behave exceptionally well. They are completely absorbed in play and immersed in activities that stimulate their interests given their young age. Older children resolve minor conflicts with exceptional levels of maturity.
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Staff build exceptional partnerships with parents, who are extremely pleased with the progress their children make, in particular their social interaction with their friends. Staff monitor children's progress very effectively and share this information with parents.
Please click here for a full copy of our Ofsted report.