Welcome to Appleton Thorn Pre-School

We understand that starting Pre-School is a very important milestone in your child’s and family's life. To ensure a positive start, we believe that you and your child will need the support and encouragement that our Pre-School can provide.

For your child, this could be the first time that they have been in a group or the first time they have been apart from you on a regular basis. Some children adapt to this very quickly, whilst others take a little longer. Either situation is perfectly normal. We realise that you are entrusting us with the care of your child and we place your child’s safety, welfare and development at the top of our priorities. We offer a secure, happy and stimulating environment where independence, self-confidence, consideration for others and good manners are encouraged.

Your child will be allocated a key person who will liaise with you to ensure a smooth transition into Pre-school. They will closely monitor your child's progress throughout their time at Pre-school and feedback to you regularly. We operate an 'open-door' policy and we welcome input from our parents during regular meetings.

We are proud of the family spirit and relationships that exist at Appleton Thorn Pre-School and have very strong community connections with Appleton Thorn Primary School, St Cross Church, Bawming Committee and Appleton Thorn Village Hall.

We hold our Tuesday morning session at Appleton Thorn Primary School, where the children have a gym session as well as other activities. We are invited to take part each term in the themed morning with Reception class, when our children take part in a range of activities learning about different parts of the world. We also attend the Infants' Nativity play. The links with the Primary School offer a huge advantage for the children who will go on to attend Appleton Thorn Primary school, an Ofsted rating outstanding school, helping to create a smooth transition from Pre-School to Reception Class. We are also happy to support transitions to other local schools, and welcome visits from their teachers.

We also hold our own annual events such as our Sports Day and Nativity Play that parents are encouraged to come and watch. A few times a year we will also take the children on a local trip, for example to Stockley Farm or to Fairy Forest.

Each year the Pre-School takes part in Bawming the Thorn, Pre-School children take part in the parade and we also run the cake stall.

Appleton Thorn Village Hall is also a charity and we help and support them as much as possible.

We recently changed our charity status to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). Our first OFSTED inspection under our new OFSTED and charity numbers took place in January 2017 and gave us a rating of 'good'. Download the full report here.