Candover Valley Pre-School
Candover Valley Pre-School is a pre-school in Basingstoke for children aged 2 to 4, with 30 registered places. Ofsted report card, 1 December 2025: Strong standard in 4 areas, Expected standard in 2 areas; safeguarding standards met.
Alresford Road, Preston, Candover, Basingstoke, RG25 2EE
Key facts
- Type
- Pre-school (Sessional day care) (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Ages
- 2 to 4 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered places
- 30 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered
- 23 November 1994 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Opening hours
Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:30 - 15:00
Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 1 December 2025
Who runs it
Candover Valley Pre-School is run by Candover Valley Pre-School Committee (Ofsted register).
Latest inspection
- Inclusion: Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
- Achievement: Expected standard
- Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard
- Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard
- Leadership and governance: Strong standard
- Safeguarding standards met
Source: Ofsted, inspection on 1 December 2025. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children arrive at the nurturing pre-school with high levels of enthusiasm and anticipation for the day. Well-thought-out daily routines help children to feel safe and secure. Children have a very clear understanding of what happens at transition times and know what is expected of them and when. For instance, they fully understand the simple routine of hanging their coats and bags up when they arrive and quickly put on their slippers. From the beginning, they form incredibly strong attachments with their key person. Parents of children new to the setting comment that the sensitive and thoughtful approach of all staff help their children to settle well and enjoy their learning.
Overall, leaders and staff provide an ambitious curriculum for children and focus on building secure foundations, particularly in children's communication and language skills. Staff consistently build on what children already know to extend their ideas, vocabulary and communication skills. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make excellent progress. Staff seamlessly adapt activities to ensure all children are fully included. They use a range of strategies to support children's individual needs. For example, skilled staff use Makaton and visual aids to promote children's communication skills. As a result, children with SEND benefit from an inclusive environment and make excellent progress from their starting points alongside their peers.
Staff are superb role models, calm, patient, and kind. They model taking turns and have high expectations for children's behaviour. Older children are extremely well prepared to start school. Staff ensure they have the confidence and skills to join in with activities independently. For example, children know how to use scissors safely and select the creative materials they want before they start.
What Ofsted found in each area
Inclusion: Strong standard
Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported extremely well in the pre-school. They make excellent progress in their communication and developing confidence. Leaders act with integrity to ensure that all children, particularly those with SEND, have access to an engaging curriculum. Leaders and staff work seamlessly with other professionals to ensure that all children receive the support they need to thrive. Through careful observation and assessment, they quickly identify any gaps in learning and provide targeted support to maximise children's progress. Staff actively develop strategies, talk with parents and make timely referrals to other professionals. Ongoing training helps staff to deliver targeted interventions that promote each child's learning. For example, they use 'What's in the box?' daily to enhance children's attention and language and communication skills.
Children who are eligible for additional funding make excellent progress. Leaders ensure that funding is fully targeted to enhance their learning and development needs. For instance, they have used funding to purchase outdoor literacy equipment to support children's learning and encourage their engagement and exploration. Parents and carers of children with SEND are especially complimentary about the work of staff and leaders. They appreciate how the pre-school ensures that all children learn and explore confidently alongside their peers.
Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
Leaders have developed a carefully ordered curriculum that supports all children to make good progress. Staff complete regular assessments of what children know and can do. They use these assessments to plan activities that allow children to successfully build their learning over time. Staff skilfully adapt activities and provide targeted support to ensure all children can participate fully. The promotion of children's language and communication is a strong focus. They sing familiar songs and read with enthusiasm, which captures and maintains the children's attention. For example, older children confidently recall their experience of reading 'Goldilocks and The Three Bears' as they play with porridge oats. Staff interact enthusiastically with the children and respond appropriately, pretending to taste the porridge as the children ask if it is too hot, too cold, or just right.
The curriculum for physical development is ambitious. For instance, children embrace a variety of physical challenges, such as exploring uneven terrain during their weekly forest school sessions. Staff help children to make good progress in their personal, social and emotional development. They support children to learn to share and take turns. For example, staff clearly explain to children when it will be their turn. Leaders have a clear overview of the curriculum and monitor its effectiveness. However, they need to strengthen staff's knowledge of how to consistently promote mathematical concepts during activities and daily routines.
Achievement: Expected standard
Children thrive in a nurturing and highly inclusive environment where they feel deeply safe, valued, and confident. All children communicate exceptionally well, expressing their thoughts, needs, and ideas with confidence. For example, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make rapid progress in their communication skills by using Makaton consistently. Children demonstrate excellent social skills, form strong relationships, and actively contribute to decision-making about their learning and play. This empowers children and strengthens their sense of belonging.
Children's individual identities are celebrated and reflected throughout the setting. They enthusiastically engage in activities linked to a wide range of cultural traditions and celebrations and access a rich selection of books in different languages. Children who speak English as an additional language use their home language with confidence while rapidly developing their English communication skills, enabling them to participate fully and succeed alongside their peers.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard
Staff have created a calm, harmonious environment where children of all ages show care and concern for one another. Children demonstrate exemplary behaviour throughout the pre-school, a direct result of staff nurturing them and providing dedicated guidance. They willingly share toys, speak kindly to their friends, and actively demonstrate positive behaviours, all of which contribute to a nurturing environment. A key focus is to promote children's emotional literacy. Staff teach children the language of feelings, helping them develop their emotional literacy appropriately. For instance, children spontaneously use the pre-school's emotion cards to talk about their feelings to their peers.
From the outset, leaders communicate with parents about the importance of punctuality and good attendance. Staff provide exceptional support to children who are new to the setting, prioritising the development of secure attachments within nurturing environments. Children receive warm, consistent care tailored to their individual needs, with staff offering cuddles and reassurance when they are tired or upset. As a result, children exhibit excellent attitudes to learning. For example, they work together to build a large train track, joining the pieces and adding sections to make it even bigger. When the train track breaks, they work together to fix it, showing excellent perseverance.
Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard
Leaders place a high emphasis on prioritising children's health and emotional wellbeing. Children regularly participate in carefully planned yoga and mindfulness sessions, demonstrating high levels of confidence, engagement, and emotional security. The highly effective key-person system ensures that staff know each child extremely well. Bespoke settling-in arrangements, including personalised sessions and home visits, enable staff to respond immediately to individual needs. As a result, new children settle quickly, develop strong relationships with staff, and become confident in daily routines. Children feel safe, secure and self-assured, willingly following well-established routines such as nap times.
Healthy eating, exercise, and oral hygiene are effectively embedded in the curriculum. Staff use sociable mealtimes to further enhance children's understanding of healthy eating and to encourage them to try new foods. Children learn about the importance of personal hygiene through staffs' conversations, role modelling and daily routines that embed lifelong habits. They show a keen awareness of good hygiene, using tissues to wipe their noses. Children look in the provided mirror to check that they have done a good job, then dispose of their tissues in the bin. Staff work hard with parents to provide healthy packed lunches, such as through daily discussions and sharing lunch-box ideas. As a result, children and parents make well-informed decisions about the food that they choose for their packed lunches.
Leadership and governance: Strong standard
Leaders and committee members are extremely committed in their drive to continuously improve the setting. They constantly reflect on ways to maintain and improve the setting's very high standards. For instance, staff have adapted the learning environment to particularly support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They have implemented soft lighting in parts of the room and encourage sensory play in a wide range of activities. This has had a positive impact on the children as staff have a greater awareness of how sensory experiences in the setting impact children's learning.
Leaders have created a highly supportive environment where staff feel genuinely heard and valued. They pay careful attention to staff's development, wellbeing, and workload. This contributes to the very low staff turnover and to a harmonious, highly respectful working environment. Leaders provide high-quality training and support to ensure that staff regularly improve their practice. Staff reflect on receiving regular training, mentoring, and coaching that is extending their knowledge and skills. For instance, they explain that recent training on supporting children's social and emotional development has been highly successful in improving children's emotional wellbeing. Leaders demonstrate an exemplary approach to working in partnership with parents. They share copious amounts of information with parents daily, both in person and via an online app.
What the setting must and should do next
The provider should:
- Leaders should strengthen staff's knowledge of how to incorporate more mathematical vocabulary and concepts into everyday routines and activities to help widen children's understanding further.
Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 1 December 2025. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Inspection history
- 1 December 2025: Full inspection, report card: Strong standard in 4, Expected standard in 2
- 22 January 2020: Full inspection, Outstanding (report)
- 29 September 2015: Full inspection, Outstanding (report)
- 24 June 2010: Full inspection, Outstanding (report)
- 24 May 2007: Inspection (report)
- 13 October 2004: Inspection (report)
- 15 March 2004: Inspection (report)
Ofsted report cards (England, from November 2025)
Since 10 November 2025 Ofsted has graded nurseries and pre-schools on a report card. There is no single overall grade. Instead, each of six areas gets one of five grades: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, Urgent improvement.
The six areas are inclusion; curriculum and teaching; achievement; behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines; children's welfare and wellbeing; leadership and governance. Safeguarding is judged on its own, as met or not met.
Expected standard means the setting does what Ofsted expects of every setting. Strong standard and Exceptional are above that; Needs attention and Urgent improvement mean Ofsted found things the setting has to put right.
Source: Ofsted reports
Funded childcare hours in England
All 3 and 4 year olds in England can get 15 hours of free childcare a week, for 38 weeks of the year.
Working parents of children aged 9 months to 4 years old can get 30 hours of free childcare a week for 38 weeks of the year (Free Childcare for Working Parents), if they meet the earnings rules. You confirm your details every 3 months.
Some 2 year olds can get 15 hours a week when the family gets certain kinds of extra support.
The hours are used at a registered provider that offers them, so ask each nursery how it offers the funded hours.
Source: GOV.UK: Free Childcare for Working Parents, check if you're eligible · GOV.UK: Free childcare and education for 2 to 4 year olds (checked 31 October 2026)
Schools nearby
- Preston Candover Church of England Primary School - Primary, under 0.1 miles