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Curl Around Pre School

Curl Around Pre School is a pre-school in Beaconsfield for children aged 2 to 4, with 30 registered places. Ofsted report card, 14 May 2026: Strong standard in 3 areas, Expected standard in 3 areas; safeguarding standards met.

Church Hall, Shepherds Lane, Beaconsfield, HP9 2DU

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
2 April 2024 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)

Opening hours

Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday : 08:15 - 16:15,Friday : 08:15 - 15:15

Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 14 May 2026

Who runs it

Curl Around Pre School is run by Curl Around Childcare Limited (Ofsted register).

Latest inspection

  • Inclusion: Strong standard
  • Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
  • Achievement: Strong standard
  • Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard
  • Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard
  • Leadership and governance: Strong standard
  • Safeguarding standards met

Source: Ofsted, inspection on 14 May 2026. 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 happy and excited to start their day at this welcoming pre-school. Leaders and staff greet them warmly and respond to their individual needs. Key-person arrangements help children feel safe, valued and confident to explore. Staff provide calm, consistent support that builds trust, emotional security and early independence. Staff prioritise children's wellbeing and independence. They support routines, such as toileting, snack and self-care, while allowing children to make choices and express their individuality. Overall, children flourish, thrive and progress at the pre-school. Staff swiftly identify barriers to children's learning. They adapt activities so children can join in and benefit from relevant and individual learning experiences. For example, staff use additional resources, such as one-to-one support, to support children. Children benefit from focused experiences that promote achievement. During a play dough activity, children listen to instructions, select ingredients and count aloud. Most children remain engaged and show pride in completing tasks such as stirring the mixture and counting the spoonfuls. These experiences build early mathematical understanding and confidence. Staff provide overall an engaging curriculum that encourages exploration, problem-solving and communication. For example, children enjoy developing their fine hand muscle skills as they thread beads and use their imagination as they pretend to water flowers in the pretend garden centre they have created.

What Ofsted found in each area

Inclusion: Strong standard

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive superb support. With the skilled guidance of leaders and managers, staff are particularly effective at identifying and supporting children with SEND. They expertly use their knowledge of each child to put personalised strategies in place, which they regularly review. Staff are confident to draw on further help from a range of professionals to support children with SEND. Staff skilfully use information from parents, alongside their observations when children start, to complete initial assessments. They promptly identify gaps and delays in children's development and put interventions in place immediately to support them. Leaders use additional funding purposefully and with precision to provide targeted support that meets children's individual needs. As a result, children who are previously known to children's social care and disadvantaged, make sustained progress from their starting points. Leaders and staff regularly and rigorously review children's progress. They adapt support systematically as children's needs grow and change, ensuring that help remains timely and effective.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders know children and their families well. They use this knowledge to identify learning gaps and plan an inclusive curriculum that builds on what children already know and can do, overall. Staff draw on children's interests, such as imaginative play with dinosaurs or a pretend garden centre, to help plan activities that capture and sustain their engagement. Children explore early mathematical ideas through everyday experiences, such as counting money or using numbers in their play. Children have lots of fun as they explore how fast they can run outside and explore balancing beams with staff supervising closely. Sometimes, the quality of teaching is not consistent. Not all interactions with children are of a consistently high quality. For example, children, at times, are not given opportunities to express their own thoughts and ideas and extend their thinking further. Leaders recognise there is still some work to do to help staff recognise and act on all opportunities for teaching and learning so they can better support children to further excel in their learning. The curriculum places a clear emphasis on children's physical, personal, social and emotional development. Staff build warm, trusting relationships that help children to feel secure. Staff provide activities such as balancing objects and predicting if these objects will balance, giving purposeful practice in hand-to-eye coordination and fine motor control. Outdoor movement play supports physical development well. Children delight in learning to balance on beams, and staff offer lots of praise and support.

Achievement: Strong standard

Children make excellent progress from their starting points and are very well prepared to transition between different stages of their education, including school. Children confidently express themselves and want to share their ideas, demonstrating effective communication skills. Children are also highly independent. They are able to dress themselves before going outside, help tidy up and set up the table at mealtimes, listening to and following instructions well. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities or who experience barriers to learning or wellbeing, engage in play and sustain high levels of concentration. Leaders work closely with schools and other settings children transition on to and continue to develop the excellent partnership working. Despite some inconsistencies in teaching, children continue to concentrate well and show high levels of engagement.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Staff build warm and trusting relationships with children. These relationships help children feel a deep sense of belonging. Children confidently explore the warm and welcoming environment and make independent choices in their play. Staff are positive role models for children and manage children's behaviour well overall. Leaders continue to promote children's ongoing attendance to parents and carers. They work with parents to remove any barriers to attending. For example, leaders offer flexibility for days and hours of attendance when appropriate. This enables children to continue to attend regularly and benefit from their time in the pre-school. Children have a positive attitude towards learning, and staff have overall implemented an effective routine throughout the day. However, leaders and staff have not consistently organised some activities. Consequently, at times, children lose focus, as they cannot access the help from staff.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Staff know children's interests and use these to create engaging learning opportunities, adapting experiences for children who may face barriers to their learning. Children enjoy staff joining in their play, which supports their sense of security and emotional wellbeing. Mealtimes feel calm and relaxed. Staff have worked hard to create a peaceful atmosphere. Staff consistently role model good manners and hygiene practice, such as washing hands before lunch. Children talk excitedly with their peers and staff about healthy eating. Staff work hard to build trusting relationships with parents and maintain ongoing communication with them when children arrive and leave. This helps to ensure that parents have up-to-date information about their children's needs and development. This is particularly effective for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Parents are fully involved in the regularly planned development review meetings and assessments. Overall, staff create enabling environments, and children benefit from spaces for quieter times and have areas for busy play. Staff help children gain confidence in recognising and managing their feelings and carefully support them in managing their own wellbeing. Children are encouraged to take part in physical activities outside that support their wellbeing. They enjoy being active, confidently use climbing equipment and play games with their friends. Staff encourage them to think about how they can use the equipment safely, supporting children's early understanding of how to take risks.

Leadership and governance: Strong standard

One of the many key strengths of the provision is the leaders' commitment to providing a high level of fully inclusive care and education for children. Leaders provide clear and consistent leadership, maintaining high standards across all aspects of the pre-school. Decisions are consistently taken in the best interests of children. Leaders work closely with families and external professionals to ensure children who may face barriers to learning and/or wellbeing receive appropriate support and reasonable adjustments. Leaders are aware of minor inconsistencies in teaching and have clear action plans in place to support and monitor staff and the quality of teaching. However, this is not yet consistently embedded and needs more time to embed into practice. Staff feed back that they receive excellent support from leaders, as they are given a range of opportunities to progress their development. They have many opportunities to meet with leaders and discuss areas for further development. They speak very highly of the leadership team and their hands-on and caring approach. Parents speak extremely positively about the setting and the clear communication and support from leaders.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

  • Leaders should ensure the organisation of activities provides sufficient staffing to help maintain high levels of engagement.
  • Leaders should ensure interactions are of high quality and provide opportunities for children to fully explore their thinking.

Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 14 May 2026. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Inspection history

  • 14 May 2026: Full inspection, report card: Strong standard in 3, Expected standard in 3

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)

Other nurseries nearby

  • Bright Horizons Northgate House Day Nursery and Preschool - Day nursery, Beaconsfield HP9 1LG, ages 0 to 5, 77 places, 0.2 miles
    Ofsted report card, 7 July 2026: Expected standard in 3 areas, Needs attention in 3 areas; safeguarding standards met
  • First Place Nursery - Day nursery, Beaconsfield HP9 2WH, ages 0 to 5, 41 places, 0.2 miles
    Ofsted, 7 December 2022: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
  • Partou Old Town Day Nursery & Pre-School - Day nursery, Beaconsfield HP9 1SJ, ages 0 to 4, 49 places, 0.2 miles
    Ofsted, 23 September 2025: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
  • Marie Redmond Tuition - Pre-school, Beaconsfield HP9 2JW, 0.2 miles
  • The Beaconsfield Day Nursery and Pre-School - Day nursery, Beaconsfield HP9 1RD, ages 0 to 4, 54 places, 0.5 miles
    Ofsted, 12 July 2024: Good overall; safeguarding is effective

Schools nearby

Curl Around Pre School on the Ofsted website