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Hanslope Pre-school

Hanslope Pre-school is a pre-school in Milton Keynes for children aged 2 to 4, with 42 registered places. Ofsted report card, 2 July 2026: Strong standard in 1 area, Expected standard in 5 areas; safeguarding standards met.

Long Street Road, Hanslope, Milton Keynes, MK19 7BL

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
42 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Registered
1 June 2026 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)

Opening hours

Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 09:00 - 15:00

Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 2 July 2026

Who runs it

Hanslope Pre-school is run by Hanslope Pre-school (Ofsted register).

Latest inspection

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

Source: Ofsted, inspection on 2 July 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 happily and confidently enter the calm, welcoming environment where they demonstrate that they feel safe, valued and emotionally secure. Staff build warm and caring relationships with children, which helps them to develop a sense of belonging. Staff know children and their families very well. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are fully included in all aspects of pre-school life and have equal access to the curriculum. Staff's knowledge of these children's individual needs enables them to provide tailored support that helps children to settle quickly, build confidence and overcome barriers to learning. Children's family backgrounds, cultures, language and experiences are fully respected, valued and meaningfully reflected in the life of the setting.

Children behave well and show kindness, empathy and respect towards others. They proudly celebrate positive behaviour through the discussion of their 'Golden Rules'. These rules support behaviour expectations, such as we do not run inside and we wait while others are talking. This reinforces collective values and helps children notice acts of kindness, develop a sense of community and emotional awareness.

Overall, children demonstrate positive attitudes towards learning and spend their time enjoying a wide range of stimulating experiences that encourage curiosity, independence and exploration. They confidently choose activities that interest them, especially indoors, including imaginative play and sensory experiences, and also enjoy some outdoor learning and physical activities. Staff support children to develop important life skills, such as finding their belongings, managing routines and making healthy choices. Children are enthusiastic learners who enjoy books, stories, singing and discussions with staff and friends. Overall, they develop effective communication skills and are encouraged to express their thoughts, ideas and emotions. Children gain important skills in readiness for their transition to the pre-school room and school.

Children's attendance is monitored. Leaders communicate the importance of good attendance with parents. Consequently, attendance at the pre-school is high. This has a positive impact on children's future outcomes.

What Ofsted found in each area

Inclusion: Strong standard

Inclusion is a the forefront of this pre-school. Children benefit from a highly inclusive environment, where leaders and staff place children's individual needs, backgrounds and wellbeing at the centre of practice. Staff know children and their families very well and use this knowledge to identify barriers to learning at the earliest opportunity. Leaders and staff work collaboratively with parents, external professionals and agencies, including speech and language therapists, to ensure children receive timely and effective support. As a result, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, disadvantaged children and those known, or previously known to children's social care are supported well and make notable progress from their starting points.

Leaders and staff promptly assess emerging concerns and implement targeted interventions, with advice from other professionals, to support children's communication, emotional wellbeing and social development. Individual support plans are reviewed regularly and adapted effectively to meet children's changing needs. Staff confidently make reasonable adjustments to routines, environments, activities and teaching approaches, alongside learning goals, so that all children can participate fully.

Funding is used effectively to reduce gaps in learning and improve children's outcomes, including extending attendance and providing additional targeted experiences. Children are valued as individuals, develop a strong sense of belonging and thrive within this nurturing and inclusive environment.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders have a clear vision for their curriculum and what it is they want children to achieve. Staff provide a wide range of stimulating activities based on children's individual needs and interests, which children of all ages can access independently, particularly in the indoor environment. Staff support children to build on what they already know, in readiness for the next stage of their learning. This includes children who may face barriers to their learning. Staff have a clear understanding of how to support children's development. They gain detailed information from parents about their children's development when they start. Staff accurately monitor children's progress every term and set clear goals to help children move on to the next stage in their learning.

Leaders have a clear oversight of the curriculum and ensure that staff understand how to implement this in practice Staff generally deliver the curriculum well. Staff provide opportunities that support children to develop across all areas of learning. They typically interact well with children to develop their language skills. Staff model new words to children. For example, they introduce 'pail' through stories and 'lavender' when making mud pies. However, at times, staff are less clear on identifying when children need more time to think. This means that children do not always have time to process information as well they could, before giving a response.

Overall, staff provide teaching which supports children's learning and development well. For example, staff support toddlers' early communication and language positively during shared reading activities. Staff encourage older children to use mathematical language as they complete a colour-by-number activity. Staff support children to identify which colour relates to which number. They talk about quantities while children make mud pies and ask whether they need more or less mud to complete the task.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children typically secure the knowledge that they need to be ready for their next steps in learning. They progress well from their starting points, including children who are disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Children's develop their communication and language skills through songs, stories, conversations and play experiences. Children confidently join in group activities, build positive relationships with others and demonstrate growing resilience and exploration in their play and learning. They listen attentively to stories and increasingly express their thoughts and ideas. For example, older children enthusiastically discuss emotions during the story of the 'Colour Monster' and confidently talk about what makes them feel happy, sad or scared.

All children, including those who speak English as an additional language, develop their communication and language skills well. Children generally remember their learning and practise new skills during independent play. For example, children compare the length of ramps that they build and count the cars as they roll them down guttering. They use their imagination and creativity to make meals in the mud kitchen. Older children successfully develop their small and large muscle skills through craft activities, writing area, and the mud kitchen outside. Younger children develop their coordination skills in the garden as they climb the stepping stones and navigate the space around them. Children welcome praise offered by staff, who encourage them to keep trying at things. This supports children to build resilience.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Leaders work closely with parents, carers and external professionals and have secure systems in place to monitor and check on children's attendance. Leaders know the reasons for absence and provide appropriate support for families. This largely helps to secure improvements so that children benefit from regular attendance. Children enjoy their time at pre-school, demonstrate positive attitudes to learning and feel a sense of belonging.

Older children form positive friendships. They play collaboratively together and willingly share resources, such as utensils in the mud kitchen and the fishing rods. When there are not enough yellow pencils, they support each other to find more so they can all have one. Staff provide calm and consistent support to help children understand expectations for behaviour. They set clear expectations and boundaries during focused activities. For example, they remind children to take turns and wait for their friends to finish speaking without interruption, which coincides with their 'Golden Rules'.

The environment is calm and orderly. Children typically behave well. They learn how to share toys and play well alongside their peers. Children rarely need reminders about positive behaviour. Staff have nurturing relationships with children. They adapt their approach to support children who require additional help, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This means that children are increasingly able to manage their own feelings and emotions.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Children are happy, settled and emotionally secure within this warm and nurturing environment. They form secure attachments with their key persons and other familiar adults, confidently seeking reassurance, comfort and support when needed. Staff know children and their families well. They work closely with parents and external professionals to support children's individual welfare and wellbeing needs, particularly for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those facing barriers to learning.

Children are supported to develop an understanding of healthy lifestyles and physical wellbeing. For example, staff support children's physical development well during the limited outdoor play experiences. This helps children to develop confidence in their own physical abilities. However, leaders and staff should enhance the opportunities for outdoor play, especially for those children who prefer to play and learn outside. All children independently wash their hands, before and after meals and manage routines confidently. Staff support children to recognise and express their emotions through discussions about behavioural expectations. This is done through the 'Golden Rules', when they talk about being kind and respectful to others, routines and other activities that explore feelings and kindness towards others.

Children demonstrate that they feel safe and secure within the pre-school. Staff support children sensitively during transitions to the next room and help them build confidence and independence over time.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders focus on children who may find it harder to make progress, such as children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who have wider barriers to learning or those in receipt of early years pupil premium funding. The management team ensures that resources are managed well, including keeping ratios of children in line with the requirements of the early years foundation stage. Leaders are aware of areas where improvement is needed and are quick to identify this in a longer term vision for the pre-school. Leaders provide opportunities for staff to attend training, share it with the team and consider how to implement it in practice.

Leaders recognise that more needs to be done to enhance the outdoor curriculum. Leaders have plans in place to improve the outdoor area, including developing a forest school. Currently, children are only able to access the outdoor provision for a short amount of time and do not have the option to choose to play outside should they wish to do so. Leaders do not always recognise the impact that the current arrangements have on those children who prefer to play and learn outside.

Changes to the current leadership of the setting means that staff are not familiar with the committee members responsible for overseeing the provision. Staff have not been involved in, or informed of, some decisions which affect them. As a result, morale is low and this impacts on staff's welfare and wellbeing.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

  • Leader should develop staff skills to enable them to recognise when children need more time to think and process responses.
  • Leaders should enhance the organisation of the outdoor area to provider more opportunities for those children who prefer to play and learn outside.
  • Leaders should implement effective arrangements to gain oversight of the running of the setting, and involve staff in decisions which affect them, to raise morale and support wellbeing.

Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 2 July 2026. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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

  • Hanslope Park Day Nursery - Day nursery, Hanslope MK19 7BH, ages 1 to 4, 56 places, 1.4 miles
    Ofsted, 15 December 2022: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
  • Acorn Day Nursery Castlethorpe - Day nursery, Milton Keynes MK19 7EL, ages 1 to 4, 36 places, 1.8 miles
    Ofsted, 18 December 2024: Good overall; safeguarding is effective

Schools nearby

Hanslope Pre-school on the Ofsted website