Whether children come to Acorns Pre-school every day, or for a few hours a week, 3-4 year-olds can mix with school-age children, have a hot school dinner and get prepared for school life, either at Trinity Oaks or another school. Led by a qualified teacher, encouraging exploration through play, Acorns Pre-school provides a curiosity-based environment to foster child-led learning. Children have fun, whilst making their own choices, leading to enhanced confidence, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.

Funded provision

Current funding applies from the term after your child’s third birthday (e.g. children turning three between 1st September and 31st December 2023 would receive funding from 1st January 2024)

• All children receive 15 hours

• 30 hours of funding is offered to eligible working parents.

If you think you are eligible for 30 hours of nursery/Pre-school funding you will need to apply for a code and further information can be found here. Please indicate on your application form (see below) if you are interested in 30 hours provision.

The session options available are:

• Morning sessions from 8.30-11.30am

• Afternoon sessions from 12-3pm

• Full-day sessions from 8.30am-3pm

3 hours of funding can be used for morning and afternoon sessions, 6 hours of funding can be used for full-day sessions. As our full-day sessions are 6.5 hours, there will be a charge of £1.50 for the extra 30 minutes that are unfunded.

To take advantage of the 15 hours of funding, you can choose all mornings or all afternoons. If you choose a combination, such as 2.5 days, you will be required to pay for the additional 30 minutes for a full-day session at a cost of £1.50 per day.

Additional non-funded sessions

If you would like your child to start from their third birthday (rather than the term following it when they will be eligible for funding), you can pay for sessions at a rate of £6 per hour (£18 per session).

Similarly, if you are eligible for 15 hours of funding, but would like your child to attend for more hours, you are able to pay for additional sessions. Please note that hours must be booked as whole sessions (8.30-11.30am or 12-3pm) on a term-by-term basis. If this means that your child will attend for a whole day, you will also be required to pay £1.50 for the additional 30 minutes, as we offer a maximum of 6 funded hours per day. Priority will be given to children who qualify for a funded place.

Lunch options

For children attending only a morning or after session, there is the option for them to extend the session by half an hour and stay for lunch. The cost of the additional half hour is £1.50. This would mean children attending in the morning would be picked up at 12pm and children starting the afternoon session would be dropped off at 11.30am.

If your child is staying with us for lunch and you would like them to have a school dinner provided by Twelve15, our caterers, the price for this is £2.70 (correct for the 2023-24 academic year). However, you can also choose to send your child with a packed lunch. Children eat their lunch in the school hall, encouraging them to become familiar with routine, a larger setting and the opportunity to mix with older children, helping to prepare them for school life.

Wrap around care

Treetops is run by the school and offered to all children from Pre-school (ages 3-4) to year 6 (ages 10-11).

The price for Breakfast club is £6 for the first child and £5 for any siblings.

The price for Teatime club is £13.50 per child.

Children have the chance to join in with activities, play with other children. Please see additional information in the Wrap around care page under the parents information tab.

Admissions for the Current Academic Year

We welcome applications throughout the year and we currently have places available. Please contact the School Office if you are looking for a place for your child to start in the current academic year (2023-24) using our Contact Form or complete an Application Form.

Places will be allocated according to the Admissions Policy and parents informed in writing.

Please note that attendance at the School’s Pre-school does not guarantee a place in the Reception class of the School.

Admissions process for the 2024-25 Academic Year

The Governing Body is responsible for the admission of pupils to the Nursery and further information can be found in our Nursery Admissions Policy.

Interested parents should complete an Application Form for a Pre-school place and return it to the School Office.

*£21 cost is based on breakfast club (£6), £1.50 for the additional 30 minutes of a full-day session, after-school club (3-6pm £13.50) and using 15 or 30-hours of funded childcare to cover 6 hours of a full-day nursery session (8.30-11.30am and 12-3pm)