Squirrels Pre-School

Squirrels Pre-School accepts children from their third birthday, up until they start their Reception year.

Pre-school children (children turning four years old between 1st September and 31st August)
We recommend that pre-school children attend Squirrels for a minimum of three sessions in the Autumn Term and increase to five sessions in the Spring and Summer Terms.

Children may attend morning sessions with lunch, or stay all day. This depends on availability and the age of the child. Wraparound care is provided by SuperPirates until 6pm and children can attend from the age of 3 years. 

* Potty Training - Children attending Squirrels are expected to be potty trained. Please speak to the school's Registrar if this is a cause for concern. 

We are open Monday to Friday throughout The Paragon school year. Click here for term dates.

We accept the Early Years entitlement vouchers which are applicable until the end of the term after the child turns five. We will claim the grant on your behalf. Visit our Fees page for further information.

Once a child attends Squirrels full-time, the school sibling discount applies.

To ensure your child feels happy, comfortable, and ready to thrive, we offer a taster session before formal enrolment. This gives us a chance to gently assess whether our environment is the right fit for your child at this stage. If we feel they would benefit from a little more time before starting, we will warmly invite them to a follow-up taster session closer to their pre-school start date. Our priority is always your child's well-being, and we want their transition to be as smooth and positive as possible.

Squirrels Pre-School provides a gentle transition from home to school, where each child is cherished and can blossom.

Squirrels is a bright, happy and caring environment which offers a secure introduction to school life. The Pre-School Leader works with two qualified nursery assistants. Between them, they provide free and structured play, child-initiated and adult-led, to ignite the children’s curiosity and encourage their enthusiasm for learning.

Good manners and moral values are an important part of education at The Paragon. We help the children develop those values through our interaction with them. We start with the small things like not pushing in front of someone or grabbing all the apple slices, moving on to more important things like owning up when you have done something you know is wrong.

We work in partnership with our parents to lay the foundations from which children grow into happy, self-confident young people. If you choose to join us at Squirrels, we will work closely with you to help your children take their first steps into school life with confidence.

We look forward to getting to know you as a family and giving your child the best possible start to their education.

We love to spend time in the school woods, discovering and exploring the world around us.

Squirrels - and Prior Park Paragon at large - is passionate about outdoor learning and transferring the children's learning into a different stimulating environment. We believe that every child should experience the world beyond the classroom as an essential part of their development.

During the week, the children spend time in our school grounds for focused activities where they might make a stick man, an assault course for a squirrel, or discover more about the changing seasons. 

On Fridays we adventure into the woodland giving the children an opportunity to lead with the staff, responding to their ideas and inquisitive natures.

Our youngest children will most likely be found building dens, listening to the birds singing, stomping in streams, examining worms, singing songs, planting bulbs, collecting berries and counting feathers. These woodland wanderings help the children develop in many areas, including curiosity, confidence and teamwork.

Following recent guidance from the Department for Education, early years providers are now required to clearly show how Early Years Entitlement funding is used, alongside any additional charges.

Government funding contributes towards the core childcare element of your child’s day. Charges for meals, consumables and enhanced educational provision are listed separately so that families can clearly see how funded hours and additional elements come together to shape your child’s experience.

This approach ensures transparency and meets Department for Education requirements, while also helping families better understand the full range of provision we offer.

You may notice that our Pre-School invoices now present these elements separately. This change is simply about how information is displayed and does not represent an increase in the overall published nursery fees for the 2025/26 academic year.

2026/27 Fees

For the 2026/27 academic year, the full daily cost of a Pre-School place at Prior Park Paragon is £75 per day.

This includes:

• Core daily provision: £46.00
• Lunch (freshly prepared hot meal): £5.00
• Consumables (learning materials and classroom resources): £5.00
• Enrichment provision (including specialist lessons, Forest School and our wider curriculum): £19.

Total daily cost: £75.00

Session Options: 

We offer flexible session options to support families:

• Full day: From the start of the school day until 3:30 pm
  £75.00 per day
• Morning session: From the start of the school day until 1:00 pm
  £45.00 per day
• Additional or occasional hours:
  £11.00 per hour

Funding Information

We currently offer 15 hours per week of universal Early Years Entitlement funding. At present, Prior Park Paragon does not offer the extended 30-hour entitlement.

Our Pre-School Provision

Our Pre-School provision is thoughtfully designed as a complete educational experience, reflecting the ethos and curriculum of Prior Park Paragon.

Meals, consumables and our enriched programme all play an important role in supporting the quality and breadth of each child’s day. These elements are a natural part of the experience for children attending Squirrels, helping to create a nurturing, engaging and well-rounded environment in which they can thrive.