About us


Based in the ‘Annexe’ at the rear of Howlands Baptist Church, we are perfectly located in a very natural, green environment, next door to Commonswood Primary School. We offer the children a bright & airy versatile indoor space and a newly landscaped safe, secure outdoor area with a mixture of artificial grass & natural turf, where the children learn and develop through play. Facilities also include a brand new clean, practical kitchen which is separate from the main classroom, child friendly, accessible toilets and a cloakroom. We ensure that all services such as lighting, heating and plumbing are well maintained and kept in good working order.

Meeting the individual needs of all children in our care lies at the heart of The Commons Pre-School’s ethos; we have, therefore, ensured that all appropriate areas can be fully accessed by all children including those with disabilities and/or other special needs.


We are fully committed to providing a quality, continuously improving setting, which means:


• Providing a safe and stimulating physical environment.
• Providing challenging and appropriate play-based opportunities and activities, reflecting individual needs.
• Providing well-qualified & experienced staff, including training opportunities for their continuing professional development.
• Providing a wide range of resources, catering for all ability levels.
• Having processes for taking account of parents’ and children’s views.
• Offering integrated practice; working with other services such as the local Children’s Centre, early years’ professionals and relevant Health Services.
• Sharing best practice with other settings and early years workers.
• Self-evaluation against quality criteria that drives improvement between Ofsted inspections.


We are registered with Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education) and are regularly inspected by them to ensure our provision meets the learning and development requirements, and complies with the welfare regulations, as required by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework.

Our registration number is EY550636 (previously EY425329). Our first ‘OFSTED’ inspection took place on the 28th of November 2011, just 10 weeks after opening and we were delighted to have been graded as Outstanding in all areas. We retained this grading at our most recent inspection on 14th January 2020. This is a huge achievement and is testament to the dedication, enthusiasm and hard-work of our staff team.

We are members of the Early Years Alliance (EYA) and are comprehensively insured with Morton Michel; this includes Employers Liability Insurance up to £10m and Public Liability insurance up to £5m.

Both insurance certificates are displayed on our notice board. The EYA also help to keep us up-to-date with best practice and the latest thinking within the early years’ sector.