If you are a parent of young children currently looking into local pre-schools then honest reviews from other parents can be invaluable.

Please find a review from a local mum with a little girl at Magic Dragon Pre-school in Bishopston. I am sure you will find it helpful. 

Magic Dragon Pre-School takes place four mornings a week in the hall of the Church of the Good Shepherd, just off Bishop Road, behind the Church, with car access from King’s Drive.

It is open Monday – Thursdays 9am-12am and Monday – Wednesday 12am-1pm Lunch Club.

Magic Dragon Pre-school is a lovely place, the warm atmosphere is welcoming, I highly recommend to arrange a visit if you’re in need of childcare as spaces are still available this year.

We decided that our daughter would be very happy at Magic Dragon after a visit and chatting to the staff. Every time we walk in there is just a lovely, warm, safe, happy, friendly vibe about the people and building. It’s hard to describe, it reminds me of all the best bits of my days at primary school. I think it stems from the close-knit team of staff, with lots of experience and many of them with children who attended MD.

This year sees a new leader, Emma Webster, and a very busy, successful and fun-packed first term! When Miriam retired as leader it was very emotional, (yes, I cried) although she is still around and about, she can’t leave (!). My daughter (in the Blue Group) is now a lover of gingerbread (the children helped to make it) and she will actually eat cucumber now (!), thanks to the eagerly anticipated snack time each morning. The staff are amazing, full of ideas and energy, each week there are new ideas introduced/ things to learn about and play with.

I asked my daughter what she liked best about Magic Dragon and she said “playing outside” recently she has been very focussed helping to build a woodlice house in the garden! The new mud kitchen is a huge hit, with old spoons, pots and pans being put to good use. Of course, the all time classic play doh ranks highly in her favourite things to do at MD, alongside the trikes and trampoline. There are so many toys to play with inside, every week I see toys brought out from the store room that I’ve never seen before and my daughter is in her second year now. The first time we visited I had a huge smile on my face to see the train track stretching across the hall.

It’s nice to see what my daughter gets up to (we’ve built up slowly to 4 mornings a week) and how she’s progressing and I can do this by looking at her own person folder, compiled by her key person. The folders are so lovely, the staff put a great deal of effort into them with lots of photos showing the activities.

When the little ones are ready, Lunch Club runs from 12am-1pm and it’s great to get them used to sitting down and eating together, ready for the transition to school. There are lots of opportunities for parents/carers to help out at Magic Dragon if you can/want to. Each half term the rota is arranged so that for the majority of mornings there is a parent/carer helping out (and having fun playing too).

It’s a big step leaving your child at Pre-School but the staff were so supportive (to me as well as my daughter!) that it went very smoothly and we are so pleased we chose Magic Dragon. I highly recommend Magic Dragon as a safe, informative and fun environment for pre-schoolers.

For more information about Magic Dragon please visit http://magicdragonpreschool.org.uk/

For more information about pre-schools in/near Bishopston, St Andrews, Horfield and Ashley Down please see this list on Bishopston Mum: https://bishopstonmum.com/directory/pre-schools/