Happy Days Pre-School Playgroup

A visiting book bus, weekly music and a hall with smaller spaces for quieter work give Happy Days Pre-School Playgroup its character. Based at The Scout Hall in East Preston, it combines play-led learning with an emphasis on children becoming sociable and confident. The enclosed garden adds grass and a patio to the indoor space.

Ofsted rated the setting Good on 27 June 2024. That judgement sits alongside a current capacity of 30 children, while children can join the waiting list to start from age two. At the June 2024 visit, the children attending were aged two to four; that age band belongs to the inspection date.

Term-time attendance includes morning and afternoon sessions, with flexible hours also offered. This is a setting to consider for families whose childcare needs fit around the school-term calendar.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage shapes the education here: children learn through play, with personal and social development receiving particular attention. Children can explore at their own pace, rather than all being expected to complete an activity together. A half-term theme is divided into weekly topics, giving the play a changing subject while keeping a thread across the weeks.

People who help us brought visits from a policeman, teachers, a dental nurse, a nurse and a fireman in June 2026. Those encounters connected the topic with people doing the jobs children were learning about. Books, animals, the alphabet, colours and shapes are other possible themes.

Two recurring visitors extend that offer. The Book Bus comes every three weeks, giving children opportunities to browse books. Music Lady visits weekly with music and nursery rhymes for singing and dancing. These are concrete additions to the play-based framework, with a clear rhythm that families can recognise.

In June 2024, mathematical learning grew out of drawing and cutting: children compared circles with ovals and explored how cutting a circle changed its shape. Letter puzzles connected letters with their initial sounds, while illustrated instructions helped children work through the steps of making a model. These examples show learning embedded in practical tasks rather than confined to a separate lesson.

Outdoor and Community Life

One large hall is supplemented by two smaller rooms used for small-group or individual work. That gives the setting options beyond its shared main space. Outside, the enclosed rear garden has both a grassed area and a patio.

In June 2024, children followed the development of tadpoles and caterpillars, using photographs to capture changes. Staff also encouraged them to investigate temperature and texture outdoors. The emphasis was on noticing and describing real things, giving children something concrete to connect with new language.

Relationships and Communication

A key person takes particular responsibility for a group of children and works with parents around each child's interests and needs. Settling is part of that role, so families have a practitioner whose responsibilities include helping their child take part in activities. Parents can also look at their child's learning records whenever they wish.

In June 2024, children collaborated on a brick-built house, listened to one another's ideas and invited staff into their play. Those observations give substance to the emphasis on social development: sharing ideas was part of an activity children wanted to complete together.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the June 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, making good progress, while identifying inconsistent cooperation with other settings that children also attended. That last point matters for families dividing care between providers, because the adults need opportunities to connect their support.

In June 2024, puppets helped children identify feelings through facial expressions and talk about their own experiences; quieter areas gave them somewhere to pause and manage emotions. Oral-health activities included toothbrushes and cleaning techniques, while handwashing posters helped staff demonstrate the process. These were practical ways to make feelings and personal care understandable to young children.

The June 2024 improvement point concerned explaining rules. Staff sometimes stopped an unsafe action, such as running indoors, without explaining what could happen. The issue was helping children understand the reason for a boundary, so they could use that understanding when making their next decision.

Sessions and Attendance

Happy Days operates at The Scout Hall, The Street, East Preston, BN16 1HU. Opening hours are 9am to 3pm on Monday to Thursday and 9am to midday on Friday, during term time only.

Morning sessions run from 9am to midday; afternoon sessions run from midday to 3pm. There is also a midday-to-1pm lunch period, and flexible hours can be arranged around individual family needs. Friday's shorter opening window needs to be considered separately from the afternoon pattern.

The autumn 2026 half-term closure is 26 to 30 October, and the term finishes on 11 December 2026. Those breaks matter when planning cover: flexible hours sit within a term-time service rather than changing its holiday calendar.

Funding and Paid Extras

Happy Days accepts the 30-hour funded childcare entitlement and also offers paid sessions. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees page sets out the session structure. Eligibility for the entitlement remains a separate consideration from the choice of attendance pattern.

• Friday and holiday cover. Friday closes at midday, and attendance is term-time only. Match the weekly pattern and term breaks against the hours your family needs.
• Understanding boundaries. In June 2024, children needed clearer explanations of why rules mattered. On a visit, ask how practitioners now connect a rule with its reason during everyday play.
• Care shared between settings. Cooperation with other providers was inconsistent in June 2024. If your child will attend elsewhere too, ask how the key person coordinates learning and support across both settings.
• Food and everyday supplies. With a separate lunch period in the attendance pattern, ask how lunch and everyday supplies are organised for paid sessions and funded hours.

Happy Days suits families seeking morning sessions, afternoon attendance or flexible hours within a term-time week. The Book Bus and Music Lady give its learning offer recognisable recurring experiences, while the key-person arrangement provides a clear link between home and the setting.

The Good judgement from June 2024 provides a positive inspection position, with specific work identified around explaining rules and cooperating with other childcare settings. Its appeal is the combination of shared hall-based play, smaller spaces and regular visitors. Friday's midday finish and the holiday calendar are the practical details most likely to decide whether it fits.