Rascals Pre-School Playgroup

A church hall that changes its play layout daily, a garden sheltered by canopies and books shared between home and playgroup give Rascals its character. This Rustington setting combines hands-on exploration with an explicitly Christian identity. Families of every faith and ethnic background are welcome, while festival celebrations follow the Christian calendar.

Rascals has 26 places in total and caters for children aged two to four. At its 26 May 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged the provision Good and safeguarding effective. That is a dated judgement, rather than a description of every aspect of today's provision.

The practical offer is term-time attendance, with longer sessions on Monday and Tuesday and mornings on Thursday and Friday. Its strongest reasons for consideration are more specific: children choose resources from storage they can reach, parents contribute to a Learning Journal, and final-year children have individual book-sharing time with their key person.

Learning and Activities

Rascals follows the early years foundation stage, the framework for children's learning, development and care. Here, play gives children opportunities to practise movement, language, independence and relationships: balancing equipment, role play and shared stories put those areas into everyday activities.

The pack-away arrangement is central to how the space works. Staff rebuild the indoor and outdoor activity layouts each day around children's interests. Resources sit at children's height, and children can move between indoor play and the garden. This gives them practical choices about what to use and where to play, rather than relying on an adult to fetch everything.

Messy Play means daily opportunities to investigate materials such as playdough, paint, water and baking ingredients. The emphasis is on exploration and making discoveries. Clothes need to accommodate it. Alongside these activities, craft, pretend play and quiet reading have their own space in the morning, while group activities include parachute play, songs and dancing.

Reading Sessions add a clear home connection during a child's final year. A weekly individual session with the key person is followed by a book to share at home. Picture discussion, careful handling and enjoyment matter more than reading the words. A prompt sheet gives parents ideas, and the accompanying comment sheet allows the conversation to travel back to staff. It is a manageable way for families to take part in learning beyond playgroup hours.

In May 2023, children used pouring containers to practise control and coordination, and staff used a timer to help resolve competing requests for the same superhero cape. Those examples show the practical texture of that period: physical skills through experimentation, and turn-taking through a concrete tool children could understand.

Outdoor and Community Life

The main indoor space is a carpeted hall, with a smaller carpeted room available for private discussions and a kitchen area used for cooking and craft. Outdoors, the garden combines decking with hard and soft surfaces. Two canopies shelter three quarters of it, supporting outdoor play throughout the year.

Bikes, scooters and balance beams provide different ways to move, while stepping stones offer another balance challenge. Indoor and outdoor play are both part of the morning. The garden is used in different weather, so practical clothing is part of participating fully.

Christian celebrations have a visible place in playgroup life. During spring 2026, Easter PreSchool Praise brought children into the church for a short service featuring action songs they had practised. That same term's World book day invited children to dress as a favourite book character and bring a book to share, with an alternative dress-up day for those who did not attend on the event day.

Relationships and Communication

Settling is arranged around the child and family. An adult can stay for a while where that helps, and staff work with parents on a comfortable arrangement. Staff will tell families if a child remains unhappy. This makes the settling conversation a continuing exchange rather than a fixed timetable every child must follow.

Each child has a key person. Their Learning Journal gathers observations and achievements, and parents can view it or borrow it to share with family. Contributions such as photographs and pictures from home are welcome. Each term, parents are asked for their own account of progress and current interests, giving staff material for activity planning beyond what they observe during sessions.

A developmental review between two and three can be shared with the health visitor. Before a child moves to another setting or school, the key person, family and child meet the relevant professionals to discuss transition and the strategies already being used. The useful element is continuity of information about the individual child.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Additional support has a defined mechanism: the key person works with the SEND co-ordinator on an individual support plan, with planning, monitoring and review involving parents. Referrals can be made to speech and language therapists or health visitors where needed. Visual prompts and ear defenders are among the practical supports available, the latter for children sensitive to noise.

Accessibility includes sloping routes with handrails at external entrances, garden access and an accessible toilet. An accessible parking space near the entrance can be arranged when needed. These are useful physical details for families weighing how the premises will work for their child.

The staff team holds childcare qualifications at level three or above, and staff receive continuing training. A designated safeguarding lead role is in place. Medicines must be handed to staff for storage, with the necessary paperwork completed; collection by someone different requires advance permission and details, and a password system applies to someone collecting for the first time.

Parents supply lunch and the nappies, wipes and nappy bags their child needs, while snack costs attract a voluntary termly contribution. That separates the food contribution from the practical items families need to pack.

Sessions and Attendance

Rascals operates at Methodist Church Hall, Claigmar Road, Rustington, BN16 2NL. Term-time day sessions run from 9.30am to 3.30pm on Monday and Tuesday; Thursday and Friday morning sessions run from 9.30am to 12.30pm. Wednesday is a closure day.

The autumn 2026 calendar includes a half-term break from 26 to 30 October and a term end on 11 December. Families therefore need to fit both the weekly pattern and school-holiday breaks into their arrangements. Enquiries can be made by telephone or email, and visits can be arranged through those routes. Rascals operates a waiting list.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and additional privately paid hours are both offered. Accepted entitlements include Early Learning for 2 year olds (LA Issued EYFE), 9 months plus EYFE for Working Families, and EYFE for other eligible children from the term after their third birthday. Although the working-family entitlement begins at a younger age, children can join Rascals only from their second birthday.

Funding is delivered during term time. Families may use funded hours anywhere within the opening week, up to 18 hours weekly, and can share funding with another setting. The working-family entitlement provides 30 hours a week, so the playgroup's own weekly limit is an essential distinction.

Invoices arrive at the start of each term and separate funded attendance from privately paid hours. Unfunded hours remain payable when a child is absent for illness or a holiday. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the funding and finances page explains the charging structure.

For funded attendance as well as privately paid attendance, families bring lunch and relevant changing consumables, and the snack contribution is voluntary. This contribution is requested once each term and reflects attendance hours, rather than being described as part of the hourly fee.

• Attendance fit. Longer Monday and Tuesday sessions sit alongside Thursday and Friday mornings, with Wednesdays and holidays outside the offer. At a visit, discuss how your child's intended attendance will fit this pattern.
• Christian celebrations. Families of all faiths are welcome, but festival celebrations are Christian. Consider whether that religious character matches what you want from preschool.
• Mathematics and oral health. In May 2023, opportunities to extend counting and number interests were sometimes missed, and oral-health learning reached only children attending two after-lunch sessions. Ask how both areas now reach children across different attendance patterns.
• Support in practice. Individual support plans, visual prompts and ear defenders are available, alongside wheelchair access and an accessible toilet. If your child needs adjustments, use a visit to discuss how these would work during their sessions.

Rascals suits families seeking either longer term-time days on Monday and Tuesday or morning attendance on Thursday and Friday. The changing play layouts, sheltered garden and final-year Reading Sessions make its offer concrete, while the Learning Journal gives parents an active part in recording their child's development.

The Christian calendar and closure pattern deserve equal weight in the decision. For families comfortable with both, this is a play-led preschool with clear home-learning and individual-support arrangements, alongside a Good judgement from May 2023 and specific teaching improvements to discuss.