The Friendly Fish Nursery

Beach School gives The Friendly Fish Nursery a clear coastal character: older preschool children explore tides, build shelters and discuss what they have discovered, with each child offered the opportunity to join approximately once a month. This is a concrete addition to nursery play, with the beach becoming a place for questions, shared decisions and practical exploration.

At its 24 September 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found good support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The detail behind that judgement matters: children had opportunities to influence their surroundings, practise sharing and explore beyond the nursery.

Based in Littlehampton, the nursery accepts children aged 0 to 5 and occupies a converted house across four storeys. Its rooms separate babies, toddlers and preschool children, while daily outdoor access connects indoor activities with garden play. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, with the nursery operating for 51 weeks of the year.

Rooms and Ages

Jelly babies welcomes children from 2 months to approximately 17 or 18 months, with two connected ground-floor rooms separating quieter activities and sleep from more active play; homemade treasure baskets and exploration of textures give babies concrete materials to investigate, alongside daily outdoor access.

Tiny Turtles covers approximately 17 months to three years across three open-plan rooms upstairs, combining child-chosen play with adult-planned activities shaped around individual interests, including role play, movement, creative work and daily outdoor exploration.

Rising Stars begins at around three years and occupies the second floor, where play, construction and creative activities sit alongside practical independence, including serving food and helping clear away, with daily access to the outdoors.

These age boundaries allow flexibility. Moving between rooms depends on a child's readiness, so the transition is about development as well as a birthday. The physical layout also matters: the youngest children are downstairs, while older groups use the upper floors.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care. Here, that translates into play and everyday interactions: handling objects, sharing ideas, talking with adults and practising things children are beginning to do for themselves.

Beach School adds exploration of the coastal environment. Children contribute to decisions about their experiences, then have time before, during and after sessions to reflect and talk. The opportunity for older preschool children is approximately monthly, rather than an everyday beach timetable. Its value lies in the combination of doing and discussing: a shelter or a changing tide gives children something real to investigate together.

In September 2024, babies joined action songs, toddlers explored the weight of sand, and preschool children experimented with herbs that changed the colour of dough. These examples show learning taking different forms at different ages, rather than one activity being repeated across every group.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden supported mixed-age play in September 2024, including opportunities for siblings to spend time together. Balance beams gave children a physical challenge, while the sandy shed offered toddlers a place to investigate sand. Those are different kinds of outdoor experience: movement, exploration and social contact.

Community activities that month included beach visits with conversations involving a lifeguard, fruit picking followed by baking with the chef, and litter picking. Older children also participated in a pre-school council meeting to help choose equipment and resources. Their opinions had a practical outlet, with decisions reaching beyond which toy to use next.

Relationships with families are part of the nursery's approach to continuity between home and childcare. In September 2024, staff gathered information about children's abilities, home lives and cultural backgrounds to shape activities. Communication therefore informed what happened during the day, rather than serving only as an update afterwards.

Support for additional needs at that time involved collaboration with parents and professionals, early identification of developmental gaps, and obtaining equipment and resources for individual children. Additional funding was used to support this work. These are useful mechanisms for families to understand: the emphasis was on identifying a child's needs and arranging practical support.

Respect also showed up in small interactions. During September 2024, staff sought children's agreement before changing their clothing, and helped toddlers negotiate turns calmly. Babies had equipment positioned so they could practise pulling up and taking steps. Care and learning met in ordinary moments, with adults making room for children to participate.

Two development points deserve attention. In September 2024, some earlier learning needed to be more securely established before children moved on to greater independence; adults also needed to make their facial movements easier for children learning to communicate to see. These are specific questions about daily practice, rather than reasons to reduce the account to its overall grade.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 5 Selborne Place, Selborne Road, Littlehampton, BN17 5NH. The nursery opens on weekdays from 8am to 6pm and operates for 51 weeks each year. That opening window provides a useful starting point for families fitting childcare around work and other commitments.

Viewings can be booked, and families who have already looked around can speak to the manager about joining the waiting list. This is a defined joining route, rather than a promise of a place.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded early education is offered, with no daily limit on the number of funded hours used. Additional childcare hours beyond the free entitlement are charged, and meals and consumables during funded hours carry separate charges. The distinction matters when comparing the hours covered by funding with the whole childcare bill.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The fees and booking information explains monthly billing, emailed invoices and payment through Direct Debit, with the arrangement set up through Famly. Families using funded hours should consider both their attendance needs and the associated meals and consumables charges.

• Beach School frequency. Older preschool children have the opportunity to take part approximately once a month. At a viewing, discuss how children are selected for outings and how the beach experiences connect with activities back at nursery.
• Rooms across several floors. Babies use the ground floor, toddlers the first floor and preschool children the second. A visit is useful for understanding how movement between rooms and outdoor spaces works for your child.
• Independence and early communication. The September 2024 development points concerned securing earlier learning and helping children see adults' facial movements. Ask how these are addressed during play, conversation and everyday routines.
• Funding alongside paid extras. Meals and consumables are charged separately during funded hours, and additional hours are also charged. Use a written quotation to compare the complete arrangement for your intended attendance.

The Friendly Fish suits families who want coastal exploration alongside age-specific rooms and daily outdoor play. Beach School has a defined purpose and frequency, while the room arrangements offer different settings for babies, toddlers and preschool children.

The September 2024 judgement gives a positive quality reference, with concrete development points to explore at a visit. For families working within the weekday opening window, the deciding details are likely to be the multi-floor layout, the role of beach outings and the full cost of combining funded hours with paid extras.