The Learning Tree Pre-School

A garden, an on-site forest and a craft room give The Learning Tree Pre-School a practical identity: play has space to spread beyond a single room. Based at St Philips School in Arundel, it has capacity for 50 children, with an accepted age range of six months to five years. Ofsted rated it Good on 15 May 2024 and found safeguarding effective at that inspection.

The strongest examples from May 2024 were small, purposeful experiences rather than elaborate programmes. Children turned pretend restaurant play into an opportunity to take orders and make marks, while a snack shop gave them responsibility for serving themselves. These are useful illustrations of how everyday play can build communication and independence.

Current opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, with preschool provision alongside breakfast and after-school clubs for children attending St Philip’s School.

Rooms and Ages

Tiny Tots Room, Little Learners Room and Craft Room are named spaces, alongside a garden and an on-site forest. The craft room gives creative activity a physical place in the setting; the garden and forest extend the environment outdoors. For families choosing between settings, that combination makes the layout an important part of the decision, alongside the accepted ages.

The whole-setting capacity of 50 places should be read separately from the named rooms. It is a total across the provision, rather than a measure of how many children share an individual room or activity.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS structures the nursery day through connected areas of learning, including language, physical development, relationships and early literacy. Here, children explore numbers through objects and marks, practise movement and tool use, and develop ideas through creative materials. These experiences turn the framework into things a young child can do, rather than formal lessons.

Learning combines activities initiated by children with those guided by adults. Individual observations, learning journals and next steps inform planning, so a child's interests can influence what comes next. Creative work involves experimenting with materials; mathematical play includes comparing groups of objects and representing numbers with fingers or drawings.

In May 2024, pretend restaurant play included menus and materials for writing down orders. Children took different roles, giving their conversation and early writing an immediate purpose. Staff also introduced vocabulary connected to what children were exploring, including hydration and moisture. The useful feature is the connection between a word, an experience and a reason to use it.

That adult involvement needed better pacing. In May 2024, some questioning moved ahead before children had enough time to answer or develop their own ideas. This matters because helping a child extend play also means leaving room for the child to decide what happens next.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest Visits, outings into the forest, are included within funded provision. The setting also has its own forest and garden, making outdoor space a concrete part of its environment. This is relevant for families who value opportunities beyond indoor play, while the craft room provides another setting for making and exploring materials.

Relationships and Communication

Individual planning is central to the care model: staff observe children and use learning journals to identify what to work on next. In May 2024, children approached adults to share news, seek help and invite them into play. Staff responded to those exchanges, making conversation part of everyday care rather than something reserved for a planned activity.

Communication support in May 2024 included gestures, repeated language and pictures alongside spoken words. These methods gave children different ways to understand and participate when speech was still developing. The snack shop offered another practical opportunity: children washed their hands, exchanged a picture coin for food and served themselves, taking responsibility within a familiar routine.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The management structure includes a SENCO role and a designated safeguarding lead role. Staff undertake first-aid and child-protection training. These are arrangements for supporting children and responding to concerns; the dated safeguarding judgement is given above.

Behaviour guidance was an improvement priority in May 2024. Running indoors was challenged on some occasions and allowed on others, leaving children with inconsistent messages about boundaries. Teaching about safety also needed to extend to internet use at home. Together with giving children more thinking time, these are specific points to weigh alongside the Good judgement.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is St Philips School, London Road, Arundel, BN18 9BA. Preschool opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm on weekdays, and the setting operates for 44 weeks each year. Enquiries can be made by telephone, email or the contact form, which includes the family's preferred start date and childcare needs.

Breakfast Club serves children attending St. Philip’s School and starts at 7.30am, with children accompanied to school afterwards. Afterschool Club runs from 3.15pm to 6pm, with collection directly from school; ad hoc sessions provide an occasional booking option subject to availability. These clubs offer a different attendance pattern from preschool care and may be useful for families with children at different stages.

Being based at the school does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still need to apply through the local authority admissions process.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, including 15 hours for three- and four-year-olds and 30-hour options for eligible families across the younger age bands. Funding is delivered over 38 term-time weeks and can be used during the opening window; additional hours and sessions outside those weeks are charged privately. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, and the admissions and funding terms explain the charging structure.

Morning and afternoon snacks and high tea after 4.30pm are included in the private hourly fee; breakfast before 8.30am is included for children under two but charged separately for older children, while hot lunches are an optional extra. Funded hours include snacks and high tea after 4.30pm, with hot lunches charged separately as an optional extra and breakfast excluded for children over 18 months.

For private care below age two, nappies and wipes are included in the hourly fee. Funded provision excludes nappies and wipes for children over 18 months, as well as formula and sun cream. Activities, Forest Visits and a Tapestry account are included within funded provision.

Headcount Day affects when funding can begin and when an existing funded booking can increase. Exceptions include qualifying local-authority-funded two-year-olds, so the joining date has a financial consequence as well as a practical one.

• Settling into the rooms. With care starting at six months and several named spaces, ask how settling visits and a key-person relationship would be organised for your child.
• Three teaching priorities. In May 2024, children needed more time to develop ideas, more consistent guidance about boundaries and teaching about online safety. Ask how these points now shape everyday practice.
• Funding and start dates. Funded attendance covers 38 weeks within a 44-week operating year, and Headcount Day can affect a new or increased booking. Agree the funded pattern and itemised extras in writing before committing.

The Learning Tree suits families seeking preschool care with garden and forest space, families needing Breakfast Club or Afterschool Club linked to St Philip’s School, and those seeking occasional ad hoc sessions subject to availability. Its May 2024 examples show the value of practical play: taking restaurant orders and running a snack shop made communication and independence part of ordinary activity. The decision should also account for the specific teaching improvements and the distinction between funded term-time hours and paid attendance across the wider operating year.