Tiny Steps Preschool

A small garden with dens and a mud kitchen, practical environmental projects and a substantial menu of language support give Tiny Steps Preschool its character. Based at Bermuda Community Centre in Popley, Basingstoke, it combines hands-on play with specific ways to help children communicate and take part. The physical space is modest. The activities make use of it.

At its May 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the preschool Good and judged its safeguarding arrangements effective. That is a dated judgement, rather than a description of today's practice. The setting has capacity for 40 children; its provision includes children aged two, three and four, with a maximum of eight places for two-year-olds. That youngest-age limit is a whole-setting allocation, not the size of a separate room.

Current activities include the Green Tree School Award, an environmental project scheme, and SEN Coffee Mornings, which bring parents together for resources and support. Morning, afternoon and longer daytime sessions provide different ways to organise attendance.

Rooms and Ages

The Craft Room gives children space to experiment with water, paint and playdough, using changing materials to develop creative ideas and practise movements both large and small. Adults help children investigate and develop their own play ideas. For children drawn to making and investigating, that is a concrete part of the day.

Outside, a small garden contains a mud kitchen, dens and an obstacle course. These provide different kinds of challenge: imaginative cooking, construction and physical movement. The outdoor activities also encourage children to work together and persist when something proves difficult. Garden size is therefore a useful consideration alongside what children can actually do there.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) guides learning and development through play, with key workers following children's development and shaping activities around their next steps. It is the shared early-years framework; the setting's practical choices give the day its own character. Here, creative materials, outdoor challenges and language support sit alongside that individual planning.

In May 2022, the curriculum included 10 goals, with den-building among the examples. Mathematical exploration involved measuring rice into differently sized containers and comparing the results.

There was also a limitation in May 2022. Adults sometimes dominated group discussion, leaving children too little space to develop their own solutions or pursue an idea independently. More opportunities for reasoning and tackling challenges were an improvement priority. Practical activities alone do not settle that question; the adult's part in the exchange matters too.

Outdoor and Community Life

The Green Tree School Award connects environmental learning to practical tasks. Tiny Steps has achieved the scheme's Gold Award, and activities include recycling, community clean-ups and wellbeing yoga. The Woodland Trust sets the scheme's activities.

Outings into surrounding woods and open spaces include looking for birds and butterflies. Those experiences extend investigation beyond the garden and give children real things to notice and discuss. The preschool also describes links with a local school, including visits to its library and outdoor classroom.

Relationships and Communication

Key workers track children's learning and adapt it to the individual. Short periods with a keyworker also form part of the additional-support offer.

Tiny Steps Parent Packs extend support into home routines. Families can borrow them free for up to a month, making them practical resources to try rather than information to read once. The Bed time Routine pack contains a visual timetable, stories and reward materials; Starting Preschool/school uses stories and checklists to introduce the change ahead. A Mark making pack includes a personalised writing sheet and material for parents, giving early interest in writing something concrete to build on.

In May 2022, staff gathered information from parents at the start and used it to plan children's learning.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Support mechanisms are specific. Visual timetables and cards help explain routines, a language group supports communication, and Individual Education Plans organise additional help. Smaller groups and short individual keyworker periods provide alternatives when a child needs more support to join an activity.

At the May 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that individual interventions helped children with SEND develop their speech, with specialist support from therapists working on language and from early-years advisers. Current arrangements include a SENCO, support meetings with parents, reviews of additional help and resources for use at home. Professional links include health visitors, an Inclusion Support Officer and educational psychologists.

For children learning English as an additional language, familiar words from home and visual prompts help explain what is happening. Families supply information about celebrations important to them, and translation support can be arranged through the EAL co-ordinator. This gives home language and family culture a practical role in settling and communication.

SEN Coffee Mornings run on Fridays from 9.15am to 10.15am during school terms. They are free, require booking and are capped at eight parents with their children. A resource library, visiting professionals and take-home materials add substance to the chance to meet other families.

A wellbeing group helps children recognise and name emotions, alongside movement and outdoor activity. The colour monster book is one resource used for this work. Staff roles include a wellbeing lead and a safeguarding lead, and the Basingstoke team includes practitioners with early-years qualifications.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 40-44 Bermuda Close, Popley, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG24 9PE, at Bermuda Community Centre. Attendance is term-time. Morning sessions are 9-12 or 9-1, longer daytime sessions are 9-3 or 9-3.15, and afternoon sessions are 12-3 or 12-3.15. The choice is therefore more flexible than a single opening window: families can choose a morning, an afternoon or a longer daytime pattern.

Enquiries go to the preschool by telephone or email. Those routes also serve families booking the SEN Coffee Mornings, which have their own attendance cap and should not be confused with preschool childcare places.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded provision includes 15 hours a week for children from the term after their third birthday, delivered across 38 weeks. The preschool also offers 30-hour funding for eligible three- and four-year-olds and 15-hour funding for eligible two-year-olds. Eligibility remains a condition of those offers. Additional private hours can be purchased beyond a funded entitlement and are invoiced in advance; current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Children bring lunchboxes, and healthy choices are encouraged at lunch and snack time. The wellbeing activities give that message a wider context through movement and learning about feelings.

The preschool describes visits to a local school's library and outdoor classroom. Attending Tiny Steps does not guarantee a school place; families still use the local authority admissions process for a state school or the school's own process for an independent school.

• Independent thinking. In May 2022, adults sometimes left too little room for children to reason through a challenge; staff development also needed more individual tailoring. During a visit, look at how practitioners allow a child time to try, reconsider and explain an idea.
• Term-time timetable. Morning and afternoon sessions sit alongside longer 9-3 or 9-3.15 days. This suits different daytime routines, but families needing care through school holidays will need a separate arrangement.
• Support that matches the child. Language groups, visual prompts and Individual Education Plans are concrete options. Discuss how these would be used for your child, including how support meetings and home resources would fit together.
• Costs beyond funded hours. Additional private hours are invoiced in advance. What would your chosen pattern cost in total, including any snack or consumables arrangements?

Tiny Steps suits families seeking term-time morning or afternoon sessions, as well as those choosing a longer preschool day. Its strongest practical attractions are the language-support mechanisms, resources that travel home and environmental activities children can participate in. The small garden has purposeful equipment, and local outings broaden the places children can explore.

The May 2022 Good judgement provides a positive inspection position, with clear improvement priorities around children's independent thinking and tailored staff development. Those priorities belong alongside the strengths. For a family weighing play-based provision and specific support arrangements against its term-time timetable, Tiny Steps offers a clear set of choices.