Fox Hollies Forum Preschool And Playscheme

Handmade poppies for a community memorial give Fox Hollies Forum Preschool And Playscheme a recognisable place in Acocks Green life. This preschool serves children aged two to four at Fox Hollies Forum in Birmingham, with 36 places in total. Its community connections have a concrete expression: in November 2024, the preschool contributed artwork to a Remembrance Day memorial made with other local groups.

Ofsted rated the setting Good at its June 2023 inspection. The detail beneath that judgement matters more than the label: children explored living creatures, practised balancing outdoors and used stories and snack-time conversations to develop language and early mathematics. These are examples from June 2023, rather than a description of today's timetable.

Stay and Play sessions also run during the week, giving parents and carers an opportunity to play and learn alongside their young children. They are a separate part of the Forum's early-years offer.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the framework for children's learning, development and care. Here, the June 2023 examples show how early learning can take place through conversation, play and ordinary routines, rather than being confined to a formal lesson.

In June 2023, children followed frogs' development from spawn through tadpoles to young frogs. Watching living creatures change gave them something concrete to discuss and remember. Story sessions took a different route into language: staff allowed time for answers, invited children to imagine endings and encouraged them to invent alternative versions. The emphasis was on children contributing their own ideas.

At snack time that June, counting tableware became an opportunity to work out what else was needed. Size words also entered children's play, alongside recognising numbers and shapes. Children identified the letters and sounds in their names, and some could write their names independently. These examples connect early mathematics and literacy with objects and words children already encounter.

There was a weakness alongside those useful experiences. In June 2023, activities sometimes fitted children's interests more closely than their next learning needs. Enjoyment alone was not enough: planning needed to make clearer what an individual child should learn next.

Outdoor and Community Life

Balance bars in the garden were a tangible physical feature in June 2023. Children also used wheeled toys, played chasing games and practised throwing and kicking balls. That mix offered different ways to practise movement, from controlling balance to coordinating a moving object.

The November 2024 Remembrance Day memorial gives a separate, later example of preschool participation in the wider Forum. Children contributed handmade poppy artwork to a shared installation. This was a specific community project, rather than a recurring preschool event, and its value lies in children contributing something of their own to a collective piece.

At the June 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged safeguarding effective and found good support for children with SEND and children learning English as an additional language. Practical support that June included individual help and sessions with small groups when needed, alongside collaboration with therapists supporting speech and language, plus the local authority's SEND coordinator. Additional funding was directed towards the children it was intended to support.

Relationships also had everyday expression in June 2023. Children formed close bonds with staff, while adults modelled considerate behaviour and sharing. A child offering another a turn on a scooter was a small but useful example of how those expectations appeared in play.

Health routines that June included handwashing before eating and conversations about toothbrushing; snack examples included fruit, bread, toast and cereal. These observations describe the food and routines children encountered then, rather than a current meal package.

Communication with home needed more precision. In June 2023, parents were not receiving enough detail about their child's next learning steps to continue that learning at home. That is a meaningful limitation for families who want practical ideas they can use between preschool days.

Fox Hollies Forum is on Greenwood Avenue, Acocks Green, Birmingham, B27 7RA. Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by email at info@foxholliesforum.com or by telephone on 0121 706 0652. The preschool runs five days a week for two- to four-year-olds.

In June 2023, it operated during term time, with opening hours of 8.45am to 11.45am and 12.15pm to 3.15pm, plus an option to stay for lunch. Those dated hours describe the operating arrangement at that point. They are useful context for understanding its sessional character, but do not establish a present-day booking pattern.

Funded early education for children aged two, three and four was provided in June 2023. This is a dated participation fact, rather than a promise of a funded place or a particular arrangement for an individual family.

• Learning beyond enjoyment. June 2023 planning did not consistently connect activities with each child's next learning step. At a visit, ask how staff choose an activity for your child and assess what it has helped them learn.
• Useful information for home. More precise guidance for parents was an improvement priority in June 2023. An example of a current learning update would help families judge whether it gives them something practical to do at home.
• Attendance and funded costs. The June 2023 arrangement was term-time provision with split opening windows and a lunch option. Which current attendance pattern would fit your week, and how would funded hours, food and consumables be treated in your written quotation?

Fox Hollies Forum Preschool And Playscheme suits families seeking preschool provision for a two- to four-year-old within a community setting. Stay and Play adds an opportunity for adults and children to learn together, while the memorial artwork demonstrates a real contribution to local community life.

The June 2023 picture combines practical, conversational learning with two clear priorities: more precise activity planning and better information for home. Those are the points that should carry most weight alongside the Good judgement when deciding whether this preschool fits your child.