Cheeky Monkeys Preschool

An allotment and messy play give Cheeky Monkeys Preschool its character, but the teaching needs careful consideration. This Witham setting has 26 places in total and operates from Bethel Christian fellowship hall on Church street. Its strongest practical appeal is a day built around creative activities, growing produce and relationships with a child's key person.

At the 12 May 2026 inspection, Ofsted judged behaviour and routines and children's welfare and wellbeing to meet the expected standard, with safeguarding standards met, while achievement, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, and leadership and governance needed attention because teaching, information-sharing and staff supervision were inconsistent. Those distinctions matter. Positive care routines did not translate into sufficiently consistent learning for every child.

Children attending in May 2026 were aged two to five. Funded childcare and pay-as-you-go additional hours form the attendance offer, with the practical terms set out below.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for children's learning and care: here, the day includes activities supporting language, physical skills and children's social and emotional development. Creative and messy play are the preschool's chosen approach within that framework, rather than a replacement for it.

Water, shaving foam, sand and paint feature in play that includes searching for shapes, colours and numbers. Crafts give children another way to explore those ideas. The practical value is the connection between handling materials and learning concepts, rather than relying only on spoken explanations. A curriculum is planned for each term, alongside an intention to respond to individual children's learning needs.

That intention needs to be weighed against the teaching seen in May 2026. Staff missed opportunities to extend children's descriptive language, and some practitioners lacked enough knowledge of children's existing abilities to choose suitable next steps. Activities could be interesting while still failing to move an individual child's learning forward consistently.

There were useful examples to retain. In May 2026, children practised cutting with scissors after an adult demonstrated the skill, then had time to try for themselves. They also used mathematical language while identifying shapes and counting. These examples show the kinds of learning opportunities present, but do not cancel out the wider concern about uneven progress.

Outdoor and Community Life

The allotment connects growing with food. Children help cultivate produce and take part in preparing healthy snacks, giving healthy eating a practical place in the day. It is a recognisable part of this preschool's offer, with something for children to care for as well as something to make.

In May 2026, a topic about growth and life cycles included planting herbs from seed. Children filled pots with soil and wanted to water what they had planted. Individual adult guidance in the allotment helped children take part in this activity. Outdoor play also included running, jumping and balancing, giving children opportunities to practise controlling their movements.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has an allocated key worker who works with the family as well as the child. This gives parents a consistent relationship through which to discuss interests and development, rather than treating learning and home life as separate matters.

At its May 2026 inspection, Ofsted found that key persons generally maintained positive family relationships and shared developmental information, and that leaders worked effectively with parents and external professionals on additional support, although delays in passing children's starting information to key persons weakened planning and progress, including for children with SEND. The distinction is between gathering information and making sure the practitioner who needs it can use it promptly.

In May 2026, parents contributed to reviews of children's support plans, and meetings were arranged at convenient times. Leaders also sought families' views about how additional funding was used. For a child needing extra support, those are meaningful mechanisms for keeping parents involved in decisions.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Familiar routines helped new children understand the day in May 2026. Staff used Makaton during handwashing guidance, alongside songs, to help children follow the sequence before eating. This is a concrete example of adapting communication to a daily care task.

Independence was less consistent. In May 2026, adults sometimes removed children's coats when children could manage the task themselves, and opportunities to practise self-care outdoors needed more attention. Families who value growing independence should look closely at how help is offered: support should leave room for a child to attempt manageable tasks.

Mealtimes combined a free daily snack with lunch brought from home. Children also participate in snack preparation, linking everyday care with the preschool's practical learning approach.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Bethel Christian fellowship hall, Church street, Witham, CM8 2JP. Opening hours are Monday to Friday, 8.45am to 2.45pm. These are daytime hours, so the setting's timetable needs to fit the family's wider working and care arrangements.

Pay-as-you-go hours run from 9am to 2pm, with additional hours offered on a flexible basis. Payment for this attendance is still due when a child is absent. Withdrawing a child requires at least six weeks' notice, so families need to account for both absence charges and the notice period when planning a change.

Joining begins by contacting the preschool to arrange a viewing; the enrolment process follows that visit. This makes the viewing the appropriate point to discuss how the child's day and attendance would work.

Funding and Paid Extras

The preschool offers 15 and 30 hours of funded childcare, alongside paid additional hours. Families can obtain current prices in a written quotation and use the admissions and fees page to review the attendance terms.

The food arrangement applies to all children: the daily snack is free, while parents supply lunch. This keeps the distinction between funded hours, additional paid attendance and food clear; funding should not be read as a promise that the preschool supplies a child's lunch.

• Teaching from the start. The May 2026 findings identified gaps in practitioners' knowledge of children's starting points. At a viewing, ask how the key person receives that information and uses it to plan the child's first learning experiences.
• Curriculum and supervision actions. The required action deadlines were 12 June 2026 for stronger staff supervision and 26 June 2026 for more consistent curriculum implementation. Ask what changes followed those deadlines and how leaders assess their effect on teaching.
• Daytime attendance commitments. Pay-as-you-go attendance runs from 9am to 2pm, payment remains due during absence, and withdrawal requires six weeks' notice. Consider whether that combination fits both your routine and the possibility of changing arrangements.

Cheeky Monkeys Preschool suits families seeking daytime funded attendance or flexible paid additional hours, with creative play and an allotment giving children practical things to explore. The key-worker arrangement and parental involvement in support planning are useful parts of the offer.

The deciding issue is teaching consistency. The May 2026 position calls for a careful assessment of how children's individual starting points now shape activities and how practitioners receive support to improve their work. Choose on that basis as well as the appeal of messy play and growing produce.