Little Swans

A sensory garden planted in an old tractor tyre, a wooden house beside a mud kitchen and a playroom that changes with its children give Little Swans a recognisable character. This Swanton Morley preschool combines space for imaginative play with practical attention to communication. Makaton introduces children to signs for key words, while a trained Communication Champion identifies individual language needs and uses assessment tools to plan support.

At its 17 October 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated Little Swans Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children with special educational needs and disabilities received effective support and made good progress. Those are dated judgements. In October 2022, the strengths included thoughtful conversations during play, close relationships with staff and activities that developed the hand control needed for writing; the improvement points concerned independence and consistent hygiene routines.

There are 26 places in total. The preschool's age offer is 18 months to five years, and its current opening hours follow a term-time calendar. A later regulatory finding about notifying a significant event also matters to the decision, alongside the learning and care described here.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: here, children learn through play, with activities planned around their interests and developmental needs. Development matters and Birth to 5 matters are used as planning guidance alongside that framework. The practical expression is themed tuff trays for sensory exploration and a flexible layout with recognisable areas where children can choose their play.

Every child has a key person who observes their development and plans suitable activities. That gives child-led play a planning structure: what interests a child helps determine the activity, while observations inform what comes next. The curriculum also includes Yoga and Mindfulness, supported by staff training. Yoga runs after lunch in most sessions for 15 minutes, moving from an attention activity through poses to relaxation with music and a cuddly toy.

The Maths Table changes its resources each week. Counting bears, shape materials, colour sorting and board games give children different ways to explore mathematical ideas, with choices matched to their developmental needs. Loose Parts Play uses natural and wooden materials for children to construct their own arrangements and patterns. These resources leave room for children to decide what to make rather than following a single finished example.

In October 2022, staff extended conversations by introducing vocabulary during play and giving children time to answer questions. Dough work involved tools, squeezing and poking, while drawing activities encouraged children to add detail. A children's committee also let children vote on the use of fundraising money. That was a concrete way for their preferences to influence the preschool.

Playroom and Outdoor Life

A large shared playroom contains separate learning areas, with a cloakroom and child-sized pegs. The layout is reconsidered termly. The Quiet Area has sofas, soft furnishings and a puppet space, making room for reading, conversation and familiar stories within the busier playroom.

Craft Corner combines resources children can choose themselves with painting, cutting and sticking supported by staff. Activities follow children's interests and next steps. In Small World, dinosaurs and wild animals sit beneath camouflage netting, with books and fact files to extend play into looking things up. The pretend kitchen and dollhouse give children materials for acting out family experiences together.

Outside, two gated gardens combine defined activity spaces with room for free play and ride-along toys. Home Corner includes the wooden house and mud kitchen, with a small wooden cave nearby for storytelling. A pirate boat, shop area and bean cave provide further starting points for shared imaginary games, talking and reading.

Sensory Garden makes use of an old tractor tyre planted with scented herbs and wildflowers. Children handle the leaves to explore their smells, and summer trimmings become ingredients for potion play. The square sandpit supports making shapes, cakes and marks; small brushes also let children help care for the space.

The Playground adds a climbing frame and slide for physical challenges. Its bucket pulley gives children a task to work out together. These are different kinds of outdoor experience: movement, sensory exploration and cooperative play each have a physical place.

Relationships and Communication

Tapestry is the online record of children's development, sharing photographs and videos with parents and carers. Families and other educators involved in a child's life can contribute, so the picture of a child includes experiences beyond preschool. Together with the key person's observations, it gives parents a practical way to follow activities and add their own perspective.

In October 2022, children sought staff out for comfort and involved them in imaginary play. Personal care included explanations during nappy changes and playful distraction. These examples show what respectful care looked like at that point, rather than reducing relationships to a general description of friendliness.

Five childcare staff were employed in October 2022, with early years qualifications at levels two and three. The present team structure includes a designated safeguarding lead, deputy safeguarding leads, a special educational needs coordinator and roles covering behaviour, equality and sustainability. These are specific responsibilities within the team, giving families identifiable functions to discuss when a child needs support.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Makaton teaching centres on signs for key words to support understanding and speech. The Communication Champion uses Wellcomm Assessment and Elklan toolkits to identify needs and select strategies alongside the EYFS. That is a concrete communication mechanism, rather than a blanket assurance that every language difficulty will be resolved.

In October 2022, individual play plans were shared with parents, and the special educational needs coordinator helped staff put interventions into practice. This is useful detail for families considering how support is organised: planning involved both the child's activities and communication with home.

Sensory & Feelings Corner is a darkened part of the playroom with calming lights. Children can use it when upset or after disagreements, with a member of staff nearby to talk things through. The space provides somewhere to pause within the shared room, while the conversation keeps adult support close.

Families supply their child's healthy snack. Staff offer help with age-appropriate snack ideas, making food preparation a practical part of the home-preschool routine.

Sessions and Attendance

Little Swans opens Monday to Friday, from 8.30am to 3.30pm, during term time only. Those hours suit a family schedule built around the preschool day; holiday periods require a separate plan. In October 2022, session times also ran from 8.30am to 3.30pm.

The setting is at Swans Nest, Swanton Morley Village Hall, Manns Lane, Swanton Morley, Dereham, NR20 4NP. Its purpose-built space has its own kitchen and toilets, with doors linking the room to outdoor play. That connection between indoor and outdoor activity is part of the physical arrangement, rather than relying solely on an occasional outdoor session.

Funding and Paid Extras

In October 2022, funded early education was provided for children aged two, three and four. Families supply healthy snacks under the current snack arrangement. For a prospective booking, the funding question below is the useful starting point for establishing the package that would apply to an individual child.

• Term-time schedule. Opening hours are 8.30am to 3.30pm on weekdays during term time. Families whose work continues through holidays need to factor that calendar into their childcare planning.
• Independence and hygiene. In October 2022, adults sometimes helped with coats and fastenings before children had enough opportunity to try, and reminders about cough hygiene were inconsistent. During a visit, explore how staff now balance help with independence and reinforce hygiene through the day.
• Notification finding. In an outcome dated 26 November 2024, Ofsted recorded that the provider had failed to notify a significant event likely to affect its suitability to care for children. The latest published position is that dated finding; families should discuss the notification arrangements now in place.
• Funding for your child. Funded early education formed part of the offer in October 2022, while healthy snacks are supplied from home today. Which funded entitlement, attendance arrangement and additional charges would apply to your child's proposed booking?

Little Swans suits families seeking a term-time preschool day, play organised around children's interests and concrete help with communication. The gardens offer more than open space: the scented planting, storytelling structures and bucket pulley give children different reasons to explore and cooperate. Inside, Tapestry and the key person system connect activity planning with communication at home.

The October 2022 Good judgement sits alongside specific improvement points about independence and hygiene. The November 2024 notification finding deserves a direct conversation before joining. For parents weighing this setting, the strongest practical attractions are its adaptable playroom, varied outdoor spaces and clearly described language-support mechanisms.