Kind Hearts Pre School

In May 2024, doctor games, pretend medicines and maps leading to an imaginary river illustrated how children's interests shaped learning at Kind Hearts Pre School. This is the Bishops Hall Park setting on Elizabeth Road in Brentwood, with capacity for 40 children in total.

At its May 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the preschool Good and judged safeguarding effective, with positive findings on teaching and outcomes for children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities. Children attending then were aged two to four. The strongest practical distinction is the combination of play led by children's interests and a term-time routine, rather than an extended working-day timetable.

Full-day and half-day attendance patterns sit alongside a Breakfast Club. The details matter here, especially the shorter Wednesday opening hours.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: play, conversation and everyday routines contribute to learning rather than sitting apart from it. In May 2024, planning followed children's interests across indoor and outdoor activities. Staff used what they knew about each child's development to decide how to extend the play.

A visit to the doctor could become the starting point for an activity. Children practised caring for friends with bandages and plasters, while leaves, petals and tubes became materials for pretend medicines. The point was more than dressing up. Familiar experiences gave children something to talk about, investigate and recreate together, with adults adding resources that took their ideas further.

Resources were within children's reach in May 2024, allowing them to start games for themselves. That arrangement made choice practical: children could act on an idea rather than wait for an adult to bring everything out. Speech and language ran through the activities, giving conversation a purpose within the play.

Outdoor and Community Life

The Bishops Hall outdoor construction area and mudkitchen/home corner provide different settings for making and imaginative play. Construction gives children materials to work with; the home corner creates a setting for recreating familiar routines. These are useful physical details for families who want practical play to have room alongside stories and conversation.

In May 2024, outdoor play included bicycle riding, drawing maps and searching for an imaginary river. Children also ran with nets while trying to catch butterflies. Movement and imagination overlapped: the garden was used for active games as well as ideas that children developed together.

Relationships and Communication

A key person is allocated before a child starts, with another practitioner acting as a backup during absences. The key person works with parents on an individual plan covering care, wellbeing and learning. This gives families a regular contact who can connect what happens at home with the child's experience at preschool.

Settling is planned jointly with parents. The policy expects a parent or familiar carer to remain nearby or on the premises for much of the session during the first week, with separation increasing as the child becomes comfortable. Families should allow time for that gradual start rather than assume the first session will mean an immediate handover.

In May 2024, children posted their names in a feelings pot during self-registration, prompting conversation about their emotions. Staff helped them manage disagreements and strong feelings. Communication with families included regular app updates and reports each term.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

For children with additional needs, the key-person policy provides for a home visit before starting where possible, involving the manager and key person. The support structure also includes a senior management role working across both settings on special educational needs procedures. These are mechanisms for discussing a child's needs and agreeing the practical arrangements.

The behaviour policy centres on helping children understand feelings and find a workable response to conflict. It rules out isolating a child through a naughty chair or exclusionary time out. Parents and the key person use observations to work together when difficulties recur, so the response can address the cause rather than simply the incident.

Children do not have to be toilet trained to attend. Nappy-changing facilities support those still developing this self-care skill. For longer-term medical needs, the health policy provides for a plan agreed with parents, including emergency arrangements and information for the staff caring for the child.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Bishops Hall Park, Elizabeth Road, Brentwood, CM15 9NP. Opening hours are 9.30am to 2.30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and 9.30am to 12.30pm on Wednesday. Breakfast Club runs daily from 8.45am to 9.30am. Attendance is during term time, with a calendar of term dates and holiday closures.

Full-day and half-day patterns are offered. The shorter Wednesday needs to be built into the family's weekly arrangements, even where other days cover lunchtime. Enquiries can be made through the Bishops Hall contact form or by telephone on 01277 525644.

The waiting-list policy orders children by date of birth and may also take account of siblings, additional needs or special circumstances, proximity to the setting and the date of joining the list. Being on that list does not guarantee a place.

Funding and Paid Extras

The preschool accepts two- and three-year-old funded children, including universal and extended entitlement, with funded provision delivered during term time; additional unfunded hours are charged privately. Funded children have a separately requested, voluntary consumables contribution, with different charges for full-day and half-day attendance. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Parents supply snacks and packed lunches; the health policy asks for nutritious food suited to the child's dietary needs and generally avoids nuts and nut products. Parents also send nappies or pull-ups, changing wipes and nappy sacks when needed, alongside the voluntary consumables contribution for funded attendance.

Moving on involves preparing developmental information for the receiving setting or school and involving parents in the transition. This is about continuity of learning and care, rather than an admissions advantage.

• Wednesday collection. Wednesday ends at 12.30pm, while the other weekdays run to 2.30pm. Consider whether that difference fits work and collection arrangements.
• A gradual start. The settling policy expects parents or familiar carers to stay close during the first week, potentially longer. At a visit, discuss how that process would work for your child and your own commitments.
• Sharing care between settings. In May 2024, communication with other early years settings was not yet consistently established. Strengthening those partnerships was the improvement priority; families using more than one setting should ask how learning information is now exchanged.
• Food allergies. Families provide food, and the health policy generally avoids nuts and nut products. Allergy-affected families should confirm current practice and the individual risk-assessment arrangements before attendance.

Kind Hearts suits families seeking term-time full-day or half-day attendance, with Breakfast Club adding an earlier start. Its character comes from practical, imaginative play and the attention given to children's interests, supported by a Good judgement in May 2024.

The weekly timetable and gradual settling expectations deserve careful planning. For a child who enjoys inventing games, making things and exploring outdoors, the Bishops Hall setting has a clear appeal; for children attending elsewhere too, continuity between settings remains the useful question to pursue.