Amigos Multicultural Preschool

Home languages, shared customs and child-led play give Amigos Multicultural Preschool its character. Based at Cornerstone Community Centre on Church Road in Hove, it brings songs, stories and cultural celebrations into everyday learning. For families raising children across languages or cultures, those experiences give children ways to share their own backgrounds while discovering other people's.

In July 2026, Ofsted judged all six assessed areas to be Strong standard and safeguarding standards to be met. Those areas cover achievement, behaviour and routines, welfare, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, and leadership. This is a report-card assessment, rather than a single overall grade.

Amigos accepts children aged two to four years eleven months. The nursery is registered for 24 places. Its physical spaces include the Main Playroom, a garden and the Energy Hub Playroom for more energetic activity. Morning and afternoon sessions sit within a term-time offer, giving families different ways to organise attendance.

Rooms and Ages

The Main Playroom supports creative activity and learning, with flexible tables, an arts-and-crafts table and a quiet book corner; cooking activities use a table on some days. That combination gives children space for making and food preparation alongside somewhere quieter to enjoy stories.

Energy Hub Playroom opens two days each week, with a slide, scooters and obstacle courses supporting active play, balance and coordination. The extra space matters for children who learn through movement: climbing and sliding bring different physical challenges from seated activities. Across the week, the expanded space also allows dancing and music.

The garden is used daily. Activities include exploring leaves and stones, outdoor games and watching wildlife, so outdoor time combines movement with close observation. Children can also help with weeding, collecting fallen leaves and turning the compost bin. These are practical opportunities to participate in looking after their surroundings.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the required framework: children develop language, physical skills, relationships, early literacy and mathematics through play and everyday experiences. Amigos builds its day around child-led exploration, adapting resources to keep activities interesting. Painting, dressing up, cooking and imaginative play sit alongside science, literacy and numeracy.

Cooking gives early mathematics a practical purpose through measuring and counting, while pouring, stirring and taking turns exercise coordination and cooperation. Music includes singing, movement, drums and shakers. At the close of each morning, children come together for stories, songs and discussion of their current topic, giving the day a shared point of conversation.

In July 2026, learning extended into ordinary routines: children counted their companions before going outside and discussed positions in the line. A butterfly project connected changes in living things with comparisons of size and shape, ending with a release and shared counting. Play dough, pens and increasingly intricate cutting activities gave children practice using their hands with greater control.

Outdoor and Community Life

Multicultural learning is woven into songs, food, stories and shared festivals and customs. The emphasis is on positive representations of different cultural backgrounds and of people with disabilities. This gives children opportunities to recognise familiar experiences and encounter others through the activities they share.

In July 2026, outings included shops, parks, community events and the beach. Links with a local church, businesses and community groups also broadened children's experiences. Those activities took learning beyond the preschool's own spaces, connecting conversations about the wider world with places children could experience directly.

Relationships and Communication

Settling follows the individual child. Parents can remain for longer during early sessions where a gradual introduction helps, while children ready to separate sooner can move at their own pace. The approach allows families and staff to build relationships rather than treating settling as a fixed timetable everyone must follow.

Tapestry, the online learning journal, connects home and preschool through photographs, videos and written observations. Parents can contribute their own observations as well as receive updates. That two-way exchange gives staff another view of children's interests and experiences, and gives families concrete examples to discuss together at home.

Around age two, families receive a written progress summary covering communication, physical development, and personal, social and emotional development. This provides a structured account alongside the ongoing updates. For children preparing for Reception, Amigos also offers additional transition support to help them get ready for the next stage.

Parents can take a role in how the preschool runs. Its committee brings together parents, staff and volunteers each term to discuss matters including fundraising and opportunities for children. Joining it offers a direct way to contribute to decisions, beyond conversations about an individual child's day.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the July 2026 inspection, Ofsted found that children with SEND, disadvantaged children and children learning English made rapid progress, while identifying the next step as securing deeper, lasting benefits from the work to remove barriers. That combination gives families a positive assessment and a clear priority for continued development.

In July 2026, support included individual assistance, adapted routines and small-group work. Bilingual assistants and the local authority language service helped children communicate in their home languages as well as English. Signing and visual cues supported understanding of activities and routines, reducing dependence on spoken instructions alone.

Support planning involved inclusion services, health visitors, psychologists and social services where needed. Staff reviewed strategies through a cycle of assessment, planning, action and review, rather than leaving an initial plan unchanged. Morning movement and conversations about feelings also formed part of the day, helping children put words to emotions and practise ways of managing them.

Current staff training includes Makaton to support communication and language, alongside paediatric first aid and safeguarding training across the team. These are practical arrangements; the dated safeguarding judgement remains the relevant assessment of their effectiveness.

Sessions and Attendance

Amigos operates during term time. Opening hours are 9am to noon on Monday and 9am to 3pm from Tuesday to Friday. The morning session runs from 9am to noon; the afternoon session runs from noon to 3pm.

The morning routine moves through activities, snack, free-flow play and garden time before a shared tidy-up and circle time. Afternoons begin with lunch, followed by activities, another snack and physical-development opportunities. These sequences give children repeated points of reference through their session, while the mix of activities changes the pace of the day.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form or by telephone or email. The enrolment form asks for a proposed start date and preferred attendance days. Families withdrawing a child are asked to give one month's notice.

Getting There

The address is Cornerstone Community Centre, Church Road, Hove, BN3 2FL. The community-centre setting places Amigos within the same local community that contributes to its activities and committee.

Funding and Paid Extras

The Early Years Free Entitlement provides 15 weekly funded hours from the term following a child's third birthday; eligible two- and three-year-olds may qualify for up to 30 weekly funded hours. Funded hours can be used across Amigos sessions, with families choosing the sessions that suit them and no compulsory top-up fee.

Private hours beyond the funded entitlement are billed at the beginning of each term. Snacks carry no additional charge, including during funded hours; nappies and activity materials likewise carry no extra charge. Voluntary donations are requested through invoices.

• Different weekday hours. Monday finishes at noon, while Tuesday to Friday continue until 3pm. Build that shorter Monday into any regular work or care arrangements.
• Movement space twice weekly. Energy Hub Playroom opens on two days each week. During a visit, ask how its timetable fits the days you are considering, especially if climbing and energetic play are priorities for your child.
• Support that develops with the child. The July 2026 next step concerns lasting benefits from removing barriers. Families whose children need additional help can ask how support goals are agreed, reviewed and carried through into school preparation.

Amigos suits families seeking morning sessions or afternoon attendance within a term-time preschool, especially those who value home-language support, child-led play and involvement in the setting's decisions. The daily garden, practical cooking and twice-weekly movement space give that approach physical substance. Its July 2026 assessment provides a strong basis for considering it, with continued work on sustained support outcomes a clear priority.