Early Explorers Pre School

A natural garden used for daily Forest School, space to build obstacle courses and a quieter outdoor classroom give Early Explorers Pre School a clear outdoor character. These are different kinds of space, serving different kinds of play. Children can investigate water, make something with planks or explore the garden rather than having outdoor time confined to one activity.

Based at Mile Oak Community Centre in North Portslade, Brighton, the preschool has capacity for 36 children aged two to five. At its July 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the setting Good overall and found safeguarding effective. That judgement provides a useful starting point, while the detail of the day gives families more to weigh: outdoor exploration, deliberate attention to conversation and a settling approach shaped around each child.

Morning, afternoon and full-day attendance are offered during term time, Tuesday to Friday. This is a preschool timetable with a choice of session lengths, rather than an all-year arrangement.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage supplies the educational framework: children develop language, relationships, physical skills and early understanding of reading, mathematics and the world through play and planned activities. Early Explorers adds concrete ways of practising those skills. Learning follows children's interests and their stage of development, with opportunities for both adult-led activities and children pursuing their own ideas.

Write Dance combines music and movement with materials for making marks, including circles and squiggles in shaving foam. This links larger physical movements with the marks children make, rather than beginning and ending with a pencil. Older children also take part in Letters and Sounds activities through rhyme and exploration of sounds in words and their surroundings.

A cosy book corner gives children a place to spend time with books. Two books receive sustained attention each half-term, with related activities such as making characters or resources for retelling. Returning to the same stories gives children repeated opportunities to become familiar with their language and take a more active part in telling them.

Small group sessions change with children's development. Younger children practise sharing and waiting during brief activities, including bubbles; older children use those skills in independent board games and shared challenges. These are opportunities to participate in smaller gatherings, rather than a claim about the size of the whole setting.

Conversation is handled deliberately. Adults allow time for children to answer and adjust their language within the mixed-age group, while observations preserve children's actual words so that changes in their speech can be followed over time. For families interested in communication, that is a more concrete approach than simply promising plenty of talking.

Creative resources are accessible for children to choose themselves, with an adult available to discuss and support their ideas. A permanent creative area provides space for making pictures and models and experimenting with textures. Choice matters here: children can select materials for an idea of their own, as well as join a planned activity.

Outdoor and Community Life

Three outdoor areas give the preschool's day much of its shape. The large physical play area accommodates scooters and trikes, alongside tyres, crates and planks that children can turn into constructions and obstacle courses. The outdoor classroom supports quieter investigation, including water and construction play. Indoor and outdoor areas are linked through freeflow, allowing children to move between activities according to their interests.

Daily Forest School uses the natural garden for outdoor exploration and age-appropriate problem solving. Meadow turf and a vegetable and herb garden add living things to investigate, and suitable clothing is provided for use in different weather. The Forest School groups are Caterpillars for two-year-olds and butterflies for three- and four-year-olds; these are activity groupings, with tasks adapted to age.

In July 2023, children prepared for the outdoor area by putting on their own boots and overalls. They searched the meadow for insects, counted snails and used mint from the growing area in their play. Those examples connect outdoor exploration with independence, vocabulary and early number work, rather than treating the garden solely as space to run around.

Relationships and Communication

A key person has particular responsibility for each child within a key group of two or three practitioners. This gives families an identified person to work with, supported by a wider group who can help the child settle and participate. Where possible, a home visit brings the manager and key person together with the family to discuss interests, needs and the settling plan.

Early support is adjusted to the child. A practitioner from the key group plays alongside them during sessions until more independence feels appropriate; this can last from an hour to several weeks. Text updates help parents through the first sessions. The approach allows settling to follow the child rather than a single fixed timetable.

Each child has an online Learning Journey containing photographs, observations and comments about their achievements. Parents can view it through their login. Alongside exchanges with staff about interests, needs and progress, this gives families a way to follow experiences they have not seen themselves and contribute knowledge from home.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENDCO role coordinates support, with parents involved in discussing concerns and collaboration between the agencies working with a child. At the July 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that developmental needs were identified promptly and support was effective, including a weekly visiting speech therapist and additional staffing for targeted teaching. That is a dated finding about support in practice, rather than a promise that a particular professional will be involved with every child.

In July 2023, staff helped children manage social interactions through signs, visual cues and gentle redirection. Parents and practitioners also shared planning for children with SEND and discussed the move to school. These examples give substance to the partnership approach, especially where a child needs consistent responses across home and preschool.

Children can start at any stage of toilet training, with staff working alongside parents as skills develop; families supply nappies and wipes each day. Most children bring lunch from home, with a separately charged lunch offered as an alternative.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Mile Oak Community Centre, Chalky Road, Brighton, BN41 2WF. Attendance runs during term time, Tuesday to Friday. Morning sessions are 8.30am to 12.30pm, afternoons 12.30pm to 3.30pm, and a whole day runs from 8.30am to 3.30pm. An early start covers 8am to 8.30am.

Visits can be arranged by telephone or text on 07939 364356. The choice between mornings, afternoons and whole days lets families match attendance to the part of the day they need, while the early start extends the beginning of the day.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded sessions are offered for two-, three- and four-year-olds. The entitlements include 15 hours of Early Years Free Entitlement for three- and four-year-olds from the term after their third birthday, over 38 weeks, and up to 30 hours for eligible working parents. Eligible two-year-olds in families receiving government support can receive 15 hours, while the working parent entitlement for eligible two-year-olds covers 30 hours. Funding is used within the term-time attendance arrangement, and additional private hours can be purchased.

Funded sessions carry no additional charges. Families provide nappies and wipes, and the lunch choices are a packed lunch from home or a separately charged nursery lunch; families using funding should clarify how that lunch option fits their attendance arrangement.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, with the payment structure set out on its fees page. Fees are paid in advance, either monthly or weekly. Booked absences, including illness and holidays during term time, remain payable and cannot be swapped for another day. Changes to attendance require one week's notice for both funded and paid sessions.

• Term-time timetable. Attendance runs Tuesday to Friday, with mornings, afternoons, whole days and an early start. Families needing Monday or school-holiday care should weigh that timetable against their working week.
• Space for children's own ideas. In July 2023, monitoring of staff practice needed strengthening because some adults directed play too heavily, reducing opportunities to develop children's ideas. During a visit, ask how practitioners now extend child-chosen play and how that work is monitored.
• Settling and communication. A key group supports each child, settling can extend over several weeks, and text updates accompany the first sessions. Discuss how that support would work for your child, including any communication or SEND needs.
• Lunch alongside funding. Packed lunches are usual, a nursery lunch is separately charged, and funded sessions carry no additional charges. Ask how the lunch option works for your proposed funded sessions.

Early Explorers suits families seeking term-time mornings, afternoons or whole-day preschool attendance, with outdoor exploration playing a substantial part in the day. The natural garden, construction materials and quieter outdoor classroom give children several ways to learn outside. Write Dance, repeated story work and carefully paced conversation add useful detail indoors.

The key person arrangement and individual settling pace will matter to families who want continuity as their child starts preschool. The Good judgement dates to July 2023, and the concern about adults developing children's own ideas deserves a practical discussion during a visit. For families whose week fits the Tuesday-to-Friday pattern, there is a clear combination of outdoor activity, communication work and flexible session lengths to consider.