St Anthony's Pre school

Storybooks, a bright church hall and gardens give St Anthony's Pre school its character. Based beside the windmill in Hove, it combines book-led play with outdoor space, while its approach to starting preschool allows shorter sessions and familiar comforts. The emphasis is on helping children take part, communicate and become more independent.

At its 20 November 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that the curriculum took account of individual children's needs. There are 30 places in total. Children can start after their second birthday, making this a preschool option rather than baby care.

Flexible attendance sits alongside term-time funded childcare. The practical distinction is between the wider opening day and the shorter window in which funded hours can be used.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning through play across seven areas of development. Here, books give that learning a concrete starting point: stories lead into imaginative play and opportunities to develop language, with children's interests helping shape what happens next. The framework is the foundation; the seasonal book choices give the day its own character.

Autumn reading includes Pumpkin Soup and Owl Babies, while spring brings Colour Monster and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. The Tiger Who Came to Tea features in summer. These are starting points for play, rather than a timetable of formal lessons. The approach gives children a shared story to return to while leaving room for their own ideas.

In November 2024, vocabulary prompts displayed for staff helped bring new words into everyday activities. Children also learnt Makaton signs as another means of expressing their needs. Communication therefore extended beyond talking alone.

Other examples from November 2024 show learning woven into ordinary play. Conversations about something being bigger became opportunities to compare weight and size; picking up and scattering porridge exercised small hand muscles. Staff also helped children share play dough. Each example connects a familiar activity with a specific next step, whether mathematical language, hand control or playing alongside others.

Outdoor and Community Life

Two gardens, together with access to the Church Gardens, extend play beyond the hall. The garden is used in most weather, and families bring waterproof clothing and wellies. Outdoor play is part of the routine, with clothing chosen to help children keep participating as the weather changes.

Seasonal celebrations include an Easter egg hunt, Summer Sports Day and a leavers Graduation. These give the year shared occasions beyond its changing books and themes. They also sit within the voluntary contribution arrangements, so families can distinguish celebrations from the funded entitlement itself.

Relationships and Communication

A key person provides a familiar contact for daily handovers and settling concerns. Shorter sessions can be used at the beginning, with a home-setting plan agreed around a child's needs. A comfort toy or blanket can come too. This gives families practical ways to make the first weeks manageable rather than requiring every child to start in the same way.

At the November 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that staff knew their key children well, responded promptly when progress needed additional support and used familiar songs or stories to help newcomers settle. These are useful details behind the overall grade: support began with knowing the child and acting on that knowledge.

Regular learning updates reach parents through the Arc Pathway app as well as other communication. The app carries observations, giving families a way to follow learning between handovers. In November 2024, a display board also showed what children had been doing, creating a starting point for conversations at home.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO role and one-to-one support roles form part of the team structure. Families and relevant professionals work with the setting on support for children with SEND; the settling guidance also directs concerns about speech, behaviour or additional needs to the SENCO or manager. Designated safeguarding leads oversee the safeguarding arrangements.

Children do not need to be fully potty trained before starting. Families share the words and routines they use at home, and bring spare clothing and changing supplies where needed. This keeps the transition into preschool separate from any expectation that toileting must already be mastered.

Children staying for lunch bring their own packed meal, eaten with supervision at noon. Snacks twice a day are supported by a voluntary daily contribution, which also covers non-food items such as sun cream.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8.30am to 4pm, Monday to Friday. Attendance can be arranged flexibly within that window. Shorter initial sessions can support settling.

Funded attendance operates during term time for 38 weeks, within 9am to 3pm. This distinction matters if a family's required hours extend beyond that window. Private hours are also offered, with payments due in advance each half term and four weeks' notice required when leaving.

Getting There

The address is St. Peters Church Hall, Hangleton Road, Hove, BN3 7LQ; the hall is also known as St Peter's Community Hall and stands at the junction with Holmes Avenue, beside the windmill. A bus stop directly outside serves the 5B, 47A and 52A, with limited services on the latter two routes.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by email or by telephone. A visit-request form provides a separate route for arranging a look around.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible children can use 15 or 30 funded hours, with acceptance beginning after their second birthday. The entitlement includes provision for eligible two-year-olds and three- and four-year-olds; eligibility remains a condition, rather than an automatic entitlement to every pattern of attendance.

Packed lunches come from home. Snacks and sun cream are supported through a separately requested voluntary contribution, including for funded places, and additional charges are not a condition of taking a free place. Parents also bring nappies, wipes and nappy cream when used; the settling checklist asks for seasonal sun protection too. That makes consumables a shared arrangement, with some supplied from home and some supported by the contribution.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The sessions and fees page explains the attendance window, funding and contribution arrangements.

• Funded hours and your working day. Funded attendance runs from 9am to 3pm, within a longer opening day. Discuss a proposed attendance pattern at a visit so the distinction between funded and private hours is clear.
• Shared routines. In November 2024, tidy-up arrangements did not consistently help every child understand what to do. Ask how staff now make transitions clear for children who are still absorbed in play.
• Outdoor kit and changing supplies. Garden use in most weather brings a practical packing requirement, alongside nappies and wipes where needed. The settling checklist gives families a concrete starting point.

St Anthony's suits families seeking flexible preschool attendance, including those using term-time funded hours and those who want shorter sessions while a child settles. Book-led play, gardens and communication through Arc Pathway give the offer substance. The Good judgement from November 2024 supports that picture, while the request to improve shared routines identifies a weakness in daily transitions. The central practical choice is whether the funded window and term-time pattern fit family life.