Fairhaven Pre-School

A mud kitchen, all-weather outdoor play and access to Village Hall sports fields give Fairhaven Pre-School a clear rural character. Based in South Walsham, it takes children from two years old until they start school and has 30 places in total. This is a setting where outdoor exploration has a substantial place in the day, alongside stories, construction and creative play.

Ofsted rated Fairhaven Good at its April 2023 inspection. The detail behind that judgement matters: children collaborated in garden play, staff connected books with children's discoveries, and local outings extended learning beyond the preschool. Two improvement priorities also deserve attention: reviewing teaching more effectively and giving children greater independence.

Attendance is term-time, with morning and afternoon sessions, a Lunch Club and an additionally charged Early Start Club. That makes the practical offer worth considering for families wanting separate sessions rather than assuming that everyone needs the same attendance pattern.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides children's learning through play, exploration and active experiences, covering language, physical development, relationships and the wider areas of learning. At Fairhaven, activities are adapted to children's interests and needs. Stories, mark-making and problem-solving sit alongside sand, water and materials children can shape with their hands. The emphasis is on doing and discovering.

In April 2023, younger children experimented with felt-tip marks, while older children used clipboards outdoors to write labels and ingredient lists. Writing therefore had a purpose within their play. Books also helped children investigate minibeasts, connecting what they found in the garden with pictures and information indoors.

Language grew through practical experiences in April 2023 too. Planting introduced vocabulary about how plants grow, while familiar songs encouraged children to join in with words and actions. Jigsaws and craft work exercised hand control; outdoor digging, balancing and climbing provided a different kind of physical challenge. Together, these examples show how several areas of learning can meet in an ordinary activity.

Outdoor and Community Life

The outdoor space is a substantial part of the current offer. Children can use it in different weather, with a mud kitchen, equipment for climbing and construction, and ride-on toys. Access to the Village Hall sports fields adds another physical space. For a child who enjoys moving, building or messy play, the outdoor provision gives those interests room to develop.

In April 2023, children moved between the garden and indoor activities through much of the day. In the mud kitchen, they gathered natural materials, mixed pretend food and negotiated who would collect ingredients or stir. That was imaginative play with a social purpose: children had to exchange ideas and take turns to keep their shared activity going.

In April 2023, outings took children to nearby woodland and a garden every week for nature-based activities and expressive arts. These visits widened the places in which children could explore the natural world. They are a dated example of the preschool's use of its rural surroundings, rather than a promise about today's outing schedule.

Relationships begin with an emphasis on knowing each child and working with their family. Key Workers model the setting's values, including kindness and curiosity, while parents contribute to decisions about learning and development. For children needing additional help, the SENDCO is a specific contact, alongside the manager; parents are involved in decisions affecting their child.

At the April 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described staff identifying learning gaps, seeking professional help when needed and using additional funding with parents to support children's progress. Current safeguarding arrangements include lead and deputy lead roles and a child-protection policy applying to staff, volunteers and the committee. Those arrangements give families identifiable responsibilities to discuss, while the effectiveness judgement remains dated.

In April 2023, staff gathered information from families before children started and used it to shape learning. Families could follow learning through an online journal, receive newsletters, join a messaging group for parents and take part in share days. These offered different ways for families to understand what their child was doing, from routine messages to opportunities to share learning.

Health procedures have practical consequences for attendance. After sickness or diarrhoea, children must stay home for 48 hours following the last episode; staff contact an authorised adult if a child becomes unwell during the day. Allergy information is collected at registration and used in individual risk assessments, and the preschool's policy generally describes the setting as nut-free.

Sessions and Attendance

Fairhaven operates at Village Hall, School Road, South Walsham, Norwich, NR13 6DZ. Sessions run Monday to Friday during term time: mornings are 9.15am to 12.15pm, afternoons 1.15pm to 3.15pm, and Lunch Club runs between them from 12.15pm to 1.15pm. Early Start Club begins at 9am on weekdays and carries an additional charge.

The morning and afternoon bookings offer genuinely different lengths of session. Lunch Club provides the intervening attendance period, while Early Start Club allows an earlier start. These are session arrangements, so the contact team's longer telephone window should not be mistaken for childcare hours.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by email or by telephone. Because mobile reception is limited at this rural site, WhatsApp messages and calls are preferred. Fees for privately paid hours are payable half-termly; current prices come in the preschool's written quotation.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is accepted, including two-year-old funding and the universal and extended offers for three- and four-year-olds. The childcare offer runs during term time. Additional hours and attendance without funding are charged privately, and the information and fees page sets out the attendance arrangements.

A voluntary, separately charged consumables contribution covers snacks, non-food items and enhanced activities beyond basic funded provision. Snacks therefore sit within that extra contribution, as do the relevant non-food consumables. The registration fee is optional. These categories matter when comparing the written quotation with the hours a family intends to book.

Shared activities with Fairhaven Primary School include Book Week and Sports Day. The preschool also supports transition to whichever school a child will attend. Participation does not guarantee a school place: families still use the local authority admissions process for a state-school Reception place.

• Independence and teaching. In April 2023, staff sometimes helped children more than necessary, and teaching reviews needed further development. At a visit, ask how children now practise doing things themselves and how staff receive feedback on teaching.
• Term-time session planning. Morning and afternoon sessions have different lengths, with Lunch Club between them and a charged Early Start Club. Consider how those particular blocks fit work and school commitments, including the need for care outside term time.
• Lunch and allergies. Lunch Club is part of the attendance offer, and snacks fall within the voluntary consumables contribution. Ask what children need to bring for lunch and, where allergies affect your child, confirm current food controls and individual arrangements.

Fairhaven suits families seeking term-time morning or afternoon preschool sessions, with options to add Lunch Club or an earlier start. Its strongest practical appeal is the outdoor space: messy play, climbing and construction have a clear place alongside indoor learning. Shared primary-school events add another connection beyond the preschool itself.

The April 2023 Good judgement provides a positive, dated assessment, balanced by specific priorities around children's independence and staff teaching reviews. For parents who value rural outdoor play and a sessional attendance pattern, Fairhaven offers a clear combination to assess against their child's needs.