The Ark Pre-School Nursery Liphook

A wooden climbing frame, a mud kitchen and access to a field give The Ark Pre-School Nursery Liphook a clear outdoor character. Based at The Church Centre on Portsmouth Road, it welcomes children from two years to school age, with play continuing across indoor activity areas, the playground and the wider village. This is a preschool where physical exploration has room to happen.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good on 6 June 2025. The useful detail beneath that judgement is a day built around children’s interests, close relationships with adults and opportunities to choose activities, alongside two specific teaching priorities: helping children regain concentration and making more of conversations to develop vocabulary.

Morning, afternoon and whole-day bookings operate during term time, with early-start and after-school options. For families, the central choice is between shorter preschool sessions and a combined day, rather than a single attendance pattern.

Rooms and Ages

Goat Class serves two- to three-year-olds, with exploration, growing independence and outdoor play shaping its age-group description; Kangaroo Class serves three- to four-year-olds, with independence and preparation for school emphasised.

The physical provision includes a preschool room arranged for reading, construction, art, water activities, pretend play and dressing up. Those different areas give children several ways into an activity: a child can build, invent a story or experiment with materials. The shared description of the room matters more than the animal symbolism behind the class names. It tells parents what children can actually do.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for play-based learning across language, physical development, relationships, literacy, mathematics, creativity and understanding the world. At The Ark, activities combine children’s own choices with adult guidance, so exploration sits alongside opportunities to extend an idea or practise a skill.

Observations of children’s interests and achievements inform what comes next. This gives the curriculum a practical starting point: what a child enjoys doing and what they are ready to try. The balance between independent play and adult involvement is also the right lens through which to read the teaching improvement points.

In June 2025, children used toy insects with play dough, combining imaginative exploration with work on hand and wrist movement. Books offered another kind of experience, with children choosing stories, sharing them with adults and learning to turn pages. These are small, concrete activities with clear purposes, rather than learning presented as formal lessons.

Choice needed more consistent adult follow-through at that time. Some children drifted away from activities, and staff did not always adjust their teaching to bring them back into purposeful involvement. Conversations were generally relaxed, but opportunities to introduce more language were sometimes missed. The priorities concern what adults do within play, rather than replacing play with a different model.

Outdoor and Community Life

The playground includes a large wooden climbing frame, while the all-weather area adds a slide, bikes, scooters and a mud kitchen. Access to the field beside the church building creates another setting for games and exploration. Outdoor activity is therefore supported by several different physical spaces, with opportunities to move, make things and investigate.

Visiting teachers provide Playball and ballet, adding organised activities to the preschool day. Village outings include the shops, library and woods, giving children experiences beyond the nursery’s own equipment and activity areas. These trips bring everyday places into their learning; their value is in widening what children can explore.

In June 2025, outdoor experiences included balancing on a large tractor tyre and drawing around adults with chalk to explore size and shape. Children also considered how to make a wet slide safe before using it. That example connects movement with problem-solving: adults supported children to think about a hazard and a response.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who works with their family and follows their development. This creates a clear point of contact for sharing information about interests, progress and support needs. It also connects the nursery’s planning with what parents know about their child at home.

In June 2025, home visits and settling sessions helped adults get to know children and their families before attendance became familiar. Children sought out adults for stories and cuddles, and family singing sessions gave parents a way to participate in nursery life. These examples describe relationships being built through shared experiences, rather than through paperwork alone.

FAMLY is the online Learning Journal used to share photographs and observations with families. Parents are encouraged to add information from home, while assessment summaries help bring individual observations together. For a parent who wants to understand more than which activity happened that day, this provides a route into the child’s developing interests and next steps.

Preparation for school includes transition reports, and assessment arrangements include the Two-Year Progress Check. The emphasis is on carrying knowledge of the child forward. These are developmental arrangements, rather than a claim to a place at any particular school.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the June 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described inclusive support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including picture prompts and signs that helped children understand turn-taking. The practical example matters: participation was supported by changing how adults communicated, so an instruction did not depend entirely on spoken language.

Current support arrangements include a SENCo and a route for parents to discuss concerns with their child’s key worker. The nursery’s approach includes early identification of difficulties, involving families in decisions and working with other agencies. These are mechanisms families can discuss in relation to their own child, rather than a general promise that every need will be met in the same way.

Staff continue their learning through professional development. Together with the key-person and SENCo arrangements, that gives parents useful points of reference when discussing how support is planned. In June 2025, everyday care also included a handwashing song and adult demonstrations, making a health routine something children could learn and practise.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is The Church Centre, Portsmouth Road, Liphook, Hampshire, GU30 7DJ. Attendance is term-time, with school-holiday closures and closure on bank holidays. That calendar is an important part of the childcare decision for families whose work continues through the holidays.

Morning sessions run from 9am to noon, and afternoon sessions from 12.30pm to 3.30pm, Monday to Friday. An Early Start runs from 8.15am to 9am, lunch occupies noon to 12.30pm, and After school club runs from 3.30pm to 4pm. Whole-day bookings are also offered. The lunch period is a separate part of the booking structure, so combining sessions involves more than selecting a morning and an afternoon.

The nursery requests at least three sessions each week; fewer are considered at the manager’s discretion. Additional purchased sessions are booked in advance for a half term, with approval dependent on the nursery being able to accommodate them, and payment due before that half term begins. This rewards planning a recurring pattern rather than relying on occasional extra attendance.

An application places a child on the waiting list and does not guarantee a place. Reducing hours requires half a term’s notice, while an increase can take effect during the term where possible. Chargeable bookings remain payable during a child’s absence, except when the nursery is closed for a bank holiday, school holiday or INSET day. These terms matter when weighing a regular commitment against changing family schedules.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes TYF, working-parent funding for two-year-olds, funding for eligible three-year-olds and the working-parent entitlement for three-year-olds. The nursery accepts both 15- and 30-hour funding, with the universal entitlement for three- and four-year-olds delivered across 38 weeks. Eligibility conditions still apply; participation does not mean every family receives the same entitlement.

Funded hours are offered without a parental top-up to government funding. A separate termly contribution is requested on a voluntary basis. Families can also buy additional sessions, and the lunch period is chargeable when it falls outside funded hours or the child has no funding. Current prices should come in the nursery’s written quotation, with funded time and purchased attendance clearly separated.

Enquiries can be made by telephone, email or the contact form. The application form sets out the requested days and session components, making it possible to describe a proposed weekly pattern precisely.

• Adult support within play. In June 2025, some children lost concentration without staff successfully redirecting them, and conversations did not consistently extend vocabulary. During a visit, discuss how practitioners now develop language and help children return to an activity.
• A recurring term-time pattern. The request is for at least three weekly sessions, with fewer at the manager’s discretion, and reductions require half a term’s notice. Weigh that commitment alongside school-holiday closures and your working calendar.
• Visiting activities. Playball and ballet are provided by visiting teachers. A visit is a useful opportunity to discuss what participation involves and how these activities fit your child’s chosen sessions.
• The complete attendance cost. Funded time, purchased sessions and the lunch booking have different charging implications, while the termly contribution is voluntary. How are food and non-food consumables handled within your proposed funded or paid pattern?

The Ark suits families seeking morning or afternoon preschool sessions, as well as those combining them into a whole day during term time. Its strongest practical attractions are the outdoor spaces, village outings and a key-person relationship supported by FAMLY updates.

The June 2025 teaching priorities deserve attention alongside those strengths: freedom to choose activities works best when adults recognise when to intervene and extend learning. For families comfortable with a recurring weekly commitment and holiday closures, the combination of play, physical space and communication offers a clear basis for considering this preschool.