Peter Pan Pre-School

Bicycles outside and tweezers for sorting small rubber creatures gave Peter Pan Pre-School's March 2025 inspection a practical emphasis on movement and dexterity. At its 7 March 2025 inspection, Ofsted judged it Good overall and found that children made good progress from their starting points. Its capacity is 52 children in total.

The children attending in March 2025 were aged two to four. The setting occupies Methodist Church on Winchester Road in Chandler's Ford, Eastleigh, with an outdoor play area supporting the physical activities seen that month.

In March 2025, planning drew on children's interests, development and information gathered during settling visits. The early years foundation stage sets out requirements for children's learning, development and care. In everyday terms, it connects what children learn with how adults support and care for them; the March 2025 activities included physical play, sorting and building together.

Bicycle riding exercised larger movements, while handling tweezers gave children practice controlling smaller ones. Children also collaborated on a tall tower of toy bricks, rebuilding after it fell. That example puts persistence alongside cooperation: the activity continued after the first attempt collapsed.

These March 2025 examples show different demands within play. Riding involved whole-body movement in the outdoor play area; sorting the coloured creatures required careful handling of a tool. Building together brought another challenge: children had to contribute to a shared construction and respond when it failed. For parents, the useful detail is the combination of physical practice and cooperation within ordinary activities, rather than a separate lesson for each skill.

Social learning was practical too. In March 2025, staff helped children take turns, share resources and work together. Children treated their friends with kindness and politeness. These were expectations practised through play, giving children opportunities to learn how their actions affected others.

Story time was less successful. Bringing everyone into one large group left some children disengaged, making the organisation of that part of the day an important consideration. The improvement action concerned the daily routine and children's engagement with stories. This is a specific limitation in the inspection picture: the cooperative play described elsewhere did not mean that every group activity held every child's attention.

At the March 2025 inspection, Ofsted found effective safeguarding and good support for children with SEND, including monitoring, discussions about individual next steps and collaboration with other agencies.

Individual planning that month also took account of children learning English as an additional language. Staff used what they knew about each child to respond to their needs, while settling visits helped establish a starting point for learning. For families, this links the early conversations about a child with the activities subsequently planned for them.

In March 2025, staff deployment supported children's activities, and supervision provided time to discuss children's needs alongside practitioners' professional development. Staff described feeling supported at work, and further training formed part of the approach. These details matter because planning for individual children also depends on adults having opportunities to discuss their work and develop their knowledge.

Communication in March 2025 combined conversations at the end of sessions with newsletters and reports each term. Staff collected information from families when children started and offered ideas for continuing learning at home. This gave parents both immediate updates and a longer view of development.

That month, children served themselves fruit and chose milk or water. Handwashing reminders linked snack time and toilet use with everyday hygiene. Transition work included visits to school events, visits from school leaders and communication with other settings children attended, helping connect children's experiences across settings.

The address is Methodist Church, Winchester Road, Chandler's Ford, Eastleigh, SO53 2GJ.

In March 2025, opening hours were 9am to 3pm on weekdays, during term time. The pre-school also received early education funding for children aged two, three and four at that date. These are inspection-time arrangements.

• Story-time organisation. In March 2025, the whole-group arrangement did not engage every child. Ask how story groups and the daily routine have been adapted.
• Term-time fit. The March 2025 operating pattern followed term time and ended at 3pm. That pattern matters for families matching childcare with work and holiday commitments.

The March 2025 inspection picture points to a fit for families who value practical play, opportunities to cooperate and regular communication about their child's development. The March 2025 picture combines hands-on activities and school-transition work with a specific weakness in group story time. Its inspection-era term-time hours are a useful starting point for assessing practical fit.