Children's Workshop, Preschool

Two outdoor play spaces give Children's Workshop, Preschool much of its character: bikes and scooters in the front garden, climbing and construction opportunities behind, and covered space for play in wet weather. Indoors, Sunbeams Room and Rainbows Room organise learning around different stages of childhood. This is a preschool with room for movement as well as quieter exploration.

At its January 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good and found safeguarding effective, with children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, making good progress. The important qualification concerned younger children: some activities demanded too much of them, and adapting those activities to individual learning needs was the improvement required.

Children's Workshop is based at East Molesey Methodist Church on Manor Road, East Molesey, KT8 9JU. Children can join from age one if they are walking and stay until five. Attendance is term-time, with morning and longer daytime sessions rather than an evening finish.

Rooms and Ages

Sunbeams Room serves children aged one to three, emphasising movement, sensory exploration, familiar routines and repeated experiences, while Rainbows Room, for ages two to five, combines children's own investigations with planned teaching and preparation for school. The overlapping ages make developmental stage relevant alongside a child's birthday.

The preschool occupies two large halls and has two separate outdoor areas. Children of different ages come together for outdoor play, lunch and afternoon attendance, so the day includes contact beyond their usual age grouping. For families, that is an important distinction: separate rooms do not mean children spend the entire day apart.

Learning and Activities

EYFS provides the framework for learning and care, bringing together language, physical development and relationships with early literacy, mathematics, creativity and understanding the world. Here, children encounter those areas through play, everyday routines and activities led by adults. The framework is the common foundation; the preschool's choices about planning and following children's interests shape how it feels in practice.

Development Matters is used to organise progression in learning. Planning also draws on interests from home, children's next developmental steps and adult-led themes. This gives parents' contributions a practical purpose: what absorbs a child outside preschool can help shape what staff offer inside it. The curriculum combines child-initiated play with planned experiences, then gives children opportunities to revisit and practise what they have encountered.

Assessment is woven through that process. Staff use conversations, questions and observations, alongside baseline assessments and tracking each half term. Parent meetings and end-of-year summaries provide more formal points for reviewing development. These are different ways of keeping sight of the same child, rather than relying solely on a finished piece of work or a single assessment.

January 2025 examples show what exploration looked like: children tested objects in water, with older children making predictions and younger children discovering through experimentation. Stories, rhymes and songs featured in routines, and children interested in writing their names were encouraged to use the attendance register. Those examples connect early science and literacy to an immediate question or purpose.

Spanish adds another experience, taught to small groups through active activities. It sits alongside the play-based curriculum rather than replacing its everyday language and communication work.

Outdoor and Community Life

The front garden has raised astro turf, a mud kitchen, sand pit and play house, with bikes and scooters offering another way to move. Behind the building, a climbing frame, climbing wall and gymnastic bars provide different physical challenges. These are concrete choices for children who want to climb, ride or make something, rather than a single outdoor activity for everyone.

A gazebo and covered area extend the outdoor provision, including opportunities to play when it rains. The back garden also contains a wormery, another mud kitchen and large loose parts for building and open-ended creations. Children can investigate materials and decide what to construct, as well as use equipment with an obvious purpose.

In January 2025, children practised balance and coordination using blocks, beams and obstacles. That dated picture complements the current outdoor equipment: movement has a place both in organised challenges and in children's own play.

Relationships and Communication

At the January 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that the key-person arrangements worked well and that staff knew children's individual characteristics, while small-group language support helped children with communication delays progress rapidly. The practical value lies in noticing a child's needs and responding with something specific, rather than treating the whole group identically.

January 2025 practice also included clear boundaries, encouragement linked to children's efforts, and support for sharing and taking turns. Children borrowed books to share at home, and parents received updates with ideas for extending learning. That creates a useful connection between preschool experiences and ordinary family routines.

Current communication includes Tapestry, the online learning journal used for weekly observations, and ParentMail for messages and administration. Parent meetings and parent contributions also form part of the assessment approach. Families therefore have both ongoing updates and occasions to discuss the wider picture of their child's development.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO role provides a named responsibility for special educational needs support, and the team includes a practitioner providing one-to-one support for children with SEND. The curriculum uses the Surrey Support Plan, which sets out plans for children with additional needs. These are practical support mechanisms, rather than a blanket promise about any individual child's experience.

Transition reports and end-of-year summaries form part of preparation for moving on. They provide a way to bring together what staff have learned about a child, alongside the room curriculum's work on independence, confidence and relationships. School preparation here includes information about development as well as learning experiences.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8.20am to 2.30pm, Monday to Friday, during term time. Breakfast Club runs from 8.20am to 9am, followed by a morning session from 9am to 12.15pm or longer sessions finishing at 1.30pm or 2.30pm. Those different finishing times matter for families combining preschool with work, other care or time at home.

The minimum commitment is two sessions each week for one- and two-year-olds, or three for children aged three and four, subject to space. The choice is therefore about a recurring weekly pattern as well as a daily finish. Morning visits can be booked through the enquiry form, with telephone contact handled in the mornings.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes FEET places for two-year-olds, universal funding of 15 hours from the term after a child's third birthday, and the working parents entitlement of up to 30 hours for eligible families. The preschool itself offers 27.5 hours weekly across 38 weeks, so the national entitlement and the setting's delivery window are different figures. Funding is delivered during term time.

Families receiving funding complete the Surrey County Council declaration, with Funding Loop providing an online portal for funding documents and code submission. Working parents' codes need reconfirming every three months. These administrative steps belong alongside the attendance decision, because the funding arrangement requires continuing attention after the initial application.

Private sessions are also offered. The fees and funding page sets out the charge structure; families should obtain current prices in a written quotation from the preschool.

Breakfast is included with Breakfast Club; children staying until 1.30pm or 2.30pm bring a packed lunch, while daytime snacks attract a separate additional charge. For funded attendance, snacks and non-food consumables, including wipes and toileting supplies, fall within voluntary additional charges, alongside resources, enrichment and communication services.

• Younger children's learning. In January 2025, some activities were too demanding for younger children, who sometimes disengaged. At a visit, ask how staff now adjust shared activities for children in Sunbeams Room.
• A term-time timetable. Morning attendance and longer daytime sessions offer different options, but the preschool closes at 2.30pm and operates during term time. Families needing later care or holiday provision will need an arrangement that fits around this timetable.
• The funded-hours fit. The preschool's 27.5-hour weekly offer is shorter than the working parents entitlement of up to 30 hours. Consider the actual session pattern alongside the voluntary charges for snacks, consumables and additional services.

Children's Workshop suits families seeking either a morning preschool session or a longer daytime session within a term-time routine. Its two gardens offer substantial opportunities for climbing, riding and construction, while Sunbeams Room and Rainbows Room give the day an age-related structure. Spanish, an online learning journal and individual support mechanisms add useful detail to that offer.

The January 2025 Good judgement is balanced by a specific teaching priority for younger children. For parents, the strongest decision is a practical one: whether these rooms, shared activities and finishing times match their child's stage and the family's weekly pattern.