St Clements Pre-School

Toy farm animals, bubble wrap and pretend potions featured at St Clements Pre-School in May 2024: concrete examples of conversation, sensory exploration and playing together. Based at St Clements Church on Kingston Road in Epsom, it has capacity for 36 children aged two to five. This is preschool provision rather than baby care.

At its May 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the setting Good, found safeguarding effective and reported that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) made good progress with support tailored through collaboration with other professionals. The practical strengths lay in helping children communicate and become more independent; the improvement priorities concerned organising activities and extending children's ideas.

Attendance is term-time, with morning, afternoon and all-day patterns. That gives families a choice about how much of the preschool day their child attends.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: play builds language, physical skills and relationships alongside early understanding of the world. It is the common foundation for early years provision, rather than an extra programme unique to this setting.

In May 2024, speech and social interaction featured in activities using toy farm animals. Adults modelled animal names and sounds, while familiar stories gave children further opportunities to build vocabulary. These were concrete starting points for conversation: an object to handle, a sound to copy and a story to revisit.

Other experiences put exploration before a finished product. In May 2024, children experimented with the sound of bubble wrap underfoot and created pretend potions, with adults helping younger children negotiate sharing. The useful combination was child-led activity and adult involvement at moments when playing together needed support.

Early writing preparation was practical, too. In May 2024, older children picked up plastic insects with tweezers and used scales, while another activity involved cutting out body outlines with scissors. Handling small tools gave children opportunities to practise the movements needed for later writing, rather than limiting preparation to pencil work.

There were also limits to how consistently activities developed children's thinking. In May 2024, questions about colours or numbers sometimes diverted attention from what children were exploring. Some group activities lost momentum because competing resources distracted children. The improvement priorities were therefore specific: arrange activities more effectively and help adults recognise when a fresh idea would take learning further.

Relationships and Communication

In May 2024, settling began with visits and information from parents about their child's care. The key-person arrangement helped staff get to know children and their families before attendance began. For a child starting preschool, that makes familiar routines and individual needs part of the preparation, rather than something adults discover only after sessions start.

Support for children learning English was practical. In May 2024, staff paired short sentences with gestures to help children understand what was happening. Favourite stories and carefully modelled words provided further opportunities to practise language. Parents whose child uses another language at home have a concrete example of how communication was supported during that period.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Independence was woven into ordinary routines in May 2024: children practised managing their belongings, handwashing and using the toilet. These are useful foundations for moving on to school because they give children repeated opportunities to manage everyday tasks for themselves.

Health learning also used play. In May 2024, children practised cleaning model teeth and talked about removing germs; staff helped parents think about the contents of packed lunches. Families supplied those lunches at that time, making food preparation part of the home routine as well as a topic for discussion with staff.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is St Clements Church, 307 Kingston Road, Epsom, KT19 0BW. Opening hours are 8.45am to 2.45pm, Monday to Friday, during term time.

Morning sessions run from 9am to noon, afternoon sessions from 12.15pm to 2.45pm, and the full-day session from 9am to 2.45pm. Children receiving 30 hours of funding have the 8.45am to 2.45pm attendance window. The earlier start is therefore tied to that funding arrangement, rather than being the standard start of every session.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded attendance includes 15-hour and 30-hour arrangements within the term-time offer. A specific promotion applies to children using only 15 hours of funding at St Clements: using those hours across five sessions brings two additional free sessions, which must be taken on a Monday or Friday. The day restriction matters when fitting the arrangement around a family's week.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The branch telephone number is 07756 813 611.

• Term-time timetable. Morning, afternoon and full-day sessions end by 2.45pm. Families need a working week that fits that finish and the school-holiday closures.
• How activities develop. In May 2024, competing resources disrupted some group activities, and adult questions sometimes interrupted children's exploration. During a visit, ask how staff now organise group time and build on a child's ideas.
• The funding promotion. The extra-session arrangement applies only when using 15 hours of funding, with the additional sessions restricted to Mondays or Fridays. Consider whether those days fit your intended attendance pattern.

St Clements suits families seeking term-time preschool, whether through morning sessions, afternoons or a full preschool day. Its May 2024 practice offered useful examples of language learning, tool handling and everyday independence, with clear improvement priorities around the organisation and development of activities. The combination is worth considering for families who value play-based preparation for school and can accommodate an early afternoon finish.