Acorn Pre-School

Bug hotels, garden balancing logs and pretend baking give Acorn Pre-School's December 2023 nursery day a recognisable character: children worked things out through making, moving and imaginative play. Based at Holy Rood Church in Stubbington, Acorn accepts children from age two and has 40 places in total. The children attending in December 2023 were aged two to four.

At its 4 December 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated Acorn Good overall and judged safeguarding effective. The detail beneath that judgement matters: activities were adapted to children's development, while staff coaching and the consistency of language support needed attention. Those are useful priorities for families weighing the setting, alongside its practical arrangements for sessions.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care; in parent language, it connects play and everyday experiences with developing communication, physical skills and relationships. In December 2023, Acorn's curriculum placed particular emphasis on children's emotional development and learning to get along with others. Activities built on skills children already had, rather than expecting everyone to start from the same point.

Group activities illustrated that approach. Younger children had more movement in their group time, while older children spent longer listening to stories. This gave children different ways to participate according to their development. Choosing paint and other resources also gave them a part in deciding what to explore.

Songs and stories were regular parts of the December 2023 day. The Farmer's in His Den was among the songs children joined in with, and pretend baking introduced comparisons of size. Mathematics therefore had a practical context: children could explore an idea within a game, rather than encountering it only as an adult's explanation.

Outdoor and Community Life

In December 2023, the garden provided both physical challenges and a destination for children's creations. Balancing logs gave children opportunities to practise controlling their movements. Making a bug hotel involved discussing what insects would need and deciding how to construct it, before taking the finished creation outside. The activity connected imaginative design with problem solving.

Play dough provided a smaller-scale physical task. Children shaped gingerbread figures and used pennies to add features. Alongside the garden activity, this showed attention to both larger movements and the careful hand movements involved in making marks. These are concrete examples of the nursery experience at that time, rather than promises of a fixed activity timetable.

In December 2023, Ofsted found that staff helped children access professional support, including speech and language therapy, used additional funding to support learning, and enabled children with special educational needs and/or disabilities to make good progress. One practical example was buying books chosen to interest children. Support involved access to resources as well as contact with other professionals.

A SENCO role provides a current mechanism for planning additional support. Educational plans are developed with contributions from parents and staff, and liaison with outside agencies supports those plans. For families, the useful feature is that planning includes their knowledge of their child, rather than relying solely on what happens during sessions.

Relationships with parents also featured in December 2023: staff shared ideas that families could use to support learning at home. Children practised everyday hygiene, including dealing with a runny nose and cleaning their hands afterwards. Care and learning overlapped in these ordinary routines.

Eight childcare staff were employed in December 2023, with six holding early years qualifications at level 3 or above. Staff wellbeing benefited from supervision, but those discussions did not consistently pinpoint differences in teaching. Language support also varied: some children needed more time to think about a question before answering. The issue was the consistency of adult practice, not a lack of activities involving words and stories.

Sessions and Attendance

Acorn's address is Holy Rood Church, Gosport Road, Stubbington, Fareham, Hampshire, PO14 2AS. Telephone enquiries can be made on 07340 317149.

Flexible session arrangements are offered, with attendance of at least two sessions each week encouraged rather than stated as a compulsory minimum; the maximum is ten sessions per child per week. In December 2023, attendance was during term time, Monday to Friday: sessions ran from 9am until 3.30pm except on Wednesdays, when they began at midday and finished at 3.30pm. That dated timetable distinguishes the longer sessions from the Wednesday afternoon pattern.

Funding and Paid Extras

Acorn accepts funded childcare, including 15-hour funding for some two-year-olds and three-year-olds, and 30-hour funding for eligible three- and four-year-olds. Eligibility remains a condition, so the extended entitlement should not be treated as automatic. Private childcare is also offered. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Language support. In December 2023, some children were not given enough thinking time before answering questions. Ask how practitioners now adapt conversations for children developing their speech and understanding.
• Staff coaching. December 2023 supervision supported wellbeing but needed to address teaching differences more precisely. Ask how coaching turns observations of practice into changes during sessions.
• Trying a session. Stay and Play offers a Wednesday afternoon taster by prior booking. Use it to discuss how the encouraged two-session pattern and flexible arrangements would fit your child.

Acorn suits families seeking flexible preschool sessions from age two, with hands-on play an appealing part of its December 2023 character. Its dated timetable accommodated both longer term-time days and Wednesday afternoons, while the current flexible booking offer allows discussion of an individual attendance pattern. The Good judgement is a positive starting point. Consistent language support and purposeful staff coaching remain the specific points to explore when choosing it.