Penguin Pre-School

An artelier where children can return to unfinished creations gives Penguin Pre-School a clear character: ideas have time to grow. Inside a two-storey house on Fareham’s Peak Lane estate, play spreads between a front room, a kitchen used for learning and a garden. The emphasis is on children developing their own ideas, rather than completing an activity and immediately moving on.

Penguin has capacity for 18 children aged 24 to 60 months. At its February 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated it Outstanding overall, with the same judgement across education, behaviour, personal development and leadership. The detail behind that judgement matters: a story became a lighthouse with a functioning light, while children measured ingredients and explored how to change the colour of their dough.

Current opening hours are 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday. For parents, the strongest reasons to consider Penguin are its spaces for sustained creative work and the practical support for family separation documented in February 2024.

Rooms and Ages

The front room brings together construction materials, small-world play and resources for acting out roles, giving children different ways to develop a story or build an idea. Art, number work and early literacy share the kitchen, which connects directly to the garden. These activity spaces support different kinds of play and learning within the house.

The artelier, Penguin’s artists studio, allows children to collaborate with relatively little adult direction. Creations stay in position between sessions, so children can revisit and extend them over weeks or months. That continuity is useful: a child’s next attempt can build on an earlier one instead of beginning again with a cleared table.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the framework for children’s learning, development and care. Here, play offers opportunities to practise communication, early mathematical thinking, creativity and working alongside other children. Penguin’s artelier adds a concrete arrangement to that framework: space and time for children to keep developing a shared project.

In February 2024, staff used observations and assessments to establish what children could already do, then planned their next learning steps. Activities followed children’s interests but also asked them to solve problems. A lighthouse story, for example, prompted the construction of a large model with a light that worked. The interest supplied the starting point; building something gave children a practical problem to explore.

During the same period, children measured ingredients, mixed dough and experimented with colouring it. Number work was connected to something they could make and change. Children also revisited earlier learning through conversation, giving staff a way to see what they remembered rather than relying only on the finished creation.

Outdoor and Community Life

A mud kitchen, digging space and sand-and-water activities give the garden several kinds of hands-on play. There is also space for making marks and a role-play house. Children can reach stored resources themselves and adapt them to their ideas, extending the scope of play beyond the equipment already laid out.

Community visitors have included nurses, police officers and animals. In February 2024, cultural experiences included preparing Caribbean fruit salad with community visitors, encountering words from other languages and exploring instruments such as bagpipes. These were concrete encounters with food, language and music, giving children something to discuss and experience directly.

Relationships and Communication

In February 2024, staff knew children well and helped them settle into activities. Familiar routines supported listening, taking turns and helping other children. The combination matters: relationships gave children a secure starting point, while clear expectations helped them participate in shared play.

Comfort boxes were used in February 2024 to help children and families during separation, including a parent’s deployment. Penguin served both civilian and armed forces families at that time. For a family facing deployment, this is a practical example of support directed at a particular experience, rather than a general promise of understanding.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At its February 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective, strong support for children with SEND and excellent progress across the children attending, including those with additional needs. The current team structure includes a designated safeguarding lead and a special educational needs coordinator, giving families identifiable roles for safeguarding and additional-support discussions.

In February 2024, the coordinator identified support needs, arranged referrals and worked with parents, staff and other professionals. Staff used Makaton signing and visual aids to help children participate in learning. These mechanisms are more useful to a parent than a broad assurance of inclusion: they show how communication and access were supported in practice.

Fresh fruit featured in the February 2024 snack routine, and visits from local charities addressed oral health. Everyday care also included opportunities for independence, such as children measuring and mixing their own dough ingredients.

Sessions and Attendance

Penguin Pre-School is at 7 Sibland Close, Peak Lane, Fareham, PO14 3BA. It opens from 8am to 4pm on weekdays. These are opening hours, so families should distinguish the building’s operating window from the attendance arrangement they choose.

The attendance information identifies term-time operation, with closure during school holidays. That calendar is a substantial consideration for working parents: planning needs to cover the holiday periods as well as the ordinary weekday routine.

Funding and Paid Extras

In February 2024, Penguin provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four. That dated participation is useful background for a funding discussion, while the individual arrangement needs to fit the child’s entitlement and intended attendance.

The branch contact route is direct: telephone 0777 315 4772 or email penguinnuf@outlook.com.

• Term-time calendar. Penguin closes during school holidays. Families needing care across the year should weigh that break in provision alongside its weekday opening hours.
• Sustained creative work. The artelier keeps children’s creations between sessions. On a visit, look at how children return to projects and how staff help a new child join collaborative work.
• Your attendance and funding arrangement. Opening hours run from 8am to 4pm, and funded early education was provided in February 2024. What booking pattern and current funded-hours terms would apply to your child, including any food or consumables charges?

Penguin suits families seeking a term-time preschool with spaces for building, experimenting and returning to ideas over time. The artelier is the clearest expression of that approach; the garden supplies a different setting for exploration, with digging, water and role play.

The February 2024 Outstanding judgement gives that offer a strong inspection foundation. Families affected by deployment also have a relevant example in the comfort boxes used during that period. The practical fit rests on the term-time calendar and weekday opening window, while the educational appeal lies in making children’s interests the starting point for purposeful activity.