Swan Pre-School

Eighteen places and a child-led approach give Swan Pre-School a small-scale identity in Rowner, Gosport. Children’s interests help shape activities, with adult-led learning alongside them. For families who prefer a preschool where play guides the day, that balance is the central attraction.

Swan has 18 places in total and accepts children aged two to five. At its April 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good and judged safeguarding effective. The strongest practical detail from that period was the attention to children coping with a parent’s naval deployment: staff helped them maintain communication during separation.

The setting opens Monday to Friday, from 7am to 5pm, and offers funded and privately paid places. Its preschool offer centres on children aged two to four.

Play supplies the starting point. Child-led activities sit alongside experiences directed by adults, allowing children’s interests to influence what happens while practitioners introduce learning themselves. This gives families a clear picture of the approach rather than a promise of formal lessons.

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children’s learning, development and care. In everyday terms, play helps children practise communication, movement, relationships and early learning skills together, rather than treating each as an isolated task.

In April 2022, physical activity and early mark-making were closely connected. Children took part in yoga, painted with sponge rollers on paper fixed to a garden fence, and explored marks in shaving foam. These offered different ways to practise movement and hand control before writing became the task itself.

Language also had several routes into the day in April 2022. Children joined familiar passages of The Three Little Pigs and browsed books in a cosy den; they also learnt Makaton signs, giving younger children another way to express themselves. Storytelling, independent book choices and signing gave children different ways to participate.

Outdoor imaginative play included a mud kitchen, while a pretend hairdressing setting supplied another starting point for role play. In April 2022, Chinese New Year activities included lantern-making, music and watching dragon dances online; an Easter counting activity used plastic eggs hidden in wet sand. Those examples connected cultural exploration and early number work to things children could make, find and discuss. They describe that period’s nursery day, rather than a fixed annual timetable.

Parent partnership is part of Swan’s current approach, with support offered when families need it. The team includes a safeguarding lead and a Special Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO). These give families identifiable roles for raising welfare concerns or discussing additional needs; the existence of those roles is separate from an assessment of how effectively support works.

In April 2022, Ofsted found that staff responded sensitively to children’s emotional needs and worked closely with parents, while identifying home-language use and greater independence as areas for development. Children were encouraged to talk about feelings, and adults offered comfort when needed. Support for communication with a parent deployed in the Navy made that work especially relevant to service families.

Independence had a practical shape in April 2022: children selected their own activities and resources and practised putting on coats. Mealtimes were the example where adults could give children more responsibility. For parents, the useful distinction is between letting children choose their play and helping them manage everyday tasks themselves.

Swan’s address is 4 Shackleton Road, Rowner, Gosport, PO13 9SG. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 0777 315 4729 or by email to swan@navalunderfives.org.uk.

Opening hours are 7am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Attendance is term-time, with closure during school holidays. That holiday pattern is a substantial planning point for families whose work continues throughout the year: the weekday opening window and the annual attendance calendar need to work together.

Funded and non-funded childcare are both offered for children aged two to four. Funding and privately paid attendance are separate options, so the choice is about how a family’s childcare is arranged as well as how it is paid for. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

• School-holiday cover. Swan operates during term time and closes for school holidays. Families needing year-round childcare should factor that calendar into their arrangements.
• Everyday independence. Greater independence, including at mealtimes, was an April 2022 improvement priority. On a visit, ask how children now take responsibility for those routines.
• Languages in play. Encouraging children to use their home languages was another April 2022 priority. Families raising a multilingual child can ask how their language will be included in play and conversation.
• The funded booking. Swan offers funded places alongside privately paid childcare. Ask for a written explanation of the funded attendance pattern and the treatment of meals and consumables before agreeing a booking.

Swan suits families seeking a small preschool with child-led play, adult-led learning and a term-time calendar. Both funded and privately paid attendance form part of its offer. The April 2022 examples give it a recognisable character: signing, imaginative outdoor play and sensitive attention to parental deployment.

The decision rests on how that approach fits the child and how the school-holiday closure fits family life. Independence and home-language support are the most useful subjects to explore during a visit.