Pippa's Group

A garden overlooking countryside, woodland play and an interactive Magic Carpet give Pippa's Group a recognisable character. Based at Landport Community Hub in Lewes, it combines an open-ended nursery day with practical support for children's communication and individual needs.

At its February 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good and found safeguarding effective, with positive findings about support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. That judgement is a dated assessment. The two improvement priorities were giving children longer to think before answering and helping parents understand how to extend learning at home.

There are 30 places in total; children attending in February 2023 were aged two to four. Morning, afternoon and all-day sessions operate during term time, giving families different ways to use the nursery rather than a single attendance pattern.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: play, conversation and everyday routines become opportunities to develop skills. Pippa's play-based curriculum starts with children's interests, with staff and parents contributing to the next steps. Independent choices sit alongside adult-led activities, including games that practise sharing and sustained attention.

Much of the physical layout supports that independence. Children can reach resources in low storage units and labelled drawers, while toilets and sinks are scaled for their use. Coats and belongings have individual cloakroom pegs. These are useful details: choosing equipment, washing hands and looking after possessions become things children can practise themselves.

Long stretches of play take precedence over a heavily divided timetable. Snacks punctuate the morning and afternoon, and a story brings each session to a close. The back door stays open for free-flow play, allowing children to move between the indoor space and garden according to their interests.

In February 2023, children's interest in pizzas led to a project about constructing an oven. A volcano activity introduced vocabulary about eruptions and lava. The limitation was conversational pace: adults sometimes moved on before children had enough thinking time, reducing opportunities to solve problems for themselves.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School adds woodland activity and opportunities to practise taking risks safely alongside the nursery's play-based curriculum. Outdoor movement also happens in the garden overlooking open countryside; inside the community hall, children practise balancing and forward rolls.

The Community Garden extends the space children can use daily. Bantams, the nursery's small chickens, add contact with living creatures to the day, while garden-grown fruit and vegetables can feature at snack time. These are concrete connections between play, food and the natural world.

In February 2023, outdoor experiences included vegetable growing, feeding chickens and helping with guinea-pig care. Children rode scooters and bicycles, devised obstacles and practised woodwork with adults, including recalling safety boundaries before sawing. Local artists had visited, children had taken part in art activities at the local museum, and parents had been invited to talk about bees and beekeeping. These were experiences documented at that time, rather than a current timetable of visits.

Rooms and Ages

The sensory room houses Magic Carpet, an interactive projection resource whose images respond to children's movement and touch; every child has access during the week. Projected activities include fish, bubbles and autumn leaves, so this offers a different kind of play from handling objects or playing outdoors.

A quiet room provides space for time with a key person through sensory resources, music or stories. Its practical value is the opportunity to step away from group activity, rather than expecting every child to participate in the same way throughout the day.

Relationships and Communication

The key person provides a consistent point of contact between home and nursery. Settling draws on an all-about-me form so staff can prepare familiar interests and favourite toys; a comfort object from home can also help. Home visits offer another opportunity for families and practitioners to get to know one another before nursery routines become established.

Parents help shape termly next steps, while observations recorded in learning journeys contribute to assessment during a child's first term. Conversations, parent consultations, telephone calls, emails and communication books where appropriate provide several ways to exchange information. A separate meeting space allows sensitive discussions to take place privately.

In February 2023, staff knew their key children and used their interests when planning further learning. Daily conversations, parents' evenings and open days kept families informed about activities and next steps, but parents did not consistently receive enough help to understand how to build on that learning at home.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Support has specific mechanisms. The SENCO works with the key person and parents to identify needs, agree targets and involve external professionals with parental permission. Setting-based plans are reviewed every six weeks with parent involvement, providing a regular point at which to reconsider the support being used.

A Speech and Language therapist visits fortnightly. Work includes individual input according to children's needs and attendance, small-group communication activities, whole-group listening activities, and advice for staff and families. This gives communication support several routes into the nursery day, rather than relying solely on an individual appointment.

Visual timelines, choice boards and now-and-then prompts help children understand routines and express preferences. Small-group activities practise social skills, while a large sand timer helps make turn-taking visible. The building is level and wheelchair accessible, with accessible toilets and space for individual support.

Medical support is planned through medication procedures, risk assessments and care plans developed with families and medical professionals. The nursery can seek local-authority inclusion funding for individual support or specialist equipment. These are support arrangements, rather than a promise that every child will receive the same provision.

Moving to another nursery or school can involve SENCO transition meetings and a one-page profile covering the child's strengths, helpful circumstances and difficulties. That gives the receiving setting information about the individual child, alongside their learning.

Sessions and Attendance

Pippa's Group operates at Landport Community Hub, Landport Road, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 2SU. It opens Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 3.30pm and follows East Sussex term dates, operating during term time only.

Morning sessions run from 9am to noon, and the all-day session runs from 9am to 3pm. Afternoon sessions finish at 3pm; their start-time wording needs clarification, addressed below. Optional early drop-off is at 8.30am, and optional late collection is at 3.30pm. These extensions are separately charged and sit outside the 15-hour entitlement.

The nursery can be contacted by telephone or email. Visits are arranged by phoning, with the garden and sensory room included in the tour.

Funding and Paid Extras

The 15-hour entitlement can cover morning, afternoon or all-day sessions, while 30 hours free childcare is offered for working families. Funding follows the term-time operating pattern; privately paid sessions are also offered for children who are not yet eligible for the entitlement. Families should obtain current prices in a written quotation, with the fees and session information setting out the attendance options.

Parents supply a packed lunch, while morning and afternoon snacks are provided, using produce from the nursery garden or local sources where possible.

• Term-time care. Opening follows East Sussex term dates. Families needing care during school holidays will need arrangements that cover those periods.
• Afternoon timing. The afternoon session is printed as starting at 12.00 am and ending at 3.00 pm, alongside an 8.30am opening time. Confirm the intended start time before choosing that pattern.
• Thinking time and home learning. In February 2023, the improvement priorities concerned pauses in adult-child conversation and practical guidance for parents. During a visit, ask how staff now give children time to answer and translate next steps into activities at home.
• Individual support. Fortnightly speech and language input and six-weekly plan reviews provide concrete starting points for discussion. Families considering additional support should use a visit to discuss how these arrangements would fit their child's needs.

Pippa's Group suits families seeking morning, afternoon or all-day attendance within a term-time routine, with outdoor play and individual support prominent in the nursery day. Magic Carpet, the Community Garden and the visiting Speech and Language therapist give that offer substance. The February 2023 Good judgement provides a positive dated assessment, while its improvement priorities make conversation and home-learning guidance useful subjects for a visit. The term-time calendar and parent-provided lunch also need to fit family routines.