St Mary's Pre-school Playgroup

Two halls, a large secure garden and a hands-on outdoor offer give St Mary's Pre-school Playgroup a recognisable Hayes character. The Messy Kitchen, planting area, playhouse and bikes make space for messy, growing, imaginative and physical play rather than one generic outdoor slot.

The October 2023 inspection judged the setting Outstanding overall and in each graded area: education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. Safeguarding arrangements were effective at that inspection. Children were choosing from well-resourced activities while practitioners used their interests and needs to shape what happened next.

The provider welcomes children from two and a half to five years. Its sessional week has morning sessions from Monday to Friday, with afternoon sessions on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Learning and Named Experiences

Free and structured play is the published approach. The Early Years Foundation Stage is England's framework for learning, development and care from birth to five; in a child's day, it means learning mainly through games and play. Here, imagination, social interaction and self-expression sit alongside large sponge bricks, crates and boxes that can become spaceships or camps.

In October 2023, language and mathematics had a clear place in the curriculum. Practitioners used shape books and a castle-building activity to extend vocabulary, including turret, while children followed their own interests. That is useful evidence of adults adding precise language to play rather than detaching it from the child's idea.

The garden is more than a backdrop. Its Messy Kitchen supports hands-on play, while the planting area, playhouse and bikes offer different reasons to return outdoors. During the October 2023 visit, children balanced over stepping stones, threw and caught balls, and moved to familiar action songs. Physical confidence was developed through varied movement.

Friends of St Mary's Pre-School Playgroup runs child-involving fundraising events, including the Sponsored Bounce and Sunflower Growing Competition. These are activities in which children take part while the group raises money, and they sit naturally beside coffee mornings for parents and carers. Old Church Schools has been St Mary's home since 1963, according to the provider, and also houses other community groups.

Relationships and Communication

In October 2023, staff knew children's interests and specific needs well enough to adapt learning, and children were described as confident, engaged and polite. Mealtimes were social occasions, with children and adults talking as they sat together. For a parent, that detail matters because it shows conversation and personal development being handled in everyday routines as well as planned activities.

The current staff structure includes leadership, funding and admissions, SENDCO and room-leader roles. The provider also says every member of staff is paediatric-first-aid trained and holds a full and relevant childcare qualification. Families can request a brochure or application form through the contact form.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In October 2023, the SEND coordinator and key persons worked with parents and other professionals on individual intervention and support plans. Current provider materials include SEND, safeguarding and child-protection, missing-child and uncollected-child policies, alongside a SEND Local Offer and information report. Those documents give families a concrete basis for discussing a child's existing plan or emerging needs.

Safeguarding arrangements were effective at the October 2023 inspection. The visit recorded regular staff training, understood referral procedures, safer recruitment and reviewed risk assessments. The provider also publishes practical starting-school materials, including its Starting Reception leaflet, potty-training guide, toothbrushing guide and packed-lunch factsheet.

St Mary's Pre-school Playgroup operates from Old Church Schools, 86 Hayes Street, Hayes, Kent BR2 7BA. It is a sessional day-care setting.

Sessions and Attendance

Morning Sessions run from 09:00 to 12:00, Monday to Friday. Afternoon Sessions run from 12:45 to 15:45 on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Lunch Club runs from 12:00 to 12:45 on those three days, creating a longer pattern where a family combines the morning and afternoon sessions.

The provider offers up to 15 funded hours through its listed two-year-old working-family, Together for 2's, and three- and four-year-old universal entitlements. Additional private session hours are charged separately. Its current terms say food, consumables and day-to-day activities carry no additional charge; current nursery-specific prices are supplied in the provider's written quotation. The detail is on its funding and fees page.

Moving on to school

The provider describes Hayes Primary School as where many children move on. Attending St Mary's does not secure a Reception place there: families still apply through Bromley's admissions process. The published school-readiness guides may be useful for the practical work around that move, but they are not an admissions route.

• Afternoon rhythm. The afternoon session runs on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday only. Families wanting the same timetable every weekday should set that pattern against their working week.

• Lunch Club and funding. Lunch Club bridges the morning and afternoon sessions on the three longer days. Families planning that longer-day arrangement should cover how funded hours and additional private hours apply in their written quotation.

• Moving on to school. Hayes Primary is named as a common next step, not a guaranteed progression route. Families with a preferred Reception school need to plan the separate Bromley application alongside the pre-school place.

St Mary's Pre-school Playgroup brings an unusually concrete outdoor offer to a focused sessional model. The Messy Kitchen and planting area give its garden a practical identity, while the 2023 Outstanding inspection provides detailed evidence of adults using children's interests to build language, mathematics, movement and social confidence.

It suits families looking for weekday morning sessions, and those who can use the Monday, Wednesday and Thursday combination of morning session, Lunch Club and afternoon session. The uneven week is deliberate and clear. Check that it matches the pattern your family needs.