Learning Tree Pre School

Learning Tree Pre School is a 26-place sessional setting at the CALAT Centre on Central Parade, New Addington. Its November 2024 Ofsted inspection judged it Good across education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management. The clearest strengths were warm relationships, purposeful language work and plentiful outdoor activity.

This is an inspection-led picture of practice on 8 November 2024, rather than a promise about every current routine. On that visit, children settled quickly, showed confidence and developed a strong sense of belonging. They found their own name labels to register and hung coats on labelled pegs. Those small responsibilities made independence part of the day rather than a separate lesson.

In November 2024, leaders and staff knew the children well and planned an ambitious curriculum from their starting points. The Early Years Foundation Stage means play and adult guidance build communication, physical, social and early academic development together. Here, staff commented on play, modelled language, used matching games and shared songs, stories and books. That gave children repeated reasons to listen, name objects and talk. Children eagerly sang, listened to stories and showed interest in books. The approach joined adult modelling with child-led play, so communication practice ran through activities instead of sitting in an isolated exercise.

Leaders intended the curriculum to help children progress from their starting points, behave well and develop positive attitudes to learning. That ambition translated into keen, motivated children. The improvement point was precise: practitioners did not consistently put every child's next steps into practice, so leaders were asked to make delivery more consistent.

Outdoor time had real physical challenge. Children balanced on crates, climbed newly purchased frames and raced tricycles. Visits from local police officers, alongside trips to shops, the market, library and local parks, connected learning to New Addington beyond the setting. The mix was practical: public-service visitors brought the community in, while outings took children to familiar everyday places. For a small setting, that gives the curriculum a useful reach beyond its indoor and outdoor areas.

Relationships were a marked strength in November 2024. Staff's caring, sensitive approach helped children become emotionally secure and keen to join activities. Sand timers supported turn-taking, while calm explanations helped children understand the consequences of throwing toys.

The inspection found safeguarding arrangements effective. Staff received professional development on supporting two-year-olds and autism awareness; children with SEND were supported well and made good progress. Stay-and-play sessions and advice on oral health and healthy eating gave parents practical ways into their child's learning. The advice topics were concrete, not vague parent engagement, and the stay-and-play format let families take part directly.

Positive behaviour was taught through modelling as well as correction. Leaders and staff consistently demonstrated the conduct they expected, encouraged sharing and explained consequences calmly. That matters in a sessional preschool because cooperation, communication and emotional security all develop in the same busy group routines.

The setting is at CALAT Centre, 61 Central Parade, New Addington, CR0 0JD, with capacity for 26 children. Its booking model is sessional day care. Families should establish the current session pattern directly and request the current nursery-specific quotation from the provider.

The regulatory record covers the Early Years Register only, which fits the preschool scope of this review. The 2024 visit observed all indoor and outdoor areas as well as a group activity. It did not turn the setting into a generic childcare profile: the strongest evidence concerns preschool learning, relationships and active play.

• Session choices. Ask whether the current offer is a morning session, afternoon session or full day, and which days each pattern covers. That answer decides whether this sessional preschool can match a family’s weekly routine.
• Consistency in next steps. Ofsted asked leaders to help staff apply every child's next learning steps consistently. Families may want to discuss how individual priorities now pass between practitioners.
• Work with specialists. Leaders were asked to explore further ways of engaging professionals to strengthen children's learning and development. This matters most where a child may need coordinated outside support.

Learning Tree Pre School suits families seeking a small, sessional setting where language, community outings and active outdoor play have been observed as genuine strengths. The Good 2024 judgement is reassuring, while its two improvement points give parents precise topics for a visit. Families needing a particular attendance pattern should establish whether the current timetable fits before deciding.