Once Upon A Time Pre-School/after School Club

Vegetable growing, animal encounters and soil-counting activities gave this Croydon pre-school a practical character at its September 2025 inspection. At its September 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that the curriculum met the needs of children with SEND and children learning English as an additional language.

Once Upon A Time Pre-School/after School Club has 60 places in total at Cherry Orchard Day Centre. In September 2025, the children attending were aged two to four. That age range describes the children there at the time, rather than a current admissions boundary.

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care: play and everyday activities bring learning into the day. In September 2025, children chose some activities themselves and joined others led by adults. Staff used sensory play for conversation and soil scooping for counting, making familiar materials useful starting points for learning.

Growing and harvesting vegetables gave children practical experience of food production. A visiting zoo man brought opportunities to learn about animals first-hand. Outdoors, children could run, climb and tackle obstacles; dough and tools for moving soil exercised the hand muscles later needed for writing. These were experiences observed in September 2025.

Teaching also needed greater precision. In September 2025, adults sometimes moved on before children had enough thinking time, and some activities lacked a sufficiently clear learning purpose. More time for children's answers and sharper planning were the two improvement priorities.

In September 2025, staff acknowledged children's feelings and built relationships through gentle, attentive interactions. Children settled into routines and gained confidence to explore. Disagreements were handled sensitively, with sharing and turn-taking forming part of everyday life.

Stories, group discussions and conversations introduced vocabulary. During the same period, staff worked with families to recognise children's home languages alongside their developing English. This connected language learning with what children already knew, rather than treating English vocabulary in isolation.

The address is Cherry Orchard Day Centre, 171 St Jamess Road, Croydon, CR0 2BY.

In September 2025, opening hours were 8am to 5pm on weekdays, during term time. At that date, the pre-school provided funded early education for children aged two to five. These are dated operating details, useful for understanding the attendance model at the time.

• Thinking time. September 2025 teaching sometimes left too little space for children's own answers. At a visit, ask how practitioners now give children time to explain their ideas.
• Purposeful activities. Some September 2025 activities needed clearer learning aims. Soil counting offers a concrete example to discuss: how does the adult decide what each child should learn?
• Term-time planning. The September 2025 opening pattern followed term time. How would the current attendance arrangements fit your working week and holiday childcare needs?

Hands-on learning and attentive relationships define the September 2025 picture. It suits families drawn to practical preschool experiences, with vegetable growing, animal encounters and outdoor movement giving children concrete things to explore. The teaching priorities matter too: engaging activities need clear purposes and enough space for children to think.