St Richard's Pre-School Playgroup

Small scale and a strong sense of community define St Richard's Pre-School Playgroup. This not-for-profit setting at St Richard's Church Centre in Hanworth accepts children aged two to five and has 30 places in total. Ofsted rated it Outstanding in March 2024, with the same judgement across education, behaviour, personal development and leadership.

The most convincing detail is how language, independence and outdoor learning meet in ordinary activities. Children grow vegetables in a community garden, use flowers and herbs in the mud kitchen, vote for a group story and clear their own plates after snack. Let's Talk Together adds an explicit early-language programme, while the Famly online journal carries photographs, observations and family comments between preschool and home.

Morning, afternoon and double sessions run during term time. That makes this a session-based preschool rather than an all-year nursery built around a long working day.

Learning and Named Experiences

The Early Years Foundation Stage sets the educational programmes and developmental goals, while practitioners decide how to turn them into play, conversation and appropriately pitched challenges. Here, the current offer combines child-led and adult-led activity across a large indoor space and an outdoor area used every day. Children can work across the areas of learning through play rather than moving into formal classroom teaching.

Let's Talk Together supports early language development through positive exchanges between practitioners and children. The March 2024 inspection gives that programme practical substance. Adults introduced precise vocabulary while children made pretend cupcakes with real flowers and herbs in the mud kitchen, then explored words such as scaly and slimy during a story. These were not isolated word drills. New language was attached to something children could handle, imagine and discuss.

Problem-solving was similarly concrete. Children remembered which ingredients they had used to make dough and connected them with an earlier volcano activity. They chose their own learning, voted for a group book and coped when another choice won. That combination builds memory, decision-making and the ability to participate in a group.

Outdoor and Community Life

The outdoor offer is unusually well described for a small preschool. Children have daily open access to a spacious play area, with an undercover section for wet weather. The published resources include a mud kitchen, sand and water tray, builders' yard, bikes, books, construction materials and growing areas. A neighbouring community garden has been developed as a play and nature space.

In March 2024, children planted and grew vegetables, took nature walks and worked together with a large parachute. Staff had also adapted the way mathematics was supported outdoors following professional development. Outdoor time therefore carries physical activity, environmental learning and early mathematics, rather than acting only as a break from indoor play.

Relationships begin before the first regular session. At the 2024 inspection, home visits were arranged for new children so practitioners could start building a bond with each family. Staff then had time to observe their key children, create an accurate view of progress and share that knowledge across the team. For a child, that should mean support does not depend entirely on one adult being present.

Daily verbal feedback is paired with photographs and observations on the Famly online journal. Families can view and comment on text, images and videos, and contribute experiences from home. This gives parents both the quick practical handover and a longer record of learning. Ofsted found these partnerships exceptionally strong in March 2024.

Inclusion is structured rather than left as a broad promise. The preschool publishes a designated SEND coordinator, written SEND plans or education, health and care plans where needed, review meetings with parents, liaison with external agencies and two-year progress checks. It also has an Early Years Teacher and works with Hounslow Early Years advisers. Transition forms and relevant plans can be shared with a child's next setting, with a school visit to the preschool where practical.

Safeguarding arrangements were effective at the March 2024 inspection. Children followed well-established routines, understood what happened next and showed respect for friends and resources. Those predictable sequences have a care value as well as an organisational one: children can participate confidently because they know the rhythm of the session.

Sessions and Attendance

St Richard's runs Monday to Friday during term time at St Richard's Church Centre, 35 Forge Lane, Hanworth, TW13 6UN. A morning session is 9am to noon, an afternoon session runs from noon to 3pm, and a double session covers 9am to 3pm. Parents provide a healthy packed lunch for a child attending the double session.

Funding and Paid Extras

The preschool offers eligible 15-hour and 30-hour funded childcare for children aged two, three and four, delivered over the 38-week term-time year. Additional private hours can be purchased. Current prices should be taken from the preschool's written quotation and funding information.

Families provide a healthy packed lunch for a child attending a double session.

• Term-time model. The core day finishes at 3pm and funded hours are spread over 38 weeks. Families needing holiday care or a later collection will need a different arrangement outside this setting.
• Single shared environment. The preschool publishes a large indoor space and extensive outdoor provision rather than a roster of separate age rooms. Ask how practitioners organise two-, three- and four-year-olds during busy sessions and adapt activities for each stage.
• Packed lunch. Parents supply a healthy packed lunch for a child attending a double session. This is a practical responsibility to include in the family routine.

St Richard's is a persuasive option for families seeking a small, term-time preschool with unusually strong outdoor provision and a serious emphasis on conversation. The Outstanding 2024 inspection matters, but the branch-specific detail matters just as much: home visits before starting, Let's Talk Together, a community garden, mud-kitchen vocabulary and the Famly journal all show how relationships and learning connect.

This setting best suits children aged two to five whose families want morning, afternoon or 9am-to-3pm double sessions rather than all-year care. Parents who value daily outdoor access, close family communication and carefully developed independence have clear reasons to shortlist it.