Fish and Bricks PreSchool

A large hall for movement and a quiet corner for managing emotions give Fish and Bricks PreSchool a recognisable character. At its June 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good and found that its curriculum helped children make good progress, with communication and emotional development prominent strengths. The practical examples are useful: signing helped children express themselves, while an obstacle course combined movement with listening.

Based at Barn House on Station Road, within Burgess Hill Baptist Church in Burgess Hill RH15 9EQ, the preschool has capacity for 48 children. Children can join from two and a half, subject to a place being offered. The attendance model centres on a morning session, with Breakfast Club and Lunch Club providing extensions on specified days.

This is a setting where everyday interactions matter as much as organised activities. The June 2025 account describes staff responding to children's interests and making time for their answers. Its improvement point was equally specific: children needed more consistent help to make their own learning decisions.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning and care, encompassing development through play, conversation and everyday experiences. Fish and Bricks gives books, early writing, creative expression and number awareness a place within that learning. Its guiding principles also emphasise sharing, confidence and consideration for other people, giving social learning a clear place alongside early literacy and mathematics.

In June 2025, practitioners shaped activities around what interested the children, using both observation and conversations with families. This connected planned learning with things children already wanted to explore. Expectations were familiar, too: children helped clear activities away ahead of stories and snacks, rather than waiting for adults to prompt them.

Preparation for an end-of-year performance brought singing and dancing into the June 2025 nursery day. Children connected the songs with experiences from home, turning a rehearsal into an opportunity to talk about their own lives. Music therefore supplied a reason to communicate as well as an activity to enjoy.

Outdoor and Community Life

The large hall provided space for an obstacle course in June 2025. Children practised balancing, crawling and jumping, with listening woven into the activity. That physical space matters: movement could be organised around several different actions, rather than relying on a single exercise.

The inspection-era setting occupied several rooms within Gateway Baptist Church. These spaces supported different experiences, including a calm corner where children could use mindful activities while learning to manage their feelings. The useful distinction is between an active space for movement and somewhere quieter for emotional regulation.

At the June 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and judged that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities benefited from adapted activities and effective support plans developed with parents and other professionals. This gives families a dated assessment of both safeguarding and the practical support behind inclusion.

During June 2025, signing helped children with delayed language communicate preferences and needs. Children learning English as an additional language also received help with communication, and additional interventions supported those needing more assistance. Staff allowed time for children to consider questions before answering, making conversation more than a rapid exchange of instructions.

Relationships with parents extended beyond updates about the day in June 2025. Practitioners shared home-learning ideas, and families could borrow books from a lending library. Managers also helped connect families with local services, including dentists. These were practical ways to carry learning and family support beyond the preschool's rooms.

The registration form asks about home language, additional needs and allergies, giving families a route to share information before attendance begins. It also requests consent for information-sharing with relevant professionals, including schools and speech therapists. This makes the information families supply part of the arrangements for working with others around their child.

Sessions and Attendance

The core morning session runs from 9.15am to 12.15pm. Breakfast Club adds an hour from 8.15am to 9.15am, Tuesday to Friday; Lunch Club runs from 12.15pm to 1.15pm, Monday to Friday. Both clubs require advance booking and are subject to availability. Families can plan around the core session and request extensions for the days they attend.

Opening hours are 9.15am to 1.15pm on Monday and 8.15am to 1.15pm from Tuesday to Friday. In June 2025, the preschool operated during term time. The online registration form lets parents indicate preferred weekdays, and the manager needs to see the child's birth certificate.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered for eligible two-year-olds and for three- and four-year-olds from the term after their third birthday. The funding arrangements include the 15-hour entitlement, while Fish and Bricks can supply part of the 30-hour entitlement for families who have applied and qualify. That distinction matters when planning attendance: access to the larger entitlement does not mean all those hours are delivered here.

Private sessions cover children who cannot access funded entitlement and attendance exceeding a child's funded hours. Current prices come in the preschool's written quotation; its fees page explains the session and club structure. Registration also includes a request for a voluntary contribution towards equipment and resources.

• Children's decision-making. In June 2025, support for choosing and directing learning was inconsistent. On a visit, ask how staff now help children make those decisions during activities.
• Different weekday patterns. Breakfast Club runs Tuesday to Friday, while Lunch Club also operates on Monday; both need advance booking and are subject to availability. A Monday plan therefore differs from the rest of the week.
• Food and everyday supplies. For families booking Lunch Club, ask what families provide or pay for in meals, snacks and non-food consumables.

Fish and Bricks suits families seeking a core morning session or a morning extended through Breakfast Club and Lunch Club. Its June 2025 strengths were grounded in ordinary but consequential experiences: communication support, space for physical activity and careful attention to emotions.

The improvement point deserves equal weight. Helping children make decisions was less consistent than the curriculum intended. For parents, the combination is clear: a Good inspection judgement, concrete examples of care and learning, and a specific question about how independence is supported now.