Milford Pre-School Plus

Little Wood gives Milford Pre-School Plus its character: an on-site woodland where preschool children return three times a week for outdoor learning through play. The allotment adds another connection with nature, taking children from planting to food they can cook and eat. This is an independent preschool within primary-school grounds, with outdoor experiences built into its routine.

Ofsted rated the setting Outstanding at its 26 September 2025 inspection and judged safeguarding effective. There are 26 places in total, and the preschool accepts children from 2 years 9 months. After School Club and Holiday Club extend the offer to older children, with different attendance rules for each.

Morning, afternoon and all-day preschool sessions give families a choice of patterns. The practical distinction is between term-time preschool education and the separate clubs for school-age children: they share facilities, but their hours, admissions and food arrangements differ.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) shapes the preschool day through play, conversation, movement and activities that develop early literacy, mathematics and social skills. It is the framework all early-years providers follow; here, practitioners plan around their key children's interests, combining children's own choices with activities led by adults.

Reading, singing and puzzles sit alongside imaginative play and craft materials. The outdoor space includes a sandpit, construction space, mud kitchen and water play, while access to the school playground makes room for bikes and scooters. These give children different ways to practise coordination, work with others and pursue an idea, rather than expecting every activity to happen indoors.

In September 2025, staff used letters and sounds across preschool activities, helping children connect a spoken sound with its written letter when appropriate. School feedback also informed their mathematics and literacy teaching. The emphasis was on preparation for later learning, with activities adapted so children with different abilities could participate together.

Children's own experiences contributed to the day. In September 2025, family photographs were paired with recordings of home languages, and children shared dances from their cultural traditions. Staff also invited children to explain decisions and vote on group rewards. These are concrete ways to make children's contributions count, including those that begin at home.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School adds repeated, child-led exploration in a natural setting to the EYFS provision. Little Wood is shared with the adjoining primary school and includes balancing beams, a fire pit and opportunities for pond dipping and den building. Preschool sessions take place three times weekly, with the timetable rotating to spread access across attendance days; an individual child's participation depends on their booked days.

Activities include bug hunting, shelter building and climbing. Children learn to care for the space as they use it, replacing moved logs and leaving nests and flowers undisturbed. The practical value is continuity: children return to the same natural area and can develop their interests over successive sessions.

In September 2025, staff helped children reason through outdoor risks, including deciding which trees could be climbed and adjusting their balance on a rope swing. Other experiences included matching birds with their calls and learning to make embers for a fire. Adult supervision supported exploration rather than removing the challenge from it.

The RHS Five Star Gardening School scheme recognises the setting's gardening work, which includes seasonal planting and involvement from families and the community. Regular family allotment sessions bring adults into weeding and planting, while children learn how crops grow and use the produce in preschool cooking or meals. Gardening connects care for the environment with something tangible on the plate.

Relationships and Communication

A key person links each child's care and learning with their family. That practitioner helps with settling, learns about the child's interests and works with parents on their learning record. Staff agree settling arrangements with families, making the first days a shared plan rather than a fixed routine imposed on every child.

Tapestry is the online learning journal used to share observations and track preschool progress. A fortnightly newsletter provides another route into the children's experiences, while parents contribute information about learning and interests at home. This gives the key person material to use in planning and gives families examples they can discuss with their child.

Parents can also help during sessions or share a skill or interest. Volunteer parent directors oversee the charity's operation, and the team includes roles for special educational needs coordination, emotional support and safeguarding. These are useful points of contact for different concerns, rather than one general route for everything.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the September 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that early assessments, collaboration with families and specialist input supported substantial progress for children with SEND and speech or language difficulties. Current admissions procedures require assessment of needs at registration and an application for SEN inclusion funding where support cannot be met from the core budget.

For children with more complex SEND, preparation can include staff training, a health care plan and adjustments to the setting. The start date depends on those preparations, with families and relevant agencies kept informed. This matters when support needs to be ready before attendance begins.

Safeguarding procedures include an on-site designated person while the setting is open, staff training and checks before staff or volunteer appointments are confirmed. Collection arrangements require parents to identify authorised adults, with identity checks or a password used for unfamiliar collectors. These are arrangements families can understand and follow, rather than a general promise about safety.

Sessions and Attendance

The setting is on Lymington Road, Milford on Sea, Hampshire, SO41 0RF, within the grounds of Milford On Sea Church of England Primary School. Preschool operates Monday to Friday during term time and closes for holidays and training days in line with the primary school.

Preschool morning sessions run from 8.30am to 11.30am; afternoons run from 12.30pm to 3pm. There is a lunchtime session from 11.30am to 12.30pm, and the all-day option runs from 8.30am to 3pm. Attendance on at least two days is advised, rather than stated as a compulsory minimum.

Applications use an online form, with intakes in September, January and April. The preschool waiting list is ordered by birth date and can also take account of funded-entitlement eligibility, time waiting, proximity, siblings and the setting's ability to meet individual needs. These are allocation considerations, not an indication of vacancies.

After School Club runs from 3.15pm to 5.45pm on school days and is restricted to children attending the adjoining primary school. Holiday Club welcomes children from other schools too, from the holiday before starting primary school through the holiday before secondary school. Its full-day session runs from 8.30am to 5pm, with a separately named half-day session from 9am to 3pm.

The preschool describes close working relationships with the primary school that support transition. Attendance does not guarantee a Reception place; families still use the local authority admissions process. Shared grounds and transition work should be understood separately from school admission.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible children can use 15 or 30 funded hours per week during term time, and private hours are also offered. The preschool accepts funding for eligible two-, three- and four-year-olds and Tax Free Childcare payments. Working-parent funding requires a code, while universal funding for three- and four-year-olds does not; eligibility determines the entitlement a family can use.

Hot preschool lunches are optional and charged separately, including alongside funded attendance; HungryMoose prepares them off site and delivers them daily, using seasonal menus on a three-week rotation and a detailed allergy form. After School Club hot tea is an optional extra, while Holiday Club parents supply lunch and morning and afternoon snacks; the club handbook sets out a nut-free policy.

A discretionary daily consumable charge covers preschool snacks, cooking activities and extra costs, applying on each attendance day. Families receive current prices in the nursery's written quotation. Private fees are payable monthly in advance, and reducing preschool hours or leaving normally requires half a term's notice; cancelling the hot-lunch option requires a month's notice.

• Woodland attendance. Preschool Forest School sessions rotate across the week, and families supply waterproofs and wellies. At a visit, discuss how the proposed attendance days fit the woodland timetable and how a child new to outdoor exploration is introduced to Little Wood.
• Food and allergies. Preschool lunches and club refreshments follow different arrangements, with separate charges or food brought from home. Allergy-affected families should confirm current catering and club practice before choosing the relevant meal option.
• Registration payment. The preschool page specifies a refundable registration payment, while the terms describe a non-refundable registration fee and a refundable deposit. These terms conflict, so obtain the applicable refund conditions in writing before accepting a place.
• Support before starting. Complex SEND can require preparations that determine a child's start date. Discuss the proposed adjustments, their timetable and the key person's settling plan together, so the arrangements fit the child's needs from the outset.

Milford Pre-School Plus suits families seeking morning or afternoon preschool sessions as well as an all-day term-time pattern, with repeated woodland learning and practical gardening woven into the offer. Little Wood, the allotment and family participation give that approach substance. The Outstanding judgement from September 2025 adds weight to the choice.

The separate clubs broaden its usefulness as children grow, although After School Club is for the adjoining primary school's children and Holiday Club has its own sessions and food requirements. The main decisions are therefore practical: the right attendance pattern, the extra charges attached to it and any preparation needed for individual support.