Little Fishes Pre-school and Nursery

Soft-play indoors and an allotment beside the Great Field give Little Fishes Pre-school and Nursery a recognisable combination: space for physical play alongside digging, planting and exploring. Its Braunton setting brings the surrounding community into children's learning, too. This is an open-plan nursery where children can spend time with different ages as well as their own peers.

At its August 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged safeguarding effective, while identifying improvements needed for younger children and opportunities for children to develop their own creative ideas. Those qualifications matter alongside the positive judgement, especially for parents choosing care for a baby.

Children aged 3 months to 5 years are accepted at West Cross, Caen Street. Flexible, hourly charged attendance gives families a booking model that can fit different lengths of nursery day.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning through play, including communication, physical development and children's relationships and emotions. Activities are planned around individual interests, with staff using questions and explanations to extend what children discover. Sand and water become opportunities to compare weights and measurements; messy exploration can involve spaghetti or baked beans. Everyday materials do much of the work.

Indoor provision includes a soft-play structure, a sensory room and a designated baby space. Book corners and a changing role-play area offer different ways to spend time, rather than making the whole day depend on one activity. The open-plan arrangement allows interaction across ages, making the balance between shared experiences and age-appropriate attention an important part of the nursery's character.

In August 2024, learning included counting building blocks and exploring ingredients while making dough. Stories introduced unfamiliar vocabulary, while pictures and signing helped younger children communicate. These examples show how conversation and early mathematical ideas can emerge during play rather than through a separate lesson.

The August 2024 inspection found that older children sometimes received more attention than younger ones, and that creative activities gave children too little scope to develop their own ideas. A changing role-play area and painting materials therefore need to be considered alongside how freely children can use them. Having resources and allowing children to direct their play are different questions.

Outdoor and Community Life

The allotment garden sits beside the Great Field. A summer house, opportunities to build dens, and sand and mud play extend the choice beyond the nursery's immediate outdoor area. That gives families an outdoor offer with both shelter and hands-on natural materials. At the nursery itself, all-weather play, a planting area and a sensory herb garden provide further opportunities to explore growing things.

Community walks take children to the library, post office and museums, as well as woodland and beaches. These are outings into familiar local life, with things to notice and talk about beyond nursery equipment. In August 2024, children explored produce at a grocery shop and plants near the river; older children also searched for objects of different colours.

During those August 2024 outings, staff discussed road safety, the meaning of signs and why someone might use a mobility scooter. The practical value was broader than exercise: familiar streets offered opportunities to talk about safety and other people's needs.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person responsible for following their development and keeping parents informed about progress and wellbeing. This gives families a particular member of staff to build a relationship with, rather than relying solely on whoever is available for a conversation.

In August 2024, children took the nursery mascot home and made a photographic account of its adventures, which they then shared with friends and staff. All About Me books also connected home and nursery by communicating children's next developmental steps. Both mechanisms brought family life into conversations about learning, with the mascot offering children something concrete to describe.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A sleep room provides a place for rest alongside the busier play spaces. The staff structure includes SENDCO and deputy SENDCO roles, as well as designated safeguarding responsibilities. These are practical points of contact for families discussing additional needs or concerns; they do not replace an individual conversation about a child's support.

In August 2024, children practised everyday independence by pouring milk, preparing fruit and washing their plates. Staff also helped children learn how to care for a doll during role play. Such experiences connect learning with ordinary tasks, giving children opportunities to practise doing things for themselves before moving on to school.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. Attendance is flexible and charged by the hour, allowing families to plan different lengths of nursery day. The nursery operates throughout the year, with closures for statutory bank holidays and the period between Christmas and New Year; nursery closures are not charged.

The address is West Cross, Caen Street, Braunton EX33 1AQ. Enquiries can be made on 01271 817968 or through braunton@littlefishes.net. An online parent-pack request includes the intended start date and the days and hours a family is interested in, giving parents a way to set out their proposed attendance clearly.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes the universal and extended entitlements for children aged 3 to 4, plus funding for eligible 2-year-olds. Funding is stretched across 51 weeks, with the stated weekly patterns of 11 or 22 hours. That is a year-round funding arrangement, so families should plan around the stretched hours rather than assume a term-time allocation.

Private attendance is charged hourly, and Tax-Free Childcare is accepted. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees and opening times page explains the attendance and funding arrangements.

A hot lunch carries a separate charge, or parents can send a healthy packed lunch. This choice lets families decide whether to use the cooked-lunch option or provide food from home.

• Care for the youngest children. In August 2024, younger children sometimes received less attention during mixed-age activities. On a tour, ask how the baby space, daily routine and staff attention now work together for children under two.
• Freedom to create. The August 2024 improvement point concerned children's scope to express their own ideas. Look for how children can choose materials and shape imaginative play, alongside the changing role-play provision.
• Planning the full childcare bill. Attendance is hourly, funding is stretched and cooked lunch is separately charged. Ask for a written breakdown for your intended hours, including the treatment of meals and non-food consumables during funded attendance.

Little Fishes suits families who value physical indoor play, outdoor exploration and contact with everyday Braunton life. Its flexible hourly model can suit shorter visits as well as attendance spanning the working day, while stretched funding supports planning across the year.

The allotment and soft-play provision give it a clear identity. The decision for parents of babies should turn just as much on the attention and daily routine their child will receive; for older children, freedom to invent and create deserves equal weight alongside the choice of activities.