Grange Tiny Hands Pre-School

Cable reels become balancing challenges, feelings have their own signs, and parents can add home discoveries to Tapestry. Grange Tiny Hands Pre-School combines practical independence with ways for children to express themselves. Its base is the old youth wing behind the community centre in Letchworth, giving this charity-run preschool a clear community setting.

Ofsted rated the preschool Outstanding on 7 June 2022. That judgement is dated, but the detail behind it gives parents useful reasons to consider the setting: language development, child-led exploration and close communication with families. Today, Tiny Hands caters for children aged 2 to 5 during term time and has 32 places in total. Morning, afternoon and all-day attendance patterns give families different ways to fit preschool into their week.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care. Here, its everyday expression includes choosing activities, talking about feelings, sharing stories and practising independence. These are useful building blocks for participation in a group, rather than preparation centred only on adult-directed tasks.

Makaton accompanies work on feelings, giving children another way to communicate how they feel. Choices extend to songs, games, stories and snacks, while children's interests help shape the activities. This gives children a role in their day: they practise expressing a preference and listening to somebody else's.

Physical challenges are equally concrete. Tyres, ladders, wood and cable reels form obstacle courses for climbing and balance; jumping from reels introduces decisions about landing. At snack time, children recognise their names and use children's knives to prepare their food. Washing and drying their own hands adds another manageable task they can learn to do for themselves.

In June 2022, staff extended conversations by repeating and modelling vocabulary, and used pictures and signing with children who had communication difficulties. Shared reading introduced differences in culture and ability. These examples show how language work could sit within ordinary play and conversation, rather than being confined to a separate activity.

Outdoor and Community Life

In June 2022, nature learning involved handling giant African land snails, exploring their food and habitat, and caring for butterflies before releasing them into the garden. Staff linked the release with signing. The sequence connected observation, care and communication around something children could watch changing.

At that time, children could reach resources themselves indoors and outside, choose materials for artwork and tackle a balancing course independently. A sensory room also supported sensory activities and nurture groups, while mindfulness sessions helped children pause and settle their attention. These are useful examples of the preschool's inspection-era day, rather than a promise that a particular animal or activity will be present in every session.

Relationships and Communication

Tapestry is the preschool's online learning journal, holding observations, assessments, photographs and videos. Parents receive individual access and can contribute their own pictures, comments and videos from home. A new interest or milestone can therefore become part of the conversation with the child's key person, instead of staying separate from preschool life.

Key workers also share home-learning ideas through Tapestry. That gives families something practical to use between sessions and a route for exchanging information about their child's development. Consent for photographs and developmental records forms part of enrolment, so communication has a defined structure as well as a personal contact.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At its June 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and strong support for children with SEND, with staff working alongside families and outside agencies to tailor help. The current staff structure includes designated safeguarding lead roles and a SENCO role. Those are identifiable responsibilities for child protection and special educational needs, rather than a general assurance that every child's needs will be met in the same way.

The enrolment form asks about additional support, other professionals involved with the child, allergies and medical conditions; relevant health needs require a care plan on joining. The allergy policy requires parents to report an allergy so it can be entered on the setting's allergy register. These mechanisms make sharing individual needs part of the joining process.

Illness rules also affect attendance. The preschool's policy requires a 48-hour interval after the last episode of vomiting or diarrhoea, and children starting antibiotics must spend 24 hours at home and be well enough to return. Families need to accommodate those interruptions alongside their usual attendance pattern.

Sessions and Attendance

Tiny Hands operates during term time, with morning, afternoon and all-day sessions. Morning attendance runs from 8.55am to noon, and afternoon attendance from 11.45am to 2.45pm. The all-day pattern runs from 8.55am to 2.45pm; the Friday arrangements need particular attention before choosing a weekly pattern.

Enrolment requires completed forms for a place on the waiting list. Incomplete forms are returned to parents or carers. This is a durable application rule, rather than an indication of how many places might be free. The written withdrawal terms require four weeks' notice or payment of the appropriate fees instead.

Getting There

The preschool occupies the Youth Wing on Pelican Way, Letchworth, SG6 4NG, behind the community centre. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01462 484924 or by email to tiny.hands@aol.co.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded early education includes 15 hours for children from the term after their third birthday, with an additional 15 hours for eligible children aged 3 to 4 under the 30-hour entitlement. Tiny Hands also accepts working-family funding for two-year-olds and 15-hour funding from the term after the second birthday for children whose families meet the specified benefit conditions. Two-year funding requires a personalised code obtained through the local authority and sent to the preschool.

Private sessions are offered alongside funded attendance. Invoices are issued ahead of each half term, and payment can be made by bank transfer, cash or childcare vouchers. Current prices come in the preschool's written quotation; the fees and funding page explains the funding categories and invoicing arrangements.

Moving on is supported through work with neighbouring schools to ease children's transition. This concerns preparation for the next setting and should be read separately from any school's admissions decision.

• Friday and afternoon attendance. The session timetable gives Friday as 8.55am to 2.45pm, while the general opening information ends Friday at noon; the enrolment form also marks Wednesday and Friday afternoons closed. Confirm the exact weekly pattern before booking.
• Term-time fit. Attendance is term-time only. Families needing childcare through the holidays will need an arrangement beyond these preschool sessions.
• Your child's first weeks. Tapestry and a key person provide routes for communication, and enrolment gathers health and support needs. At a visit, discuss how settling will work for your child, allergy practice where relevant, and who supplies or pays for food and consumables during private and funded hours.

Tiny Hands suits families choosing morning or afternoon preschool sessions, as well as those seeking an all-day term-time pattern. Its strongest current details are practical: children make choices, use Makaton with feelings, tackle physical challenges and share their development with home through Tapestry.

The Outstanding judgement from June 2022 adds substantial inspection weight, while the term-time calendar and conflicting Friday information remain important planning considerations. For families whose week fits those arrangements, this is a preschool with a clear emphasis on communication and everyday independence.