Little Crickets Pre School

Weekly outdoor learning, French songs and imaginative drama give Little Crickets Pre School a recognisable character. Based at Harrogate Cricket Club, it combines play-led early education with outings to places including Ripley Castle, Harlow Carr Gardens and Mercer Gallery. These are concrete additions to the everyday programme, rather than a curriculum name doing all the work.

Ofsted rated the setting Good at its December 2022 inspection. It has capacity for 36 children, and accepts children aged one to four. That overall capacity is a whole-setting figure, not the size of an individual learning group.

Term-time, year-round and hybrid attendance arrangements provide different ways to organise childcare. The setting is also a non-profit charity managed by a voluntary board of parents and carers, giving families a role in its governance alongside their relationship with practitioners.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the educational framework: children learn through play, with creativity and social interaction part of their day. Storytelling, songs and practical activities introduce early number and literacy ideas. This is the foundation of provision; the named activities alongside it give the programme its additional character.

Forest School means regular learning in a natural outdoor setting, with children following interests and exploring materials. Sessions take place weekly during term time, allowing experiences to change with the seasons. Building with natural materials and introductions to tools for sawing or whittling bring practical tasks into outdoor learning. Activities are adapted to children's developmental stage and assessed for risk.

Lingo Explore brings French into weekly sessions through movement, stories, games and songs. Children encounter words and phrases in playful activities. Stardust Drama also runs weekly, using imaginative play, storytelling and movement. Pretending to be different characters gives children another way to express ideas and explore feelings.

Two rooms provide learning environments for different developmental stages. Play areas and interactive learning corners offer places for exploration, while the programme includes music, creative arts and movement. The emphasis is on what children can do with the space and resources.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outings extend the programme beyond the preschool. Visits during the year include Mercer Gallery, Ripley Castle and Harlow Carr Gardens, while regular library trips give children opportunities to choose books and hear stories. The library visits connect reading with exploration and personal choice.

In December 2022, outdoor activities included riding tricycles and bicycles, climbing and ball play, alongside exploration of a nature area. Moving containers of water to the mud kitchen added balance and coordination to a practical task. These examples show how physical activity could sit within purposeful play at that time.

Relationships and Communication

A key person provides individual support from the start. Parents receive photographs, observations and assessments through a secure online journal, with regular meetings to discuss development. That combination gives families both everyday examples and a chance for a fuller conversation about their child's learning.

In December 2022, key persons planned activities from children's existing knowledge and abilities. One small-group activity used blocks depicting emotions to help children recognise feelings; staff encouraged attention to details in accompanying pictures. Children also shared stories with their key persons in a snug. The examples show individual planning alongside familiar relationships, rather than treating all children as being at the same stage.

Settling arrangements in December 2022 took account of each child and their family's needs, and parents contributed to assessments. Current transition practices include picture-based schedules, advance warnings before an activity changes, songs or puppets to mark a change, and opportunities to practise routines. These make the next step easier for a young child to understand.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the December 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and strong support for children learning English as an additional language, including encouragement to use their home languages and translation to assess understanding. Those are dated judgements, rather than assurances about every child's experience today.

Current arrangements include a designated safeguarding lead and staff training in safeguarding and first aid. The preschool also has experience working with third-party agencies. These are practical mechanisms for organising support; a child's individual requirements still need a specific conversation.

School preparation includes everyday independence. In December 2022, children practised managing their own coats, shoes and hats, with time and help from staff when needed. Current work on transitions also includes becoming familiar with new spaces and adults, and books about change. Preparation is about routines and confidence as well as early learning.

Sessions and Attendance

Little Crickets is at Harrogate Cricket Club, The County Ground, St. Georges Road, Harrogate, HG2 9BP. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Year-round attendance began in September 2026, alongside term-time provision.

Term-time places follow local school terms over 39 weeks. Core sessions run from 9am to 4pm, with a morning option from 9am to 1pm and an afternoon option from 1pm to 4pm. Wrap Around sessions cover 8am to 6pm, with mornings from 8am to 1pm and afternoons from 1pm to 6pm. The difference matters: an afternoon Core booking and an afternoon Wrap Around booking finish at different times.

Year-round attendance runs over 50 weeks, excluding bank holidays and the two-week Christmas and New Year closure. Its session window is 8am to 6pm, with morning and afternoon bookings divided at 1pm. Hybrid Places allow families to combine term-time sessions with year-round sessions, so the whole booking need not follow one calendar.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by email to info@little-crickets.co.uk or by telephone on 01423 561352. Visits can also be arranged through the enquiry form or direct contact.

Funding and Paid Extras

Both funded and privately paid childcare are offered. Funding can cover any of the session hours, with funded provision up to 30 hours depending on eligibility. The attendance calendars and the entitlement are separate considerations: a family's chosen booking needs to fit the hours for which they qualify.

Meals and snacks are charged separately from session fees, as are non-food items such as nappies and sun cream. These charges are optional, and taking funded hours does not depend on buying food, consumables or enrichment activities; Forest School is one example included in the optional enrichment charges. The fees and session information explains that structure, and families should obtain current prices in a written quotation.

Freshly prepared homemade meals are offered, with packed lunch and tea from home as an alternative. The preschool offers to accommodate dietary requirements and allergies, so families managing an allergy should confirm current arrangements before their child starts.

• Time to think and join in. In December 2022, staff sometimes answered questions before children could develop their own responses, and some children missed planned large-group learning. During a visit, ask how practitioners allow thinking time and include children who do not readily join a group.
• The younger child's day. Children can start from age one, and the programme includes weekly outdoor learning and visits beyond the setting. Ask how the youngest children's group size, rest and participation are organised around their individual needs.
• Attendance calendar. Term-time provision covers 39 weeks, year-round provision covers 50, and Hybrid Places combine the two. Choose the calendar alongside the session times, especially if childcare needs change during school holidays.
• Optional extras. Food, nappies, sun cream and enrichment sit outside session fees, and funded attendance is not conditional on buying them. A written quotation should distinguish the booked hours from the extras your family chooses.

Little Crickets suits families who want play-led early education with regular outdoor learning, French and drama, and who value being able to choose morning or afternoon sessions across term-time, year-round or hybrid calendars. Term-time and year-round calendars, plus hybrid bookings, make that choice more adaptable.

The December 2022 Good judgement provides a useful quality reference, while the two improvement points give families concrete questions for a visit. The strongest reasons to consider it are specific: weekly Forest School, named local outings, a key person and an online journal connecting home with preschool learning.