Catsfield Pre-School

Nature-based projects and practical steps towards independence give Catsfield Pre-School its character. Based at Catsfield Village Hall near Battle, this charity-run setting combines play-led learning with opportunities for parents to help shape its running through an elected volunteer committee. It has capacity for 24 children.

At its January 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good and found safeguarding effective. The strongest examples involved children following their interests, building language through play and becoming more confident about managing everyday tasks. There was also a clear improvement point: teaching needed greater consistency across the staff team.

Children aged two to five are welcomed, with morning, afternoon and all-day attendance during term time. The practical appeal is a village pre-school with several attendance patterns, rather than a single timetable for every family.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the statutory framework: children develop language, movement, social skills and early understanding through play, exploration and active learning. Catsfield plans across its areas of learning while allowing children's interests to influence activities. Choosing how to approach a task matters alongside completing it.

Patterns in Nature and life cycles brings that approach into concrete projects. Frogs, butterflies and flowers provide starting points for exploring growth; seeds and flower structures give children things to investigate. Making paint and dye from beetroot and dandelion petals connects creative activity with natural materials. These are useful examples of how a topic can link scientific curiosity, observation and art.

Other activities explore symmetry and repeating patterns in plants, animal markings and food. Herbs, bark, petals and shells accompany play dough, while spring sounds, poems and classical music extend the theme beyond things children can see. The topic offers several ways into learning, including making, listening and comparing.

In January 2024, children's interests helped determine activities and the next steps staff planned for them. During wooden-block construction, practitioners introduced vocabulary for shapes, including semicircle. Language learning therefore happened within something children were already trying to do, rather than as a separate exercise.

At the January 2024 inspection, children recalled a recent fire-service visit involving a fire engine. Children discussed the visiting fire engine as part of a topic about people who help others. This was a practical connection between their play and a real public service, rather than an abstract discussion alone.

The qualification to this picture matters. In January 2024, some teaching occasionally gave too little attention to children's existing understanding and what they should learn next, and their interest dropped. Staff training was under way, but its full effect could not yet be assessed. The improvement priority concerned consistency, not replacing the play-led approach.

Relationships and Communication

Parents have a place in the setting's learning approach as well as its governance. Family members are encouraged to contribute to children's development, and the volunteer committee, largely drawn from attending families, works with staff on policies, finances and fundraising. For parents who want involvement beyond receiving updates, that offers a practical route into the life of the pre-school.

In January 2024, children readily brought staff into their play and responded to their example in treating friends kindly. These observations give substance to the relationship between adults and children: practitioners participated in activities as well as supervising them.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the January 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities was especially effective, with staff identifying learning gaps, sharing assessments with parents and other agencies, and helping children make good progress. A SENCO role also forms part of the current staff structure, giving families an identified function for discussing additional needs.

The Colour Monster was used in January 2024 to help children recognise and discuss emotions. Stories gave staff a concrete way to approach feelings with children who found starting pre-school unsettling. This is a more useful picture of emotional support than a general promise of kindness.

Independence also received practical attention that January. Toilet cards helped children manage toileting with less adult assistance. Together with opportunities to make choices in play, this connected preparation for school with everyday self-care, rather than treating readiness as early formal lessons.

Sessions and Attendance

Catsfield Pre-School operates during term time. Opening hours are 9am to 3pm on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday; it is closed on Wednesday. Morning, afternoon and all-day sessions are offered, so families can consider both shorter attendance and a whole pre-school day.

The Wednesday closure is a substantial part of the weekly pattern. Families arranging care around work need to plan for it alongside the term-time calendar, rather than assuming attendance runs throughout the working week.

Getting There

The address is Catsfield Village Hall, Church Road, Catsfield, East Sussex, TN33 9DP. Enquiries can be made through the contact form or by email to office@catsfieldpreschool.co.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded early education is offered during term time for eligible two-year-olds and for three-year-olds from the term after they turn three, with extended funding for some working families with children aged three and four. Eligibility conditions apply to the relevant entitlement; the extended offer should not be read as applying to every family.

Private paid attendance is also offered for children who do not qualify for these funding routes. Families can contact the pre-school for its latest fee structure. For attendance using government-funded hours, the pre-school promises no hidden costs.

• Teaching consistency. January 2024 brought a clear request to strengthen teaching across the team. During a visit, ask how staff now plan from each child's existing skills and review the effect of their training.
• The weekly calendar. Term-time attendance runs on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with Wednesday closed. This suits families whose care arrangements can accommodate both that midweek break and school holidays.
• Funded attendance. The pre-school promises no hidden costs for government-funded hours. Ask how meals and non-food consumables are handled within your proposed attendance arrangement.

Catsfield suits families seeking morning or afternoon attendance as well as those wanting an all-day, term-time pre-school pattern. Nature projects, family participation and practical self-care give the offer a clear identity. The January 2024 judgement provides a positive baseline, balanced by a specific concern about uneven teaching. Its calendar is equally decisive: Wednesday closure and term-time operation need to fit the family's wider arrangements.