Little Stars Christian Pre-School

A church sanctuary’s star-shaped ceiling gave Little Stars its name; play, conversation and family involvement give this Leamington Spa preschool its character. Based at Leamington Spa Baptist Church on Chandos Street, it welcomes children from two years until school age and has 32 places in total. Its Christian ethos comes with an explicit welcome for families of every faith and none. That is a useful distinction for parents considering a church-based setting.

Ofsted rated the preschool Good on 21 March 2024. The current offer combines daily outdoor play, small-group activities and Time to Talk, a Warwickshire initiative supporting children’s speech and language. Communication runs through the day rather than sitting in a single lesson: snack groups, stories, songs and conversations all have their place.

Morning, afternoon and whole-day attendance are offered during term time. The practical attraction is the choice between shorter sessions and a day extending across lunch, with a minimum attendance requirement across different days.

Rooms and Ages

Children can use both rooms during parts of the morning, while afternoon activities take place in the main hall, the Rainbow Room, with a smaller group. This gives the afternoon a different shape from the morning, rather than simply repeating the same timetable. The Rainbow Room’s emphasis is access to further activities in that smaller-group arrangement.

Free play is interspersed with time together. Children move between choosing resources, joining a small group, listening to a story and taking part in music or games. The example timetable is deliberately adaptable to the children attending that day, so its clock-by-clock sequence should be understood as a guide to the rhythm of the provision.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) shapes learning through play, including language, movement, relationships, early mathematics and creative expression. Planning takes account of children’s interests and development. This is the educational framework for the day; the preschool’s concrete activities show how it is put into practice.

Construction, pretend shops, small-world farms and drawing give children different ways to explore ideas. Paint, sand and water add opportunities to experiment with materials. Letters and sounds sessions sit alongside free play, while stories and singing bring children together before the morning ends. Cooking also features in the example afternoon timetable. For parents, the balance is between children choosing their play and adults introducing activities with a learning purpose.

Time to Talk adds a more specific language strand. Staff consider listening, comprehension, speech and social communication, discuss concerns with parents and direct families towards speech-and-language drop-ins when needed. That makes the programme relevant to how an individual child communicates, rather than merely adding another group activity.

In March 2024, adults adapted an interest in throwing toys into a game using a sloping pipe to roll them. Turn-taking became part of the activity. It is a concrete example of planning from something children were already trying to do, while changing the activity into a safer shared game.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor play happens daily, including in winter weather. Spare clothes and wellies are practical equipment here: messy and water play can mean a change of clothing. Books can also be borrowed from the preschool’s library, extending shared reading into family time.

Welly walks to nearby shops and the park are an aim, conditional on volunteers and parents helping. They should be understood as supported outings rather than a fixed weekly commitment. Families can also contribute to activities by sharing their culture or talking about work connected with a topic. Community involvement therefore includes what parents bring into the preschool as well as what children explore outside it.

Relationships and Communication

A key person gathers observations, photographs and examples of each child’s work, then brings them together in a Learning Journal. Families are encouraged to contribute pictures and accounts of experiences at home. The useful feature is the connection between the two parts of a child’s life: a trip or interest outside preschool can inform an activity inside it.

Progress appointments are offered three times a year, alongside opportunities to discuss the journal. Home visits and parent meetings support the relationship with families, while home-school books provide a communication route when someone else collects a child or English is an additional language. These are practical mechanisms for keeping parents involved, rather than relying solely on a conversation at collection.

Family participation also has a collective route. The Parent & Supporters Forum meets three times annually, and coffee mornings give parents, grandparents and friends opportunities to exchange ideas. Weekly staff meetings cover planning, development and suggestions for practice; supervision and appraisal provide another route for staff support. Trustees review safeguarding, finances and future plans each term.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and SEND support strong, including work with families and professionals and targeted help with speech sounds. Those are dated judgements, supported by specific mechanisms in the current offer: a SENCO role, visual symbols, communication books and individual education plans developed with other professionals, including speech-and-language therapists.

The Gold WIncKs award recognises inclusive practice for children with SEND and their families. Its value alongside the practical arrangements is that inclusion has both an external recognition and a described method: individual planning and liaison, rather than a general promise that every need will be met.

Two learning issues remained in March 2024. Information from parents about what children already knew needed to shape their initial learning plans more effectively, and children needed more help to complete tasks independently, including at meals and when using scissors. These matter because the Learning Journal and everyday self-care are useful only when adults turn information and opportunities into purposeful support.

Healthy snacks and milk or water are provided; children staying for lunch bring a packed meal from home. The preschool works with special dietary requirements and allergies, making an individual discussion about current arrangements important for affected families.

Moving on to school includes sharing the Learning Journal and reviews with the Reception teacher, with parental permission, and inviting teachers to meet children and discuss their development. Information sharing with another childcare setting is also supported. The emphasis is continuity in care and learning.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Leamington Spa Baptist Church, Chandos Street, Leamington Spa, CV32 4RN. Enquiries can be made by telephone or email, and visits can be booked by calling the preschool.

Morning sessions run from 9am to noon, Monday to Friday. Lunch runs from noon to 12.30pm, Monday to Thursday, followed by afternoon sessions ending at either 3pm or 3.30pm. The overall opening window is 9am to 3.30pm from Monday to Thursday and 9am to noon on Friday. Families therefore need to account for the shorter Friday when organising a working week.

A minimum of two sessions on separate days is required. Little Stars opens for 38 weeks annually, with closures for half terms and the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays. The autumn 2026 half term runs from 19 to 30 October, a useful detail for families arranging holiday cover. Fees remain payable for absences, and changes to fees carry four weeks’ notice.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered through Universal Early Education Funding, the Working Parent Entitlement and 2 Help funding, subject to the relevant eligibility conditions. Universal funding provides 15 hours from the term following a child’s third birthday; the other schemes depend on family circumstances. Although the working-parent scheme includes younger ages, Little Stars itself accepts children from two years.

Funding is used during term time. Whole-day funded attendance can finish at 3pm and includes the lunchtime period without an additional charge; the preschool can deliver up to 29 hours of the 30-hour entitlement. Private, fee-paying sessions are also offered. Current prices come in the preschool’s written quotation.

Packed lunches are supplied by parents, including on funded days. Snacks are provided, with families asked to contribute snack items monthly. For non-food consumables, parents supply nappies and wipes when needed; sun cream can be brought from home or the preschool’s used. Monthly donations of hygiene supplies also support provision, and consumables are not currently charged for.

A deposit is requested when a place is offered and returned after the child starts; families eligible for 2 Help funding are exempt. Funding-code reconfirmation and a signed permission form matter: without the form, funding cannot be processed, and missing the code-revalidation deadline can mean paying for extra sessions until the next application.

• Term-time hours and Friday. The week ends at noon on Friday, and holiday closures include a two-week autumn half term in 2026. Families needing care throughout the year should weigh this against their working pattern.
• Independence and first learning plans. In March 2024, initial planning from parental information and support for completing everyday tasks needed attention. At a visit, ask how information from home shapes a new child’s plan and how children practise managing lunch and tools themselves.
• Christian identity and family participation. Families of all faiths and none are welcomed equally, while outings depend on adult helpers. Consider the ethos and the opportunities to contribute to preschool life together.
• Food and individual care. Lunch comes from home, and the preschool works with allergies and special diets. Families affected by allergies should confirm the current arrangements for snacks and packed lunches.

Little Stars suits families seeking morning sessions, afternoons or whole-day term-time attendance in a Christian preschool that welcomes all faiths and none. Time to Talk, the Learning Journal and individual planning give its care and learning arrangements substance. Daily outdoor play and parent-supported community activities broaden the day.

The March 2024 Good judgement provides a clear inspection position, with two practical improvement points to explore. The deciding considerations are likely to be the term-time calendar, the shorter Friday and whether the family wants the active involvement that this preschool encourages.