Groombridge Pre-School

A village hall, an outdoor play area and a week shaped around dance, stories, cooking and nature give Groombridge Pre-School a recognisable character. Based in Groombridge Village Hall, it has 30 places in total and accepts children from their second birthday. This is a shared hall setting with clearly arranged spaces for different kinds of play, rather than a succession of age-labelled rooms.

At its May 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the pre-school Good and judged safeguarding effective. Morning, afternoon and full-day attendance operate during term time.

A committee of parents and community volunteers governs the pre-school. Families can join it or help with activities, contributing directly to preschool life.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage sets the expectations for children's learning and care: play supports communication, physical skills and growing independence. Groombridge's timetable adds a different emphasis across the week, so the sessions a child attends affect the experiences they receive.

Monday morning sports introduce sport through play. Monday afternoon's Rising 5’s prepares children starting school in the next academic year through speaking, listening, coat management and carrying a lunch tray. Practical independence matters here.

Studio N provides Tuesday morning dance, with movement activities aimed at balance and coordination. Story Time follows in the afternoon: a shared book leads into related activities, connecting listening with creative play. Wednesday morning Music includes singing and experimenting with instruments, followed by a performance for parents at each term's end; afternoon Art gives children time for painting, drawing and making.

Thursday afternoon Health and Cooking combines ingredient preparation with discussions about diet, allergies and food origins. Dance, music and cooking carry voluntary activity charges; sports and nature have no additional activity charge.

In May 2022, children explored planets through discussion, making and song, extending their ideas into a robot costume. Pretend hospital appointments brought writing into imaginative play.

Outdoor and Community Life

The main hall is organised into areas for books, pretend domestic play and larger equipment. Outside, a playhouse and storage for ride-on toys support play beyond the hall. A book corner with cushions and mats provides somewhere to pause and rest within the shared room. Children have both active and quieter spaces to choose from.

Friday's Nature Session involves outdoor exploration and extended walks. Children must be at least two and a half to attend, and need waterproof clothing, wellies and a change of clothes. Suitability also depends on whether the activities can be managed safely for the individual child; reasonable adjustments are considered, but the pre-school may withdraw participation where it cannot meet a child's needs safely.

In May 2022, children went outdoors daily, searched for insects and rode bikes after lunch. Climbing and balancing activities were offered on some days, but attendance patterns were not tracked well enough to give each child equivalent access to the more demanding physical experiences. That distinction matters for children attending only selected sessions.

The annual Leavers' Ceremony marks children moving on from preschool.

Relationships and Communication

Each child is allocated a key person who records progress and gives parents a main contact for questions or information. Other staff also contribute to the child's experience and to weekly Tapestry updates, the online learning journal. The parent agreement adds a termly assessment, giving families both regular snapshots and a periodic account of development.

An induction visit gathers a child's interests, previous experiences and medical or dietary needs. Settling is agreed individually with parents, allowing shorter separations or a whole session.

At the May 2022 inspection, Ofsted found good progress for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, supported by outside-agency advice and somewhere to retreat when overwhelmed.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The SENCO role coordinates additional support, observations and contact with other agencies. Individual education plans are part of the support arrangements, and advice can be sought from the East Sussex Early Years Support Team when further help is needed. Parents are involved in decisions, giving them a role in shaping the support around their child.

The equality policy provides for adjustments to the environment, learning resources and activities for children with disabilities or additional needs. For children learning English alongside another language, the key person works with parents when needed. The May 2022 improvement action concerned staff sharing information about home languages, so that knowledge could be used more consistently in language development.

School transition includes Reception familiarisation and sharing learning information. For children with additional needs, meetings involve parents, support agencies and the receiving primary school.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is King Edward VII Institute, Station Road, Groombridge, TN3 9QX, within Groombridge Village Hall. Opening hours are 9am to 3pm, Monday to Friday, during term time; the pre-school operates for 38 weeks each year.

A Full day runs from 9am to 3pm. Half day choices are 9am to noon, 9am to 1pm, or noon to 3pm. For funded attendance, Morning is 9am to noon and Afternoon is 1pm to 3pm, with Lunch between noon and 1pm. A child attending both funded sessions can use funding for the intervening lunch hour; staying for lunch after the morning alone makes that hour privately payable.

Session changes require a full half term's notice and depend on availability. Cancelled sessions during a term are non-refundable. There are also three inset afternoons each year, when the pre-school closes at midday on the final day of the Christmas, Easter and summer terms. These shorter days need to fit into a family's working arrangements.

Enquiries can be made by telephone or through the contact form. Waiting-list allocation is first come, first served; a reservation made more than a term ahead can be reassigned if another family wants an earlier start and the original requester declines. Children not yet two are excepted from this earlier-start rule, although all reservations can be reallocated for the pre-school's financial needs. Planning well ahead therefore comes with conditions, rather than an unconditional reservation.

Funding and Paid Extras

The pre-school accepts 15 or 30 government funded hours and offers private paid hours. Funding is delivered during term time and cannot be stretched across the year. Claims are made at the start of each term; added sessions are chargeable during that term and can become funded in the following term where the child's entitlement allows. Ad-hoc sessions are privately payable and cannot use funded hours.

Snacks are supported through a voluntary donation requested for funded hours, alongside a voluntary half-term contribution requested from all families; packed lunches come from home. Parents also supply nappies, wipes, nappy sacks and any changing creams, plus sun cream for afternoon reapplication when children stay all day.

A deposit is requested when applying for a place: it is fully returned for funded-only attendance, while use of private hours means an administration charge is retained, covering a bag and T-shirt; the deposit is not returned if the place is not taken up. Current prices come in the pre-school's written quotation, and the fees and funding terms explain voluntary contributions and activity charges.

The food policy asks families to avoid foods containing, or potentially containing, nuts and sets out individual allergy assessments and staff sharing of dietary information. Packed lunches need cooling measures because refrigerated lunch-box storage is not provided.

• Choose days for their content. Rising 5’s takes place on Monday afternoon, while Friday's Nature Session has an age threshold and individual safety conditions. At a show round, discuss how these sessions fit your child's stage and interests; bringing your child is encouraged.
• Physical play and home languages. The May 2022 improvement points concerned equal access to challenging movement activities and staff knowledge of languages spoken at home. Ask how both are organised now, especially if your child attends only selected days or uses another language at home.
• Term-time funding and extras. Lunch after a morning-only funded session is privately payable, and funding cannot cover ad-hoc attendance. Voluntary donations can be declined; build your budget around the sessions and extras you actually choose.
• Food allergies. The nut-avoidance policy applies to food brought from home as well as setting procedures. Confirm the current arrangements for your child's allergy, including packed lunches and cooking activities.

Groombridge suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as a full preschool day during term time. Its strongest practical attractions are the activity timetable, hands-on school preparation and regular communication through Tapestry. The hall layout also combines play areas with a quiet place to rest.

The May 2022 improvement points deserve attention. Choosing sessions also means choosing between dance, cooking, nature exploration and Rising 5’s, making the timetable central to family decisions.