Lilliput Learners

Books to borrow, a garden sensory shed and a community room within Dedworth Library give Lilliput Learners a recognisable character. This Windsor preschool combines play-led learning with a practical connection between home and nursery: children can take books home and exchange them when they have finished. Reading has somewhere to go beyond the session.

Children aged 2 to 5 attend, and the setting has 33 places in total. At its May 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good and found that children made good progress in communication, with staff introducing vocabulary and giving targeted help where needed. That judgement is dated; the current offer includes indoor and outdoor play, individual planning and a choice of morning, afternoon or full-day attendance.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care here. In everyday terms, children learn through play and conversation, with activities planned around what each child needs next. Lilliput Learners plans individually rather than treating every child as ready for the same next step.

The home-borrowing library system gives families a concrete way to continue reading together. Children take a book away and bring it back when finished, making shared reading something that can carry on between sessions. Play also includes construction with Lego, singing, dancing and making mud cakes. These are straightforward experiences with room for children to make, talk and try things out.

In May 2022, an interest in garden insects led to investigation with collecting pots and magnifiers, alongside stories about bugs. Children discussed what they noticed, including the near invisibility of a spider's web. The example shows how an interest could become both an exploration activity and a reason to use new language.

Reading activities in May 2022 involved looking closely at illustrations and anticipating what might happen next. Staff also encouraged children to persist when using scissors proved difficult. Those examples give substance to the preschool's play-led approach: adults helped children extend an idea or keep working at a practical skill.

Outdoor and Community Life

A private outdoor play area and the sensory shed sit alongside the indoor space. Outdoor play is offered across the day, including in different weather conditions, so the garden is part of the daily offer rather than an occasional extra.

In May 2022, outdoor activity included climbing, moving around obstacles and sliding down a pole from a platform. Adults supervised and reminded children to wait their turn. Physical challenge and learning to share equipment happened together.

Individual planning provides the starting point for support, while current staff arrangements include paediatric first-aid training and enhanced DBS checks for staff and committee members. These are practical arrangements, rather than a substitute for a dated assessment of how care works.

At the May 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and reported that targeted funding and work with other agencies helped children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress from their starting points. That finding covered both the use of individual support and the setting's safeguarding practice at that visit.

There were two important qualifications. In May 2022, adults sometimes missed the extra emotional help newly enrolled children needed to participate fully. Staff also shared information about development and activities with parents, but needed to give families stronger ways to extend learning at home, especially reading. The book-borrowing system offers a practical home link; it does not, by itself, establish that those improvement points have been addressed.

Food arrangements involve families directly: all-day children bring lunch, and each child is asked to bring fruit to share at snack time. Milk and water are supplied, with children encouraged to use cups and help themselves.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Within Dedworth Library, Smiths Lane, Windsor, SL4 5PE. Care is offered five days a week, with morning sessions from 8.45am to 11.45am and afternoon sessions ending at 3.15pm. Full-day attendance includes lunch club, the lunchtime arrangement for children staying across both parts of the day.

Breakfast club starts at 8am. After-school club runs from 3.15pm until either 4pm or 4.15pm, Monday to Thursday only. These extensions give a different option from choosing a single morning or afternoon, but the after-school arrangement does not cover Friday.

Attendance follows a term schedule with holiday closures. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01753 858774. Leaving requires six weeks' written notice, and charges remain due during sickness, holidays and other absences. Payments are requested at the start of each term, either together or through instalments.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and additional paid sessions are offered. Funding information covers support for eligible two-year-olds, the universal 15-hour entitlement for three- and four-year-olds, and working-family funding. Eligibility conditions matter: the descriptions of younger-child entitlements do not change the preschool's stated starting age of 2.

Parents provide lunch and snack fruit; milk and water are supplied. Families are also asked to donate consumables such as tissues and soap. Breakfast and after-school clubs carry separate charges, as does lunchtime attendance, with the lunchtime charge waived when collection is at 2.45pm. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees page explains funding and additional paid sessions.

The preschool operates on the Dedworth Schools complex. Attendance does not guarantee a Reception place: families still use the local authority admissions process for a state-school place.

• Joining activities. In May 2022, some new children needed emotional help that adults did not always recognise. On a visit, ask how staff now notice and support a child who hangs back from an activity.
• Reading together. Home reading was an improvement point in May 2022, and children can borrow books. Ask how staff help families build on those books and connect reading at home with learning during sessions.
• The weekly timetable. Morning, afternoon and full-day patterns are offered, but after-school club operates only Monday to Thursday. Families needing a later Friday finish should weigh that restriction when choosing their attendance pattern.
• Absence and departure terms. Charges continue during non-attendance, and leaving requires six weeks' written notice. Those terms matter when budgeting for holidays or planning a change of childcare.

Lilliput Learners suits families choosing between morning, afternoon and full-day preschool attendance, with breakfast and after-school extensions adding further options. Its library setting, book borrowing and garden sensory shed give the offer concrete character. The May 2022 Good judgement supports the account of its quality at that time, qualified by the need for better emotional support for newcomers and stronger home-learning links.