At 9am the children are welcomed into the preschool garden by a familiar member of staff and are encouraged to find their self-registration picture to put on a drawer. Their drawer is theirs to keep special toys, comforters and any artwork they complete during the day. The garden is set up with activities to start the day, and children are encouraged to free play and settle in while chatting with their friends and the grown-ups.

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We offer a fruit and milk snack in the morning, and children use child friendly knives to cut up the fruit and serve themselves. They are also asked to tidy away their plates afterwards. We use this time to chat about healthy foods and how they help our bodies. Children enthusiastically wipe down the table before mealtimes, work together to set out plates and cups, and even the youngest children learn to peel fruit and pour their own drinks, all of which builds the independence skills they will need for the future.

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Our mornings and afternoons are filled with focus activities, planned around the children's interests and special events during the year, such as Easter, Harvest, or the changing seasons. Children have regular access to painting and other crafts and can make marks at our writing tables inside and outside.

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We have lunch at around 12pm. Children bring in a lunchbox, and we sit together to enjoy our food. We encourage plenty of conversation, and staff eat with the children to help role model healthy eating habits.

As a mostly outdoor setting, children can explore the natural world. They dig in mud, splash in puddles, bury things with stones and dig holes around the garden.

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We are also fortunate to have our own private area of woodland just behind the preschool, exclusively for our children's use, where our forest school trained manager Katy leads a dedicated forest school morning once a week.

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Read more about our forest school sessions on our Forest School page.

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We also go on regular walks around the village, visiting the park, the church to learn more about our local area. Alongside this, we run a weekly sports group, delivered by Protots, which children thoroughly enjoy.

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We support children by offering access to all areas of learning. Our outdoor classroom is a calm space for stories and quiet activities such as reading, puzzles and group games. Our garden is designed to support physical development, giving children room to climb, run and navigate spaces safely, helping to build both their large muscles and, through more focused activities, the small muscle control they need for early writing. We encourage early literacy and numeracy, and enjoy role play and creative activities regularly.

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Throughout the day, staff are strong role models, respectful in how they communicate, which children observe and copy. Children play cooperatively, for example in the mud kitchen, and are supported to resolve minor disagreements themselves, often reminding each other that sharing is caring, a lovely example of our THRIVE value of Together in action.

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At 3pm children are collected by their parents, often covered in mud with a big smile, ready to tell you all about their day.

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We also offer a wrap around service which extended drop off and pick up times at 8.45am and 3.15pm.