Our Playschool is a loving, inclusive community and everything we do is based around the principles of child-led play, free-flow access to the outdoors, and inspiring children to become deeply interested in the world around them. We teach our children about kindness, compassion and empathy, how to express their emotions, and how to be resilient and perseverant. In short, we (alongside the childrens wonderful parents) give them the blue print for a happy life and help them to learn how to function as part of a tolerant society.

We are so much more than just childcare. Some of our roles (alongside the obvious playing and toileting!) include identifying young children with additional needs and making sure they get the support they need to thrive, and welcoming children who have just arrived in the country and speak hardly any English. We are experts in learning words in languages as diverse as Albanian and Bengali, in order to make our children and their families feel welcome!

Playschool supports families whose household income is lower than average by offering funded places to two year old children; we also facilitate childrens smooth transition to school and have built extremely strong links with our local infant schools. We support the whole family, not just the child, offering advice around feeding, sleep, attachments, bereavement, behaviour, speech and language, etc. It can sadly also be that we are the first to notice signs and symptoms of abuse, and to raise concerns with local safeguarding bodies.

The early years sector in England is currently experiencing a funding crisis. Our government offers fifteen free early learning hours per week per child, but pays settings way below the actual cost of delivering the provision and prohibits us from charging the remainder. Rising staff costs and the rapidly increasing cost of living are added into the mix, creating a situation where charity settings like ours are struggling to make ends meet. If you can support us, our community will be extremely grateful.