Hollingbury Park Pre-School

About this early years setting

Hollingbury Park Pre-School, with over 40 years of experience, provides a nurturing and inclusive learning environment in Brighton. As a non-profit registered charity, all proceeds are reinvested into enhancing the children's experience.

The pre-school operates from a purpose-built facility, designed with input from the Brighton and Hove Early Years team, which opened in January 2011. This modern space boasts a large open-plan room dedicated to covering the seven areas of learning within the Early Years Foundation Stage, alongside full sliding doors that open onto an expansive outdoor area.

The outdoor space features grass with climbing equipment and obstacle courses, a tarmacked area for bikes and cars, bunkers around an apple tree and a mud kitchen, and a sensory garden. Additionally, there's a separate quiet room for focused activities like circle time, story sharing, music, movement, and sensory play.

The facility also includes child-friendly toilets, a nappy changing area, and disabled access. Hollingbury Park Pre-School follows the Early Years Curriculum, prioritising child-initiated play alongside adult-led activities to stimulate development.

The school emphasises building strong relationships with parents and offers support for children needing additional help, including those with special educational needs.

Our ethos

At Hollingbury Park Pre-School we offer an inclusive, equal environment for every child. Our aim is to make sure every child feels safe, happy and confident. We work together with professionals and parents to give every child the support they need in our setting and at home. Every individual child's needs are acknowledged and supported. We work hard to build and maintain strong bonds with all our parents. Having a strong bond between your child's early years setting and their parents is the first step towards creating the right environment for your child to develop. We provide a safe, inspirational environment for our children, where we lead by example. We take pride in offering a happy, relaxed, caring environment where the children want to learn upon their individual experiences through stimulation, adult lead activities and child lead play. We support children in becoming confident with their own opinions, interests, and support their ability to reach their full potential. We use sustained shared thinking to help the children learn to problem solve, clarify concepts and extend their knowledge. Independence is something we focus on at Hollingbury Park Pre-School. We encourage them to be as independent as possible to give them a head start for when they leave for school. We also aim to have strong partnerships with the community and future schools to help the transition to school flow as smoothly as possible for the children's next chapter.

What it's like

Children arrive happy and engaged in activities planned to reflect their interests, deeply enjoying a wide range of stimulating learning experiences like exploring a sand tray with ice shapes to discover hidden dinosaurs. They test their thinking and experiment with ways to melt the ice, sharing in-depth knowledge of dinosaurs with eagerly listening staff. Children's behaviour is good; they follow routines well and are kind to each other.