Quality Childcare Tunbridge Wells

Welcome to Little Rascals Pre-Prep, Tunbridge Wells

We are open full-time from 7:30am – 6:30pm caring for children from 2 – 5 years. Children transition from our sister Nursery on Lonsdale Gardens. We’re located on the adjacent Clanricarde Gardens.

Our Learning
Our main aim is to provide a secure and happy environment where children can learn through play.
Settling In
Your first sessions will give you and your child an opportunity to get to know your child’s Key Person.
Outdoors
Offering opportunities for learning outdoors – giving children the freedom to explore and be active.
Our Food
Our menus are designed by the nursery chef and a paediatric dietician to suit each age group.

Childcare for 2 - 5 year olds Tunbridge Wells

Situated in the heart of Royal Tunbridge Wells, on Clanricarde Gardens

Call Today to Book Your One-to-One Visit

Please call us on 01892 313244 to find out more about our Pre-Prep. Best wishes from Bryonny and the Little Rascals Pre-Prep Team.
Contact Us

Beautiful converted house in the town centre of Tunbridge Wells

Little Rascals Pre-Prep is situated in the heart of Royal Tunbridge Wells, on Clanricarde Gardens. The Pre-Prep is housed in a stunning Edwardian converted house and is conveniently located for both local residents and commuters. 

Our philosophy is that every child we care for deserves a calm, caring, safe and stimulating environment in which to learn.

Staff's Wellbeing

We are proud to have been voted the 14th best place to work in the whole of the UK.

Ofsted Early Years Register

We monitor the overall quality standards of our provision, in line with the requirements of the EYFS.

What Our Parents Say...

Above & Beyond Educational Experiences

We offer a range of unique educational experiences which enable children to become successful, lifelong learners including:

Working in partnership with parents to achieve the best possible outcomes for all the children in our care

Well balanced nutritional meals

Good nutrition is essential during childhood, as it is a time of rapid growth, development and activity.

Childcare Funding

All 3 to 4-year-olds in England receive 570 hours of free early education or childcare per year.

Safe & Homely

A well prepared and stimulating learning environment.

Learning Journeys

We use learning journals on an app called Parent Zone. You'll be sent a link to download the app to view your child’s progress and day to day.

Wake Up and Shake Up

At our nursery, children over two years of age take part in a fun fitness session every day at around 9:00am, and younger children are invited to join in with the session if they wish to do so. This exciting five-minute session is part of our Nursery’s everyday routine and ensures children’s brains are engaged, and they are alert and ready to learn.

Research has shown that when children are carrying out cross-lateral movements, this encourages the two sides of the brain to communicate. In turn, this strengthens the nerve-cell pathways linking both sides of the brain, making it easier for children to learn and absorb information and skills from activities. Other benefits of exercise for children include, healthy heart and lungs, strengthening of muscles and bones, as well as providing relaxation and developing co-ordination.

The Wake Up and Shake Up songs which accompany these sessions, encourage health and well-being and link in with the Early Years Foundation Stage areas of learning, particularly Physical Development and Communication and Language – both prime areas of learning for young children.

Music and movement sessions teach children to move with control and confidence whilst encouraging them to become more aware of the space around them. It also provides the opportunity for children to learn about their bodies and what they can do.

Family Boxes

At our nursery, Family Boxes are created to enable young babies to connect with photographs of people or objects that are special to them. Research suggests that young babies focus best on high-contrast tones of black, white and red, which is why in our Baby Room, we have created an area using only these high contrast tones, to stimulate our young babies’ minds. We ask our parents or carers to provide photographs which are mounted onto objects that can be manipulated by the baby’s small hands. A sound object will also be placed inside. This offers babies, not only sight recognition, but also sound, enabling them to connect with the item using three of their senses. Young babies will reach out and touch their own object to explore it further.
The Family Boxes are kept at the baby’s height in the contrast area, allowing them to be explored by the baby when they are mobile. If a baby is not yet mobile, they will explore and discover their Family Box with their Key Person.

 

Practitioners use facial expressions and a voice that shows interest and excitement, together with lots of language, to engage babies whilst they explore and discuss the boxes.

Weather Boxes Play

Outdoor play is an essential requirement for children of all ages, but it shouldn’t focus purely on running, jumping and riding bikes. The natural world is the perfect place to enhance children’s curiosity, critical thinking and communication and language development.

 

Our Weather Boxes have been specifically designed for all age ranges to provide additional learning and development opportunities outside of the classroom environment. From story times and mark making, to mobile mud kitchens and science and investigation, these boxes have it all.

The boxes have been dynamically designed to provide everything our practitioners need to effectively carry out the activities contained within the box. Children are given the free choice as they enter the garden or head out for their walk, to choose which, if any boxes, they would like to access. Each adult-led activity using a Weather Box provides cross-curricular learning for children of all ages and covers the breadth of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum.

Outside of the Early Years Outcomes, our children learn the importance of looking after the environment around them. They are  encouraged and effectively supported in playing and exploring, actively learning, and questioning ‘the norm’ with their skills of creativity and critical thinking. This is all achieved through the use of a Weather Box and the interaction and teaching from our practitioners.

Our children develop an understanding of the fundamental British Values during these activities, through turn taking, joint decision making and sustained shared thinking. They use the inventory included within each Weather Box to ensure they have repackaged each item, showing that they have developed a level of care and respect for the resources they use. This also demonstrates care and respect for their peers in ensuring that the next group of children to use the Weather Box have all of the resources that are required.

Chatter Approach

Our nursery features a ‘Chatter Approach’ in the walk up to, or reception area of the building. The chatter approach is designed to promote each child’s communication and language development through a series of visual prompts they can explore. These may include a range of images, questions or small challenges to complete and share with their peers/key person within the setting.

Garden Champions

Children today, have an ever-growing curiosity about the outside world, where foods come from and how they grow. Garden Champions is our own bespoke gardening activity. This activity extends children’s knowledge of the outdoor environment, habitats, caring for living things, growth cycles and growing vegetation outdoors. Our Garden Champion activities are an effective method of harnessing our children’s curiosity in this area and shaping their understanding of the world around them.

 

Our nursery has a nominated ‘Garden Champion’ who attends regular training sessions to further develop their own knowledge and skills, enabling them to bring back to nursery, a range of seasonal activities which can be carried out with the children. This is not simply an activity of planting grass seeds in a pot, but is in fact an opportunity for children to make use of real-life gardening tools and equipment to prepare an area, sow seeds, tend to vegetation and harvest their produce at the end of the process. The use of these tools further extends the children’s knowledge and understanding of how to manage their own risk, handle tools carefully, and keep themselves safe in an outdoor environment. Our children always complete their own visual risk assessment of the area, with the support of a practitioner, and decide for themselves if it is an appropriate and safe time to complete their activity. If the children decide it is not, they will then discuss what can be done to make it so.

Aside from developing knowledge of plant life and what is needed to promote healthy growth of their garden, our children also gain an understanding of agriculture, farming and the food chain, through a wide range of extension opportunities, both inside and outside of the classroom.

 

Fruits and vegetables grown are picked and prepared by the children, alongside the nursery chef, who will then factor them into the menu for that day. This provides children with the ‘garden to plate’ experience, a fundamental aspect of supporting them in being able to make informed choices about the foods they put into their bodies.

Our nursery is registered with the Royal Horticultural Society and has achieved their RHS accreditation.

Spaces Available

We've got limited spaces available, book now to ensure a place for September
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