URN 2856950 · Inspected 2026-08-03 · Published 2026-09-09 · Inspector: Tina Lambert
Elan Pre School Unique reference number (URN): 2856950 Address: 12 Sydney Road, Haywards Heath, RH16 1PZ Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 27/08/2025 Registers: EYR Registered person: Dicky Birds Pre School Nurseries Limited Inspection report: 3 August 2026 Exceptional Strong standard Expected standard Needs attention Urgent improvement Safeguarding standards met The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe. How we evaluate safeguarding When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes: Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met. Strong standard Achievement Strong standard All children, including children who face barriers to their learning, make excellent progress in their learning and development. They demonstrate a clear sense of joy and pride in their achievements, such as serving their own food or 'writing a letter to the postman'. Children use hand signals and photo cards to communicate their needs. They quickly learn that they are always acknowledged and listened to, which positively impacts their confidence when asking for help and offering their help to others. Children collaborate well with other children. They use timers to share resources and toys. Children build small block towers together, taking it in turns to place the next block and shrieking with delight when it topples. Children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are able to express themselves and be fully included. They demonstrate confidence in their environment and when they are around other children. Children show a keen enthusiasm in their learning, which prepares them very well for the next stage in their education, such as moving on to school. Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard The positive and calm environment helps children to feel settled and understand what is expected of them. Children are extremely well supported in the routines of the day and understand what is about to happen next. Children's transitions between the nursery building and the pre-school are extremely well managed and tailored for each child. The preparation for this moving event is planned months in advance and includes regular trips with familiar adults to the new setting. Children who move between rooms in the pre-school are also extremely well prepared, because staff consider children's age and stage of development, and emotional bonds with other children and staff. Consequently, the impact of transitions on children's emotional health is greatly minimised and children transition seamlessly on to the next stage, including on to school. The skilled staff team, including the younger and most recent staff members, build warm and loving bonds with children. They expertly use the knowledge that they have about the children to make all their interactions purposeful and supportive. For example, they change their approach and the delivery of activities to ensure that they target the right level of children's understanding. They are kind and gentle and demonstrate a clear joy for working with children. This has a very positive impact on the way that children behave towards each other, to the staff, and to the environment. Children behave well, and staff quickly recognise when children are becoming overwhelmed, offering distractions, areas to rest in and/or cuddle. Leaders emphasise to parents the importance of regular attendance. They make adaptations for families who have potential barriers to regular attendance, to ensure that children attend regularly and on time. Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard Leaders ensure that staff constantly meet children's individual care needs. Staff provide the support that children need to fully benefit and be fully included. They ensure that all children are extremely well cared for during care routines and activities. Every staff member builds responsive and loving relationships with children. They know them very well, which helps staff respond promptly to changes in children's behaviour, or to signs which might indicate when children are tired or hungry. Staff are trained to safely support children when children are eating or sleeping. They are responsive to the pre-school protocol for the management of allergies, medical and dietary needs. Children learn to keep themselves safe, such as when they are on an outing. They are vigilantly supervised by staff, and quickly learn the rules of walking on the pavement alongside a busy road and why these rules are important. All children know that they must stay sitting when eating, and children who need support to do this are provided with a one- to-one support to ensure their safety. Children are provided with a large range of healthy snacks and meals, which is appreciated by parents and thoroughly enjoyed by the children. When they are ready, children are taught how to manage their own self-care needs, such as toileting, handwashing and blowing their own nose. Staff work with families to support children who are showing an interest in using the toilet. Curriculum and teaching Strong standard The curriculum is clear and highly impactful. Staff are extremely skilled in their teaching, and they have a detailed understanding of each child. They successfully use the knowledge they have about each child to ensure that their teaching is consistently tailored, meeting children's individual age and stage of development. Staff are enthusiastic in their approach and children naturally gather around them with expectation that something exciting and interesting is about to take place. Mathematics is expertly weaved throughout the curriculum. Discussions, routines, and activities teach children about numbers, measurements, and estimation. Staff introduce language, such as 'less' and 'more', when younger children make play dough. Children who excel in this area are suitably challenged by well-qualified staff. For example, children are encouraged to use their existing knowledge of numbers to know that '4 more than 16 is 20'. All children develop a love of books and storytelling. Children throughout the pre-school share books with each other, pointing out the characters that are familiar. Staff use every opportunity to seek children's contributions during stories and small-group times. For example, children are encouraged to speak in front of others about their own experiences of parks, funfairs and the circus. Activities like these support children's language, literacy and communication skills. Regular outside play and daily outings into the local community help children to develop their physical skills. They develop a full understanding of the diverse community around them, and are supported to comprehend global topics, such as ecology. Inclusion Strong standard Leaders are very committed to identifying and supporting the needs of children from the earliest time that they join the setting. Partnership working with families and external professionals ensures that children receive prompt targeted support. There is a continuous strive to seek support for those children who need it the most, such as children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. As a result, children benefit from this highly cohesive approach. They are able to fully access all areas of the pre-school because of the effective strategies that are used by staff to support them. Children's personal targets are regularly reviewed and adapted by staff, and new strategies are introduced when needed. The whole staff team fully contributes to providing support for children. This ensures that aims and intentions are fully understood and implemented. Staff receive specific training to support individual children, and leaders ensure that any additional funding is used effectively and is impactful. For example, this includes providing more staff to work in small intervention groups with children. Leaders fully understand the working patterns and busy lives of families. They ensure that all parents can access the home learning, and attend information and social events at times to suit their busy lives. Families who speak English as an additional language are made to feel included through translation and resources. Children have language buttons throughout the nursery, so they can hear common phrases in the languages spoken at home. Parents feed back their delight in being welcomed into the 'pre-school family'. Leadership and governance Strong standard A key strength of the pre-school is the leaders' ongoing commitment to a high quality and inclusive provision. Leaders are constantly changing their approach to the environment and training for staff. This is to help accommodate children's changing needs and staff's individual interests, to enable them to further develop in areas, such as supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff feed back that they feel extremely well supported by leaders, and working in the pre-school is 'amazing' and 'rewarding'. There is a sense of shared responsibility between the leadership and the staff team, and staff are encouraged to train and take on different roles within the pre-school, which helps them to share their skills. Staff say that the opportunity to progress and the leaders' commitment to their wellbeing contributes strongly to their long time working at the pre- school. Parents provide highly positive feedback about their child's pre-school experience. They are grateful for the welcoming and inclusive environment that prepares their children, particularly those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, extremely well for the next stage in their learning, such as moving on to school. What it's like to be a child at this setting Children flourish in this extremely nurturing setting. Staff are consistently attentive to meeting every child's needs. Children benefit fully from the inclusive practice that is woven into all activities and purposeful interactions. For example, children and staff use a range of visual cues and prompts to communicate with each other. They use Makaton to communicate their preferences and needs. This approach is highly successful and combined with adaptations for learning, which ensures that all children make excellent and sustained progress from their starting points. Children are motivated and happy in their learning, including children who face barriers to their learning. The bespoke curriculum meets every child's learning needs. Children are confident to explore the environment with enthusiasm and interest. For example, children plant seeds into soil. They independently cover the seeds with more soil, water them and carefully transport the pots to the greenhouse. Staff are on hand to guide and advise but do not interfere. This supports children's autonomy and helps them to feel proud about what they can achieve. Children demonstrate a love of learning and embrace the varied opportunities provided. They thoroughly enjoy their pre-school experience and, as a result, they attend regularly and on time. Children benefit from the enthusiastic way that staff play with them. This supports children's ability to play with each other and builds on their excellent levels of communication. Children are articulate and confident when talking to their friends and staff. They are extremely keen to contribute their thoughts and opinions, and routinely invite other children to join them in play. Children understand the boundaries and are very well behaved. Staff ensure that the appropriate adaptations are in place to support children to transition well between activities. Consequently, children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, demonstrate calm and contentment. Throughout their time at the pre-school children's emotional wellbeing is extremely well supported. Next steps Leaders should ensure continued improvement in the setting's successful work to remove barriers for children who need extra help to realise a transformational impact on all children's achievements and wellbeing. Inspector: Tina Lambert About this setting Unique reference number (URN): 2856950 Address: 12 Sydney Road Haywards Heath RH16 1PZ Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registration date: 27/08/2025 Registered person: Dicky Birds Pre School Nurseries Limited Register(s): EYR Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:00 - 18:00 Local authority: West Sussex Facts and figures used on inspection This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection. This data is from 3 August 2026 Children numbers Age range of children at the time of inspection About this inspection The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners, children and parents during the inspection. We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage. 2 to 4 Total number of places 56 Our grades explained Exceptional Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it. Strong standard The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them. Expected standard The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them. Needs attention The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements. Urgent improvement The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care. The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspects services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence, write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk. This publication is available at https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk. Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn. Piccadilly Gate Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted © Crown copyright 2026 © Crown copyright