Pre-School

The Pre-School Room is for the older children who are approaching their final year with us before joining reception classes in their local primary or pre-prep school. We welcome some new children to this room along with those children from our Investigators Room who are ready for the next step in their learning journey with us. Transitions to Pre-School mainly take place in September of each year, with some small adjustments made during the course of the year where it is appropriate and where we have space available in Pre-School. This is because the Pre-School is now well established and an increasingly busy part of life at Little Lancing.

Children have free access to a wide range of activities, offering them learning experiences in all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage. During play the children socialise with each other and with the nursery staff practitioners and have the opportunities to work on developing a variety of skills. The Pre-School Room has activity zones for learning, listening to stories and creative play. There are lots of books for them and role-play toys and games. There is a separate group time room adjacent to the Pre-School room where the children take part in small group activities, for example cooking club and our school readiness programme.

Self-registration supports the children as they begin to recognise the letters of their name. Each day when the children arrive they will be encouraged to find and place their name on the self-registration board. Letters and Sounds is a teaching programme delivered through a variety of fun activities. The programme activities are designed to lay the foundations for the children to make a good start in reading and writing.

The children have access to water play outdoors and spend time in our spacious nursery garden where they can play with the mud kitchens, the sand pit or try out their green finders in the gardening club, where they grow flowers and vegetables in a designated plot. There is a tarmac area where they can pedal tricycles next to our fruit trees at the edge of the grassed area. They also have great fun using the rope handrail to climb the garden slope. Our brand new Forest School learning space opened in January 2022 and the children will experience Forest School sessions based there and also further afield on the Lancing College estate. The Pre-School children also enjoy riverside walks near the airport and woodland walks on the College estate, where they go to see the horses in the Equestrian Centre and the animals on the College farm. 

We work with the children's destination schools to ensure the best possible start for them as they begin their time in full-time primary education.