We are an independent, family run childcare setting in the West Blatchington area of Hove, owned by myself Karen Fothergill and my daughter, Kylie.  We operate out of a large semi-detached house in a quiet Close, which is on a bus route and close to a number of schools.  We are also within walking distance of Aldrington railway station and a number of other bus routes.

We see our business as being halfway between a childminder and a nursery.  We still offer the flexible care childminders provide but on a larger basis.  As the setting is small, all the staff get to know the children rather than just their key worker.  All the age groups regularly mix which enables the younger children to learn from their older peers and the older children to be caring and loving towards their younger peers.  We pride ourselves as being a home from home setting, which offers lots of learning experiences through play.

We have the additional benefit of having an Early Years Professional as part of out team.  Gemma is responsible for ensuring that the setting follows the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), which ensures a high quality, play-based learning environment that provides challenging child-led and adult initiated opportunities, both indoor and outdoor, that are developmentally appropriate.
We regularly attend courses and participate in the Quality Improvement in Learning and Teaching (QuILT), a quality assurance scheme.  This ensures that we continually evaluate and improve our practice in all areas of our service.

We are supported and monitored by Brighton and Hove City Council’s City Early Years Childcare department. 

We are inspected by Ofsted every three to four years.  Our last inspection took place in March 2011, less than three months after opening.  We received “GOOD” in all areas and a copy of our report can be found on the Ofsted Report page.