HARRIETSHAM PLAYGROUP ASSOCIATION

Our Story:

We are a non-profit charity who want the best for the children in our community. Apart from Sunrise Nursery, we are the only setting within the village that provides childcare provision, and we are the only “preschool” in the area. We are continuously inundated with enquires for spaces and are now full until January 2026, proving that we provide a valuable service to the families within our community. 

Harrietsham Preschool used reside on the site of Harrietsham Primary School but due to the building works and growth of the school, we had to relocate. We moved from the school site in 2019 to Hollingbourne Village Hall for a short period of time until 2020 when we were kindly offered a short-term home within Harrietsham church. Unfortunately, this was only meant to be a short-term solution, and we now find themselves in a position where they will cease to exist if we do not find an alternative home. 

Harrietsham Primary School have generously provided us with a plot of land within the school grounds on which we would locate a multi-purpose building which we could use for their setting. 

We have approached national and local governments who have rejected our requests for funding. We now need to raise £150,000 in order to fund this project otherwise the village preschool will not survive and we will cease to exist.  

Our Vision:

Our wonderful preschool offers exceptional care to the children. All of our staff are Level 3 trained as an Early Years Educator meaning that they can offer the bets education for the children. Our vision has always been about quality over quantity and so we keep our staff:child ratios high so that children can be equipped with the best start in their school life. We believe in a fully inclusive timetable providing good quality visuals, activities, group work and resources for all children who enter the setting. Having a fully qualifed SENCo enables us to support children with additional needs in our setting and ensures that they receive the support they need to be successful in our preschool setting before moving onto primary school. 

Our shared vision with Harrietsham Primary School:

Harrietsham Primary School already has close links with the preschool. 100% of the preschool leavers went to attend the primary school in 2024. We believe that this move is an exciting opportunity for both the school and preschool children to interact more and to share their learning experiences, for example: 

• We would be keen to maximise shared experiences around important parts of the year, including Harvest, Christmas, Easter and Sports Day. 

• This move would support the preschool children in entering Reception as many of them would already be familiar with the environment of the school and it would allow further transition activities for the children. 

• We are in current discussions with the EYFS lead at the school regarding a shared Phonics experience/programme. 

• We are keen to provide opportunities for the older children within the primary school, such as an opportunity for Year 5 and 6 children to spend some time with small groups of preschool children, modelling sharing to the young children by playing team games and reading with them. 

• We have an opportunity to provide our preschool children with regular Forest School sessions as the primary school have a fully qualifed Forest School Leader.

Multi-Purpose Use:

In addition, to the above, we are proposing that the building placed onsite would be multi-purpose.  The primary school are keen for their extended hours club (Safehands) to use the building before and after preschool hours, meaning that they could maximise the number of spaces that they are able to offer to local families. Safehands is currently full and struggling for space within the school building. This building would therefore offer a home to two highly essential provisions for our local community.