Fairlight Playgroup
Good★ 4.8 on GoogleBirth to 5Open for decades
A pre-school in Hastings for children from birth to 5, open 10:00 to 17:00, 5 days a week. They do not publish prices, so that is the first thing to ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in April 2024. Open since 1994, with 15 places.
What you might pay
This setting does not publish its fees, and no national dataset holds them. This is what childcare costs across the council, as a starting point for the call.
What childcare usually costs in East Sussex
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in East Sussex from the Department for Education's 2025 provider survey. No national data holds what an individual nursery charges, so ring and ask.
Places, hours and the day
Who they take, when they are open, and what a day there includes.
Where it is
TN35 4DAWhat the inspector found
One grade is one visit. A run of them tells you whether it has been good for years or has only just got there.
Ofsted inspector, 18 April 2024 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children receive a warm welcome from staff when they arrive. They are excited to see their friends and to start playing with the inviting activities. Less confident children are sensitively supported by their key person to choose what they would like to play with.
Children enjoy being with each other and playing together. They readily share resources and patiently wait for their turn. This is seen when children happily play a 'hook-a-duck' activity together in the garden. Staff give consistent messages about the high expectations of children's behaviour, which supports children to behave well.
Staff provide a range of activities to help children successfully develop their physical skills. For example, children practise their balancing and coordination as they move from one stepping stone to another. Older children refine their hand strength and pincer grip, such as when they secure strips of plastic together with small nuts and bolts. This prepares them well for later learning.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- support staff to develop a more consistent approach to promoting children's selfhelp and independence skills even further n improve planning for group activities to ensure they meet the learning needs of all children, particularly the youngest.
- 18 April 2024Good
- 5 June 2018Good
- 5 November 2014Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 3 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Fairlight Playgroup
- What it costs
- Funded hours
- Youngest age taken
- Meals
- Nappies
- Waiting list
No dataset holds any of this. Two parents telling us the same thing puts it on the page for whoever looks next.
What to ask them
None of this is in any national dataset and this setting has not published it, which is exactly why it is worth asking.
- What does it cost, all in? What is on top: meals, nappies, late pick-up, and what happens if you are late.
- Can I use my funded hours here? Whether they stretch them over the year, and the minimum days you have to book.
- Is there a place for my child's age? Baby rooms fill first and waiting lists are common.
- Who would my child's key person be? And how long have the staff been there. No dataset holds this and it matters more than anything above.
- Can I visit at a busy time? Mid-morning on a weekday tells you far more than an empty room after hours.