Hours and Sessions

Horsted Keynes Preschool is open Term Time only (38 weeks per year), in line with West Sussex County Councils published school term times.

Children MUST attend a minimum of two sessions per week and payment/use of funding is always for the whole session.

Monday
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Tuesday
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Wednesday
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm (Open to next years' school leavers only)
Thursday
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Friday
9:00 am - 1:00 pm

Universal and Extended Funded Entitlement can be used (if eligible) or Fees paid for any session and a mixture of morning and afternoon sessions can be chosen in order to allow all the children to access the most popular ones.

Horsted Keynes Preschool operates a free flow arrangement. Children are based in the main hall, but during the core hours doors to all the rooms and the garden are opened. If you have any questions about this arrangement, please ask one of the team. This scheme operates regardless of the weather (so please dress your child appropriately).

Although we allow encourage the children to make choices of what they would like to do during the session we do have a routine to follow. To keep consistency the routine is the same in the morning and afternoon sessions (although some of the activities will change).

The sessional routine goes like this:

Welcomed by the team at the door
Free play; inside and outside, the children can choose where they wish to play
Snack time; done during free play
Free play inside and outside, the children can choose where they wish to play
Group time (This can be either singing/music, stories, puppets, games or parachute)
Home time and/or afternoon session

Changing hours policy

Each term your child attends Preschool you will be offered a choice of hours. Once you have chosen them these will be your agreed hours. Changes to these hours can be made at the end of a term for the following term.

We reserve the right to review and amend our schedule in line with demand and our fees and funding policy. We currently review this annually and publish any changes for the next academic year. Should we need to make changes any other point in the year, we will give a minimum of half a terms notice.

Changes made during the term

Once the claim for Universal or Extended Funded Entitlement for the term has been submitted, any additional hours added after that date will have to be paid at the hourly rate.

Occasionally, it may be necessary to close Preschool due to the Village Hall being required for reasons beyond our control. We will always give as much notice as possible in this event.

Extra sessions

If you need to book occasional extra sessions for additional childcare needs such as appointments or emergencies, this may be possible according to our availability and at the discretion of the Manager. Some sessions may have spaces available, so please speak to the administrator as soon as possible. Extra sessions will be charged at our normal hourly rates (please refer to our financial policy).