What do our Parents Say ....
We’re proud to share kind words from some of our past and present parents. Their experiences offer a wonderful insight into life at Flying Start Preschool and our warm, nurturing and engaging learning through play.
"To date, Flying Start Preschool remains the most nurturing environment my children have experienced outside of their own home. At every drop off, I have felt reassured knowing my children would be looked after by a team of staff who have their best interests at heart and care for them in the same manner expected from a family member. It is abundantly clear that each teacher takes great care to really get to know every individual child; to learn their likes and dislikes, understand their personality traits and then devise the most effective plans to encourage their best personal development. Whilst both my children formed fast bonds with their key worker, the names of all the staff became some of their very first words – highlighting the whole team being engaged and supportive throughout their time at the preschool.
I am regularly wowed by the huge scope of activities and learning stations created to engage the children’s imaginations and motivate learning. In fact, since 2018, I do not believe I have ever seen the same set-up twice! The focus is always on ‘what is best for the individual child’ rather than finding easy ways to keep them entertained.
In my personal view, the staff’s collective warmth, experience and professionalism is unrivalled in the local and wider area. Selecting Flying Start Preschool is one of the greatest decisions I have made as a parent; and I am unspeakably grateful for the incredible care provided for my children’s early years as they navigate towards primary school."
"The level of care we received with our son was above and beyond so we knew it was what we wanted for our daughter too. All the staff are so kind and nurturing, they all genuinely care.
We love the outdoor space that flying start has to offer, especially the lovely sensory garden area, the social media pages are always kept up to date to allow us to see what activities had been planned for the day so we are able to discuss this with our daughter when talking about her day at nursery.
Our daughter comes out with all sorts of lovely creations and enjoys choosing a library book to bring home each week to read."
"There aren't enough superlatives to describe what I think of Flying Start, Sarah and her team. They have taken a modest scout hut and every day turn it into an exciting, dynamic, safe and interesting environment for my son to experience. The newsletter each week is a brilliant way to understand the weekly activities, themes, songs etc - so I can share these with Wilfred. I'm always impressed that also included is extra learning and fun activities so I feel equipped to support Wilfred at home with what he's enjoying and learning at FS. In terms of parents comms I also love the tapestry reports - we get them both from Wilfred's keyworker Georgia and the wider team. Reading Georgia's observations is a true highlight of my week - they are so detailed, I recognise my son in them in the way she details how he reacts or engages with something, and there are always next steps for Wilfred's development or ways in which I can support him at home. The continuity of care is an amazing benefit to the children, who all bond with the staff members. I feel like every team member knows Wilfred well and could easily support him if needed at any point - I've never dropped him off where he hasn't been welcomed with a big smile and encouragement to be independent to put his bag on his peg. I think the planning that goes into the sessions is so well thought through. The weekly themes driven by the children seem endless in their creativity - and the team set up stations which support the children to develop gross and fine motor skills, social skills, phonics and numeracy, interest in the world and their peers and a lot more. I feel the team put a lot of effort into the garden play too, as well as special events - for example the sports day and graduation event are so special. Parent involvement is also encouraged - from coming in to sing songs in different languages to reading books to support world book day - more great examples about how FS is so well organised, take a lot of initiative and care about the children and their families. I feel I could share a lot more about the amazing things that go on at Flying Start and how grateful I am to be a parent here - this is just the tip of the iceberg. I will forever be indebted to Sarah and the whole team for giving my children the most nurturing, loving and engaging start to their time away from me and in preparation to start school."
“Flying Start Preschool looked after our first son from 2021 to 2023 and from the first visit, the professionalism, expertise, care and quality of service and facilities stood out from several other nurseries viewed. There is great attention to detail, range of activities, indoor and outdoor, and a caring team really focused on the individual needs of each child. My second son is now there, and great effort was made to calm his early nerves, he has really come out of his shell as a result, and loves coming each day now too. Sincere thanks to Flying Start for all their efforts, and the superb service they run that has made a real difference in our children’s all important early years.
"We love Flying Start Preschool and we chose to send our daughter here after a wonderful experience with our son. She is absolutely thriving. We had concerns about her having delayed speech and FS provided outstanding support in this area with intervention groups and advising us on how to best support her at home. As a result her speech has come on leaps and bounds and we are delighted with her progress. She is incredibly happy and looks forward to going into preschool every morning. The staff are amazing and work hard to inspire and nurture our children. FS is a wonderful learning environment but the team also feels like family. Communication is brilliant, we are always kept updated about what our children are doing and learning each week and plans for the term ahead. Individual communication with our daughters key work is also excellent and all the staff are so friendly and approachable, nothing is too much trouble. We feel very lucky to be able to send our daughter to such a wonderful preschool."
"Flying Start is possibly the best preschool I could wish for my youngest son to be attending - fantastic management and staff who go above and beyond as a standard, not an exception. They put such a great care in everything they do not only for the children but also for us parents (like sending a short message to say my child is now settled and happy 20 minutes after I dropped him in tears!) The range of activities offered to the children is amazingly vast and diverse, and the wild learning is such a great opportunity for the children to get a closer connection with the nature. My son absolutely adores his key worker Natasha, she has gotten to know him and responds to all his needs so well despite of the 2 short sessions he was attending last year. I have nothing but great praise for the management and all the staff for everything they do!"
"Our son David started a year ago at Flying Start Preschool and since he progressed massively from a shy non speaking toddler who would cry and never leave mummy to a confident speaking young child who now runs from mummy to play at the preschool. We can see that David receives very high care and support from the staff and that is well looked after as he is always happy and looks forward to return every day."