Mini Explorers Nursery @ Graffham
Mini Explorers Nursery @ Graffham is a pre-school in Petworth for children aged 1 to 4, with 15 registered places. Ofsted report card, 24 November 2025: Strong standard in 1 area, Expected standard in 5 areas; safeguarding standards met.
Graffham Infant School, Graffham, Petworth, GU28 0NJ
Key facts
- Type
- Pre-school (Sessional day care) (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Ages
- 1 to 4 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered places
- 15 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered
- 15 September 2023 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Opening hours
Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 16:00
Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 24 November 2025
Who runs it
Mini Explorers Nursery @ Graffham is run by Mini Explorers West Sussex LTD (Ofsted register).
Latest inspection
- Inclusion: Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
- Achievement: Expected standard
- Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard
- Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard
- Leadership and governance: Expected standard
- Safeguarding standards met
Source: Ofsted, inspection on 24 November 2025. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children are happy and content in this rural setting. They settle quickly into their day, supported by familiar routines. Staff know the children they care for well, and show close attachments with them. These close relationships help children to feel secure and safe and form a good basis for learning. Staff make exceptional use of their natural surroundings. For instance, children enjoy woodland walks that spark engaging conversations. They demonstrate excellent physical development as they navigate muddy and sometimes slippery ground. These experiences provide ample opportunities for children to extend their knowledge, challenge themselves and work collaboratively.
Staff focus on supporting children to develop strong foundations for future learning. For example, they place a high focus on developing children's personal, social and emotional development. Children behave well and know what is expected of them. Staff model respectful behaviour and help children to resolve minor disagreements. They provide specific praise, which helps children to understand what they have done well. This encourages children to repeat and develop these good behaviours further.
Provision for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is excellent. Leaders monitor the curriculum carefully to ensure that it meets the needs of all children, including those with SEND, so that every child achieves the best possible start in education. Children demonstrate high levels of engagement and independence when leading their own learning. They make decisions about where they want to play and can flow freely from indoors to the garden. A well-planned and considered curriculum outdoors ensures those who prefer to explore outside have access to quality activities that support all areas of their learning. For example, toddlers show a positive attitude toward learning as they roll cars through paint to make tracks.
What Ofsted found in each area
Inclusion: Strong standard
Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are exceptionally well supported at the setting. Leaders act with integrity to ensure that all children, particularly those with SEND, have full access to their early education entitlement. They remove barriers to learning with care and creativity. Assessment is rigorous and any gaps in children's development are swiftly identified. Staff work proactively with families and a wide range of external professionals to address emerging gaps in children's development.
High-quality training equips staff to deliver targeted interventions that promote each child's learning. Staff develop the expertise they need to accommodate children's individual needs. This inclusive, consistent approach enables all children to participate fully in the curriculum and make sustained progress from their individual starting points. Families describe the setting as a safe and incredibly inclusive space, where their children thrive. Leaders make excellent use of additional funding so that it precisely benefits the children it was intended for. For example, they use the funding to offer individual support or further opportunities that children might not otherwise have. This helps to ensure that any gaps in children's learning close rapidly.
Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
Leaders have a clear overview of the curriculum and monitor its effectiveness. Staff use assessment well to check children's starting points and identify areas where children require additional support. Children are provided with a broad curriculum that covers all the areas of learning. Leaders have identified that the curriculum for mathematics is well embedded. Staff incorporate counting into daily routines and use number songs and rhymes. They recognise how children learn differently, and staff are quick to adapt teaching to suit different groups of children. As a result, children begin to use mathematical language in their play, counting with increasing confidence and showing a developing awareness of shapes, size and position.
Staff focus highly on developing children's communication and language and personal, social and emotional development within the curriculum. Throughout the setting, children engage in animated conversations and staff skilfully introduce new vocabulary. Staff provide lots of opportunities for children to develop the skills they need in readiness for writing. For example, they encourage younger children to make marks as they play in the sensory tray. Older children learn how to hold pencils, and those who are ready and interested learn how to write recognisable letters. Staff regularly share stories with children, using different voices and tones to keep children engaged. However, due to the organisation and routine of group story times, not all children benefit from the valuable communication and language skills they provide.
Achievement: Expected standard
Children thrive in the language-rich environment. They are confident in their communication skills and happily chat with staff and their peers. Those children who are at an early stage in their speech use sign language and communication boards expertly to communicate their needs and desires. Even the youngest children use sign language independently to request 'more' during snack time. Children benefit from the opportunities staff provide to develop their independence. For instance, children are encouraged to peel fruit at snack time, scrape plates and tidy toys away. This helps children to develop a sense of responsibility and prepares them for the next stage of learning. Children have a strong 'can-do' attitude. They illustrate this as they attempt to put on their puddle suits and 'wellies' ready for outdoor play. Children benefit from regular opportunities to visit the host school. For example, children enjoy visiting the school to learn about the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). As a result, children experience a smooth transition and feel more confident about starting school.
Children develop physical skills and confidence through a range of challenging and purposeful activities. For instance, they notice the marks they make as they roll cars through paint and use their hands to spread the paint onto paper. Children excitedly experiment with rolling cars down drainpipes to see which one travels the fastest. This helps them to learn about speed, estimation and gravity.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard
Leaders share with parents from the start the importance of punctuality and good attendance. Staff support children upon arrival, offering cuddles and reassurance. For instance, children snuggle up to staff to listen to their favourite stories and, when ready, happily go off to explore and play. Overall, older children develop positive attitudes to learning and sustained levels of attention. For example, they skilfully join magnetic shapes to create imaginative models. However, some adult-led activities, such as circle time, are not precisely tailored to ensure that the youngest children build consistently positive attitudes towards their learning. For example, on occasion, the teaching at group time loses pace and direction. Some younger children leave before it has ended. This does not help them to develop the self-regulation that promotes consistently positive attitudes to education.
Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. Children learn to share, take turns and respect others, all of which contribute to a harmonious environment. When children struggle to share toys or take turns, staff speak in calm voices and support them in understanding how their behaviour impacts others. Staff encourage children to express their preferences and opinions in meaningful ways. For example, at story time, staff encourage children to vote for their favourite book to listen to. This supports children's understanding of democracy as they vote for their favourite stories.
Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard
The well-established key-person system and the bespoke settling-in process help children form strong, secure attachments. Children benefit from effective care practices that prioritise their well-being. For instance, staff are attentive, recognising when younger children are sleepy and helping them to settle to sleep in a familiar manner. Children relish the opportunities to explore the natural world, where they are encouraged to take risks safely. Staff complete thorough risk assessments and use these opportunities to teach children how to manage risks themselves. For example, when balancing on tyres, children understand how to keep themselves safe and are confident to seek help when needed. This helps to build independence, confidence and critical thinking.
Staff support children's emotional literacy well, using a range of strategies to help them name and understand their feelings. They promote healthy lifestyles well. For instance, staff provide children with healthy, home-cooked meals. They promote many healthy habits. For example, staff engage children in discussions about nutrition and oral hygiene. Children confidently talk about the nutritious food on their plates. Staff sit and eat with children, modelling good table manners during lunchtime. However, some self-care routines are not fully embedded to promote long-lasting healthy habits. For example, when children need their noses wiped, staff are quick to do this for them rather than teaching them how to do it themselves.
Leadership and governance: Expected standard
Newly appointed leaders have implemented robust evaluation procedures, helping to continually enhance the provision for children and families. They strive to deliver high-quality care and education to all children. Leaders promote a culture of well-being and maintain an open-door policy to make sure that all staff feel heard and valued. Staff report feeling exceptionally well supported by leaders. They attend regular supervision meetings that provide valuable opportunities to discuss their key children and identify any training or development needs. Regular professional development opportunities support staff to build on their knowledge and skills. For example, staff have recently undertaken Makaton training to enhance their teaching and children's communication skills.
Parents are very complimentary about the setting. They explain how much their children enjoy attending, and particularly praise the experiences they have exploring the community around them during regular outings. Parents say they value the daily discussions with staff and termly progress meetings. However, leaders recognise that they need to refine the systems they use to provide regular feedback to those parents who are harder to reach.
What the setting must and should do next
The provider should:
- Leaders should consider how staff can consistently promote children's self-care skills.
- Leaders should refine the planning of large-group activities to ensure that younger children achieve the most from their learning experiences.
- Leaders should build on children's attention during story time to further increase their love of reading.
- Leaders should consider how to further strengthen processes for sharing information with parents to help extend children's learning at home.
Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 24 November 2025. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Inspection history
- 24 November 2025: Full inspection, report card: Strong standard in 1, Expected standard in 5
Ofsted report cards (England, from November 2025)
Since 10 November 2025 Ofsted has graded nurseries and pre-schools on a report card. There is no single overall grade. Instead, each of six areas gets one of five grades: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, Urgent improvement.
The six areas are inclusion; curriculum and teaching; achievement; behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines; children's welfare and wellbeing; leadership and governance. Safeguarding is judged on its own, as met or not met.
Expected standard means the setting does what Ofsted expects of every setting. Strong standard and Exceptional are above that; Needs attention and Urgent improvement mean Ofsted found things the setting has to put right.
Source: Ofsted reports
Funded childcare hours in England
All 3 and 4 year olds in England can get 15 hours of free childcare a week, for 38 weeks of the year.
Working parents of children aged 9 months to 4 years old can get 30 hours of free childcare a week for 38 weeks of the year (Free Childcare for Working Parents), if they meet the earnings rules. You confirm your details every 3 months.
Some 2 year olds can get 15 hours a week when the family gets certain kinds of extra support.
The hours are used at a registered provider that offers them, so ask each nursery how it offers the funded hours.
Source: GOV.UK: Free Childcare for Working Parents, check if you're eligible · GOV.UK: Free childcare and education for 2 to 4 year olds (checked 31 October 2026)
Schools nearby
- Graffham Church of England Infant School (Voluntary Controlled) - Primary, under 0.1 miles
- Seaford College - All-through, 1.1 miles