River Mole Pre-school (Cobham)
River Mole Pre-school (Cobham) is a pre-school in Cobham for children aged 2 to 4, with 44 registered places. Ofsted report card, 3 June 2026: Strong standard in 6 areas; safeguarding standards met.
Cobham Village Hall, Lushington Drive, Cobham, KT11 2LU
Key facts
- Type
- Pre-school (Sessional day care) (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Ages
- 2 to 4 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered places
- 44 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered
- 4 December 2023 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Opening hours
Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday : 08:30 - 16:00,Friday : 08:30 - 13:00
Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 3 June 2026
Who runs it
River Mole Pre-school (Cobham) is run by River Mole Pre-school (Cobham) Ltd (Ofsted register).
Latest inspection
- Inclusion: Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard
- Achievement: Strong standard
- Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard
- Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard
- Leadership and governance: Strong standard
- Safeguarding standards met
Source: Ofsted, inspection on 3 June 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children arrive happily and settle quickly at this welcoming setting, greeted by staff who respond with warmth and sensitivity. Children separate from their parents with confidence because they know that staff understand them well and respond promptly to their needs. Staff communicate using speech, simple signs and visual prompts, which children use independently to express ideas, make choices and share their feelings. This helps all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, feel understood, valued and included from the moment they arrive.
Children explore the environment with curiosity and enthusiasm. They move confidently between areas, selecting resources that interest them and sustaining their play for extended periods. Children test ideas, solve problems and enjoy activities that build their independence, such as pouring water, transporting materials or arranging natural objects they find outdoors. They show care for their environment by watering plants and noticing changes in the garden. Children talk confidently about concepts such as full and empty and heavy and light, and they enjoy sharing their discoveries with their friends.
Children behave kindly and respectfully. They cooperate, take turns and respond positively to gentle guidance from staff. Children show growing emotional awareness. They use a simple colour-coded area and familiar stories to help them recognise and talk about their feelings, and they use signs alongside speech to express how they feel. These routines help children understand their emotions and develop secure friendships.
Children develop a strong sense of belonging. They see themselves and their families represented on a dedicated family board and enjoy shared experiences, such as preparing for community events or joining in with familiar songs and games. These positive relationships and inclusive routines help children feel secure, connected and ready to learn. Children show pride in their achievements and approach new experiences with confidence, knowing that staff celebrate their efforts and value their individuality.
What Ofsted found in each area
Inclusion: Strong standard
Leaders have created a highly inclusive culture where children's individual needs are identified quickly and supported effectively. Staff use visual prompts, targeted language and Makaton to help children understand routines, express their needs and engage fully with others. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), those who speak English as an additional language and those facing barriers to learning, participate confidently in daily routines through consistent repetition and clear visual cues.
Staff work closely with families and external professionals to implement timely, structured support. Adaptations to the environment are thoughtfully planned so that children participate fully alongside their peers. Small-group sessions strengthen turn-taking, attention and shared enjoyment. Staff use simple breathing routines to help children settle and self-regulate, while monitoring children's progress carefully to refine targeted support.
Leaders direct additional funding strategically, ensuring that specialised resources and targeted staff training improve outcomes for disadvantaged children. Parents value the tailored guidance they receive and report noticeable improvements in their children's communication and social development at home.
Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard
Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum that reflects children's interests, starting points and developmental needs. Curiosity, creativity and exploration are central to this design, with communication and language, personal, social and emotional development and physical development given clear priority. Teaching across the team is consistently purposeful and of high quality.
Interactions are meaningful and rooted in a secure understanding of child development. Staff use ongoing assessment to adapt experiences in real time, modelling rich language, extending children's thinking and using visual supports to clarify expectations. Staff carry children's next steps with them, enabling them to respond skilfully to emerging learning opportunities during play. For example, during play, staff intentionally use open-ended questions to prompt children to think critically, test ideas and explain what they observe.
Circle time is delivered in a lively, engaging way that encourages children to listen closely to clues and make connections with their topic knowledge. Staff sensitively scaffold imaginative play to deliberately develop vocabulary and social communication. Teaching is highly responsive, ensuring that interactions are seamlessly adapted so all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, learn alongside their peers.
Achievement: Strong standard
Children secure and retain the foundational knowledge they need for later learning. They confidently use new vocabulary, recall previous learning and apply what they know in different contexts. For example, children remember that another name for a whale is an 'orca' and use this spontaneously during imaginative play. During water play investigations, children determine how different tools affect the speed and flow of water and use mathematical terms such as 'full' and 'empty' to describe weight.
Early literacy and mathematical skills develop effectively. Children recognise letters, trace shapes with control and handle tools with increasing precision. They apply these skills independently during play, showing a clear transfer of early writing across different contexts. During self-registration, children talk about the letters in their names, demonstrating a deepening awareness of letters and sounds. Children also compare quantities, explore capacity, match numbers and explore length and shape, such as when adapting play dough models to make objects shorter or longer.
All children, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make secure progress from their individual starting points. They listen attentively, follow instructions, cooperate with others and show increasing independence. These positive outcomes mean that children are well prepared for the next stage of their education.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard
Children thrive in a calm, positive environment where expectations for behaviour are clear and fully embedded. Staff model respectful language and calm responses, helping children learn how to manage their feelings and respond thoughtfully to others. Children show confidence, emotional stability and secure social skills. They take turns, share resources willingly and support their friends with kindness.
Routines and transitions are well taught and highly consistent. Children self-register on arrival, respond immediately when the bell signals tidy-up time and understand the flow of the day. Snack routines are secure. Children select fruit using tongs, pour drinks and clear away plates, showing independent cooperation. Staff adapt expectations sensitively for younger children and those who face barriers to learning so that everyone participates successfully.
Children show enthusiasm for learning and approach new experiences with curiosity. They sustain attention during activities and show resilience when tasks become challenging. Structured child-initiated games help children develop listening, counting and early school readiness skills. Children confidently predict outcomes, showing secure understanding of number and sequence. These routines reinforce expectations that underpin the curriculum, and leaders promote regular attendance through collaborative relationships with families.
Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard
Children's welfare and wellbeing are consistently prioritised. Staff know children deeply and respond with warmth and sensitive support, helping them feel safe, settled and emotionally secure. Settling-in procedures are effective, enabling even the newest children to build trusting relationships quickly and separate from parents with confidence.
Children develop a secure understanding of their emotions. Staff use stories, visual prompts and calm, supportive conversations to help children recognise, name and manage their feelings. Children use simple colour-coded tools to show how they feel, and staff use these insights to identify patterns and provide timely support. Groups of children talk together about why someone might feel a certain emotion, showing growing emotional literacy.
Healthy habits are promoted naturally throughout the daily routine. Children learn about handwashing through simple songs, explore nutritious snacks and enjoy physical activities that support their gross motor and fine motor development. Children show confidence and independence as they make choices, manage familiar routines and form positive relationships with staff and peers. Parents value the nurturing environment and its positive impact on their children's wellbeing.
Leadership and governance: Strong standard
Leaders have established a clear, ambitious vision centred on inclusion, communication and wellbeing. This vision is reflected in daily practice, staff interactions and curriculum design. Leaders have an accurate understanding of the setting's strengths and priorities and take thoughtful decisions that support children's learning and progression.
Monitoring is purposeful and has strengthened key aspects of teaching practice and children's learning experiences. Systems for tracking progress are well established and used by staff to identify gaps, inform next steps and secure timely interventions. Information about children's current learning goals is embedded within the environment, enabling staff to adapt interactions in real time and demonstrate how curriculum intent translates into daily provision.
Supervision, professional discussions and team meetings ensure that staff respond swiftly and effectively to children's changing needs. Leaders review the impact of interventions and use additional funding carefully to refine provision. Staff feel valued and supported. Leaders are mindful of workload and wellbeing and ensure that professional development strengthens practice across the team. Leaders work effectively with external agencies to secure coordinated support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
What the setting must and should do next
The provider should:
- Leaders should continue to refine professional development to ensure emerging best practice becomes embedded consistently across the team and sustained over time.
Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 3 June 2026. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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)
Other nurseries nearby
- The Butterfly Patch - Day nursery, Cobham KT11 2TW, ages 1 to 4, 36 places, 0.2 milesOfsted, 12 August 2025: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Kids Planet Cobham - Day nursery, Cobham KT11 2AA, 83 places, 0.3 miles
- Cobham Montessori Nursery School - Pre-school, Cobham KT11 2AF, 40 places, 0.3 milesOfsted, 8 November 2016: Outstanding overall
- Oasis Charity Ltd - Pre-school, Cobham KT11 2AE, ages 2 to 4, 24 places, 0.3 milesOfsted, 27 November 2024: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Little Acorns Day Nursery - Day nursery, Cobham KT11 2AX, ages 0 to 4, 57 places, 0.4 milesOfsted, 21 February 2024: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
Schools nearby
- Cobham Montessori School - Prep, 0.3 miles
- St Andrew's Church of England Primary School - Primary, 0.4 miles
- Feltonfleet - Independent, 0.8 miles
- Cobham Free School - All-through, 0.9 miles
- Notre Dame School - Senior, 0.9 miles