Community comes together to support Newtown Soberton village preschool
Earlybirds, the charity preschool situated alongside Newtown Soberton Infant School near Wickham in the Meon Valley, has felt the warmth and support of the local community in recent weeks in the amazingly generous response to its fundraising efforts.
We’re a proud Ofsted-rated ‘GOOD’ nursery nestled in the heart of the countryside, where every day is filled with wonder, learning, and laughter. At Earlybirds, we believe in creating magical, nurturing experiences for our youngest learners—helping them grow, explore, and thrive in a safe and inspiring environment.
Our beautiful rural setting is more than just a location—it’s a community. We cherish the close-knit relationships we build with families and neighbours, and we love that our children get to experience nature, fresh air, and the warmth of village life as part of their everyday learning.
However, being in a rural area comes with its own set of challenges. Like many in the education sector, we’re facing financial pressures, and for nurseries and pre-schools, funding is directly tied to the number of children attending.
We currently have spaces in the preschool due to the current cohort being part of a historically low birth-rate year (our rural location compounds this issue). We are holding a drop-in Open Day at the preschool on Saturday 11 October, 9am until 12pm (poster attached) where we hope to share the Earlybirds magic with prospective parents. We also welcome interested parents to visit the setting by appointment at any time.
Here’s a testimonial from one of our current parents, Maddy C: "The most incredible pre-school where children are encouraged to learn through play. They offer exceptional indoor and outdoor resources including mud kitchen, obstacle course building, sand pit activities, role play areas, reading and writing areas and most importantly incredible messy play activities!
"The staff are amazing and very experienced in working with children. No two days are ever the same at Earlybirds, keeping the children engaged and excited to explore different activities every day. We are so happy that we chose this preschool for our children.”
Fundraising and community support:
The Earlybirds Committee reached out to our wonderful community in September for support, beginning with a GoFundMe campaign asking for help via a monetary donation, spreading the word, recommending us to friends, or simply sharing this message; every little bit helps us keep Earlybirds flying high while we increase our numbers: https://gofund.me/4d94ba148.
We have seen a wonderful response so far, raising more than £3000, with the campaign continuing to run. We would welcome further donations from the wider community!
We also held an Autumn Fundraiser on Friday 3 October in the school hall, with a raffle, bottle tombola, and cake stall, raising £1783.17!
These funds will be used to provide resources, learning materials and cover essential expenditure to enrich the lives of the youngest members of our community. As well as our amazing Earlybirds and school families and staff, we would like to thank the following local businesses and organisations for their support in providing prizes for the raffle or assisting with ticket sales:
- Barnards Coffee House & Restaurant, Denmead
- Birch Tree Yoga, Wickham
- Confiserie Verdonk, Wickham
- Hemmings, Wickham
- McCarthy’s Fruit and Vegetables, Shedfield
- Paint a Pot Party, Hambledon
- Sophie Bailey cakes
- White Lion Pub, Soberton
We are welcoming further donations of funds or goods from local businesses or organisations; we would also love to explore charity partnerships where business can have a direct positive impact in our community (please also contact us if you’d like to contribute or donate funds on a regular basis).
Please look out for more details on our Christmas fundraiser coming soon!
Thank you again to the local community for being part of our journey and supporting our precious village preschool.