ABOUT US
Who are we?
Dream it
CSS Activities is an Ofsted Registered children’s holiday childcare provision, offering varied holiday supervision for children aged 5-11. We started at the wonderful Oakwood School in Chichester in 2021, with an expansion to the spectacular Ardingly College in West Sussex and Ditcham Park School in Petersfield. Our provision ensure all children attending have a fun-filled day, full to the brim with a wide variety of activities. We offer flexible day lengths to help support working families and optional full week / single day bookings. We hope to fit around the busy schedules modern families juggle on a daily basis. Alongside our holiday childcare provisions, we run Chichester Swim School from the pool at Oakwood School. For more information on what the swim school has to offer,
click here.
Build it
During the COVID 19 Pandemic, Charlie (Director of Chichester Swim School) suddenly had a bit of time on his hands due to the National Lockdown of all Swimming Pools in the UK. With the support of the wonderful team at Oakwood, he began to run the in-house holiday provisions for Oakwood School children. Building a timetable of activities alongside an incredible team of specialist teachers and supervisory staff, he was able to offer a provision that offered something for everyone. Realising a new and exciting pathway was being discovered, this led to the development of CSS Activities, a multi-activity year-round Ofsted registered holiday provision. Following 2 successful years at Oakwood, an opportunity arose at Ardingly College and we are thrilled to be able to offer our provision to more families across West Sussex.
What sets us apart from the rest?
Collaborations
CSS Activities teams up with local specialist providers, allowing us to offer an extensive variety of activities. We are delighted with our partnership with Mikey Pearce, our Forest School specialist. CSS Activities believes in the importance of a strong connection with the outdoors and Mikey’s skills and knowledge bring a unique and exciting perspective to multi-activity childcare.
Safe
We guarantee the safety of your children during their time with us. We ensure our ratios are well within the recommended guidelines, offering a supportive and well-supervised time during all activities.
Setting
We are so lucky to use the wonderful facilities at 2 of West Sussex’s private Schools and 1 Hampshire private School. The sites boast extensive sports fields, magical and exciting woodland, multi-purpose courts, theatres, swimming pools(not in Hampshire), adventure playgrounds and much much more.
A typical day with CSS Activities
From the morning ‘meet and greet’ to late pick-up, our aim is to provide a fun, supported and safe, experience for all children. Our goal is for children to leave feeling positive, energised and happy, having made new friends, experienced new environments and learnt new crafts. We offer a wide range of activities, including but not limited to:
Forest School and Bushcraft
Woodland time plays a central focus in our childcare provisions, not only because of the wonderful settings and expertise of our specialist woodland team, but because we have seen first hand the opportunities freedom in the woods offers children. Relationships with friends growing, understanding and respecting nature, honing in on creative skills. Some of the most rewarding moments have been sitting round a camp fire in the woods, toasting marshmallows and talking about our day. The woods offer something for everyone.
Bikes!
Our biking sessions are run by qualified mountain-biking instructors, so this isn’t just a ‘ride-around-a-field’ kind of day! With learn-to-ride sessions, woodland tracks, assault courses, jumps and more, these wonderful sessions are one of our most popular activities on offer! Sorry parents - it does mean bringing a bike and helmet on site, but we promise you it’s worth it! Jethro is one of our main specialists and you can find out more about his wonderful business ‘Hepworth Cycles’
Archery
These fun and interactive sessions are differentiated to the needs and ages of our children, with suction arrows for our youngest to the full archery kit with proper arrows for our older/experienced archers! This activity takes patience and concentration, but when it’s your turn wow it’s a lot of fun!
Sport
With multi-sport courts, fields and extensive in-door facilities at our sites, we’re lucky to be able to host a multitude of sporting activities. Our team of sport leaders offer an abundance of knowledge, not only supervising play but also offering the opportunity to hone in on skills. We regularly have external specialists coming in to offer specific sessions in addition to our daily variety of offerings. These include football, dodgeball, rounders, tennis, basketball/netball, cricket, athletics and more. We also LOVE a mini-olympics, with one day each summer dedicated to this excellent team-building, crowd-cheering experience.
Arts and Crafts
If your child is crafty they will be guaranteed to enjoy our creative sessions. With set activities as well as the freedom to choose your own artistic direction, our arts and crafts sessions offer something for everyone, including painting, tie dye, modelling and more, all with a sprinkle of glitter!
Yoga and Mindfulness
Our provision is a non-stop whirlwind of activity, so taking a moment to breathe, reflect and focus the mind has become a hugely positive and popular activity amongst our core provision. With qualified Yoga instructors, mindfulness coaches and mental health first aiders, these relaxed sessions can be a safe place for our children to pause.
Swimming
Our wonderful team of swimming teachers at Chichester Swim School love to get involved with our holiday provisions, offering a variety of fun water-based activities. Children learn so much by having free time in the water. Increasing confidence in the water through play often builds swimming skills and supports what children learn in formal lessons. Being able to do this in a safe environment with swimming teachers and lifeguards to hand is the perfect opportunity for positive and proactive exploration.
Baking
From flapjacks to cheesecakes, we love to get busy in the kitchen. Facilities offer us the ability to host specialist sessions with our trained staff, with recipes that can be adapted to fit the dietary needs of all of our children. It also offers a great opportunity to discuss nutrition and a healthy balanced diet in a fun and relaxed environment.
Performing
As a music teacher who trained to be an operatic singer, Charlie’s passion lies in the performing arts and therefore he is delighted to offer the opportunity to involve music and the arts into a holiday provision. Our music sessions include singing, rhythm work on percussion instruments, drama, dance and so much more. If your child’s passion is in the arts, we have activities to suit.
Bounce fitness with Donna!
We’re so lucky to have Donna join us at both our Ardingly and Oakwood sites! These kangaroo-style shoes are a HUGE hit with the children, including bouncing, dancing, games and more. Donna also offers adult fitness classes, birthday parties and other events and we can’t recommend her enough. Check out her website.
Free play
One of our central goals is to give the children the freedom to decide how they would like to play. We offer free play and choice regularly, fitting around our selection of activities. Watching these free-time moments, it is clear that so much can be learnt, including understanding boundaries, discovering new activities and learning about friendships. Offering a bit of independence can be so hugely beneficial in a child’s learning journey.
