Bombini Tribe Day Nursery

Two adjoining rooms, gardens for outdoor play and a forest garden within school grounds give Bombini Tribe Day Nursery a clear character: small-scale preschool provision with plenty of room for exploration. Based at Downs View Infant School in Kennington, Ashford, it combines quieter indoor corners with water play, planting and opportunities to investigate the natural world. The setting has 20 places in total and welcomes children from 20 months.

At its February 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective. The important detail behind that judgement is a day built around children's interests, conversation and practical activity, with an improvement needed in how consistently adults let children manage tasks themselves.

Honeybees serves younger children, while Bombini's provides the preschool space; the groups spend time together during the day. Morning and full-day sessions run during term time, Monday to Thursday. That combination gives families a choice of shorter attendance or a day extending into the afternoon, within a school-term routine.

Rooms and Ages

Honeybees accommodates under-threes in a cosy room, with an attached garden and surrounding decking that extend play outdoors. Bombini's sits beside it within the school and emphasises exploration and independence in a home-like play space. Bringing the groups together during the day gives children contact beyond their own room while retaining separate spaces for their stage of development.

Quiet corners are part of the indoor arrangement, alongside areas for creative and expressive play. Children can choose a calmer activity independently rather than having every part of the day organised as a group experience. Resources are selected around children's interests, so the room's use can follow what children want to investigate.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning, development and care: here, children learn through play, combining activities they choose with experiences guided by adults. Development Matters, curriculum guidance used to support the provision, sits alongside that framework. The practical emphasis is on offering tasks that children can manage while also giving them something new to attempt. This is a description of the nursery's approach to the shared framework, rather than a separate educational entitlement.

In February 2025, role play prompted children to talk together as they pretended to prepare favourite meals. A guessing activity using a hive held their attention, while learning about birds encouraged discussion of nature. These examples give a useful picture of language woven into play: children had something concrete to talk about, rather than conversation being confined to a separate lesson.

Mathematical activity was similarly practical that February. Different containers and guttering gave children a problem involving moving water; puzzles brought counting into play, and older children persisted with patterns involving shapes and colours. Stories, songs and instruments added another route into communication, including making sounds to accompany a weather rhyme. The activities connected ideas with things children could handle, hear and try for themselves.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor access is a substantial part of the current offer. Honeybees has an enclosed garden where children can move between indoor and outdoor play throughout the day, in different weather conditions. Its equipment includes a mud kitchen, water play and a planting area. The decking provides further outdoor space, so exploration is not confined to a single garden activity.

Bombini's garden also allows children to move freely outdoors during the day. Climbing tyres add a physical challenge, while water play and a mud kitchen support investigation and pretend play. Trees and quieter places give children other ways to use the space, including looking for natural objects and watching squirrels.

The Forest Garden, a space on the school site used for exploring nature, broadens that offer beyond the rooms' own gardens. Children also use a playing field, a mindfulness garden and the Reception play area within the school grounds. Nature walks in the local recreation ground extend exploration into the surrounding community. For families who value outdoor activity, the useful feature is the variety of spaces and experiences, rather than simply the presence of a garden.

Relationships and Communication

In February 2025, staff used familiar routines and clear signals to help children pause and listen. Adults also encouraged children to show one another how to manage everyday self-care. Learning to wash hands or wipe a nose therefore had a social element as well as a practical purpose: children could demonstrate a skill to a friend.

Books went home for families to share at that time, extending reading beyond the nursery day. Staff also worked with local schools and gave families information about the move to school, with close contact involving the neighbouring school. Those are concrete forms of communication: something to use together at home, and preparation for the next stage.

Independence needs more consistent attention. In February 2025, children could choose resources and materials for their own pictures, but adults sometimes took over dressing and pouring drinks that children could have attempted themselves. The improvement action was to help staff recognise more of these opportunities. For parents, the question is how encouragement translates into everyday routines, especially when getting ready to go outside or managing a drink.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the February 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities were supported well through individual plans, targeted language work and signing, and that children made good progress. These mechanisms matter because they connect support to a child's next steps and provide ways to communicate beyond spoken words alone.

Morning snacks are supplied without a charge, with milk and water offered; children attending a full day bring a healthy packed lunch, and every child brings a water bottle. During February 2025, making vegetable soup and practising self-care gave children practical experiences linked to looking after their health.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery operates during term time, Monday to Thursday. Morning sessions begin at 8:00am and finish at 11:45am; full-day sessions run from 8:00am until 3:30pm. These are separate booking patterns, making shorter mornings and attendance into the afternoon part of the same offer.

Private childcare is available for children who do not qualify for funded hours and for additional sessions beyond their funding. Private charges are session-based, payable in advance and billed each half term. Families should obtain a current written quotation covering their chosen attendance and any deposit before agreeing the arrangement.

Getting There

The address is Downs View Infant School, Ball Lane, Kennington, Ashford, Kent, TN25 4PJ. Enquiries can be made using the contact form or by telephone on 07485 736120.

The nursery describes Downs View Infant School as an early-education partner and shares its site. Attendance at the nursery does not guarantee a Reception place: families still apply through the local authority's school admissions process. The school connection offers a context for transition work, rather than an admissions advantage.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers the Universal Funded Entitlement, Working Families Entitlement and Free for Two's childcare funding for eligible children. Provision runs during term time. Eligibility remains a condition of receiving funding, while additional private sessions sit separately from the funded entitlement.

The food arrangement also applies to the nursery day: morning snacks carry no charge, while full-day lunches come from home. A deposit may be requested to hold a place. Payment arrangements and the session-based charge structure are covered on the funding and fees page.

• Term-time attendance. Morning and full-day sessions run Monday to Thursday. Families needing Friday care or childcare during school holidays will need an arrangement that covers those periods.
• Everyday independence. The February 2025 improvement action concerned adults taking over tasks children could try themselves. On a visit, ask how dressing and pouring drinks now give children time to practise.
• Deposit refunds. The refund terms describe both repayment within the first term after starting and repayment at the end of the school year, potentially against the final bill. Agree the applicable refund timing in writing before paying a deposit.
• Packed lunches and everyday supplies. Full-day children bring lunch and all children bring water bottles. Alongside those preparations, ask which non-food consumables families should supply.

Bombini Tribe suits families seeking either morning sessions or full-day attendance within a Monday-to-Thursday, term-time pattern. Its strongest practical appeal is the combination of small overall capacity, separate younger-child and preschool spaces, and outdoor experiences extending from room gardens to the wider school grounds.

The February 2025 judgement gives a positive inspection position, while the independence action supplies a useful point to explore on a visit. The school-site relationship supports preparation for moving on, but a Reception application remains a separate family responsibility. For parents who value play, nature and shorter-session choice, this is a coherent offer with clear boundaries around attendance.