Bears Hideaway Nursery

A sandpit inside a summer house, a custom-made tree house and rooms opening straight onto gardens give Bears Hideaway Nursery a clear outdoor identity. This Southbourne setting has capacity for 45 children, accepting ages from three months to five years. Its youngest children stay in their own base, while older groups move between rooms arranged for different kinds of play. The practical appeal is easy to understand: children can change activities and get outside without the whole day revolving around one room.

At its March 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good overall, found safeguarding effective and praised support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, while requiring sharper teaching during play and more consistent language modelling. Those teaching points matter alongside the positive judgement. Warm care and an appealing environment do not, by themselves, tell families how far a child's learning will be extended.

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Thursday, across 50 weeks of the year. Funded and privately paid childcare sit alongside each other, with different resource packages for funded attendance. That choice affects more than the bill: it changes access to the nature garden, outings and photographs.

Rooms and Ages

All the children's rooms are on the ground floor and connect directly with the gardens. The youngest group, tiny bears, stays in its base; little bears, big bears and pre school bears move between activity rooms. This gives babies continuity of space while older children use different environments during their day.

The indoor arrangement includes a role play room, an art room and Bamboo's den, alongside rooms for construction and small-world play. Resources are organised by activity rather than every older group spending its day in a single base. For families, the useful distinction is between the youngest children's settled room arrangement and the movement built into older children's experience.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children's learning, development and care. Here, its scope can be understood through the March 2023 activities: counting materials, taking turns, exploring textures, listening to stories and practising everyday tasks such as handwashing. These connect early mathematics, communication, cooperation, sensory learning and independence. Bears Hideaway also uses its own curriculum, drawing on Development Matters and Mary Sheridan as developmental references. The practical detail lies in how staff observe children, discuss their development and plan what comes next, rather than in a curriculum brand.

Pathway to Progression forms track development and guide support through play. Staff also complete development sheets, identifying skills children are acquiring and those they are doing well with, and discuss observations with colleagues when a combined view would help. Parents contribute their view of development at home through a form covering seven areas every 16 weeks. This creates a route for home experiences to inform nursery planning.

In March 2023, older children used counting while making mud pies and negotiated turns with the mixing. Younger children joined songs with movement, while babies explored different sounds, textures and lights. These examples show how early mathematics, cooperation and sensory exploration can sit within play rather than requiring a separate lesson.

The same dated observations also expose the teaching challenge. In March 2023, staff sometimes stopped at naming parts of flowers instead of developing children's interest further, and some letter sounds were modelled inaccurately. The concern was about the quality of adults' contributions to play and early literacy, rather than a shortage of activities. A busy day needs purposeful conversation as well as attractive resources.

Outdoor and Community Life

The gardens are substantial parts of the offer. At the front, a nature garden contains a vegetable patch, bug hotel and compost house; behind the building, the play area includes climbing frames and covered space. The sandpit's summer-house setting allows digging and experimenting with pulley ropes, while bikes use a race track. Each offers a different kind of physical or exploratory play.

Babies have a separate outdoor area, divided by a small picket fence and surfaced with artificial grass for crawling. Direct access from the rooms makes outdoor play part of the building's everyday arrangement. Some days involve more than four hours outside, including puddles, planting, mud play and investigating bugs. This is a substantial preference to weigh, not a minor addition to the indoor day.

Access needs reading alongside the funded package choice. The paid resource package includes the nature garden and outings; the basic funded package excludes that garden and walks beyond the nursery. Families choosing between the packages are therefore choosing different experiences as well as different food arrangements.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key person, with relationships also developed across the staff in their room. Settling conversations cover development, behaviour, social skills and life at home, and parents complete an All about me form. A review after four weeks considers the child's play and interests. Together, these give staff a starting picture of the child and an early opportunity to revisit how settling is going.

Look at me photographs are sent weekly through WhatsApp, illustrating something a child is working on. For children using the basic funded resource package, communication instead includes a weekly message about one aspect of learning, without photographs. The distinction matters if pictures of the nursery day are an important part of how a family wants to stay connected.

In March 2023, babies received support tailored to their needs when starting, and older children practised managing feelings and cooperating with others. Everyday independence also had a place: children dealt with coats, washed hands before eating and practised feeding themselves. These are useful examples of care routines doubling as opportunities to build confidence in manageable tasks.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that the special educational needs and disabilities coordinator worked closely with families, colleagues and other professionals, with children gaining confidence and participating in group activities. That is a dated finding about the support children experienced, rather than a blanket promise about every future need.

Current arrangements include a designated safeguarding lead, staff DBS checks and paediatric first-aid training for senior staff and most other team members. Those are specific arrangements; the dated safeguarding judgement remains the basis for assessing effectiveness.

A nursery cook prepares fresh meals each day, and meals are included in privately paid daily fees. In March 2023, meal planning involved discussion with staff and families about preferences, dietary needs and allergies; funded-package food arrangements are different and are set out below.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 6a Stourwood Avenue, Southbourne, Bournemouth, BH6 3PN. Enquiries can be made by email to enquiries@bearshideawaynursery.co.uk or by telephone on 01202 422987.

The nursery opens Monday to Thursday, from 8am to 6pm, for 50 weeks each year. Fridays and bank holidays are closure days, alongside a summer week and the Christmas period. A family needing Friday childcare therefore needs to factor that into its weekly arrangements from the outset.

Privately paid daily childcare and additional paid days are also offered.

Funding and Paid Extras

Stretched funding includes up to 11.25 weekly hours of universal entitlement for children aged three and over. Eligible working parents can access up to 22.5 weekly hours at Bears Hideaway for children from nine months to five years, while two-year-olds who do not qualify for working-parent funding may qualify for Two's Too funding. For four-year-olds, the local authority reduces funding in the final term before school starts. Hours beyond a child's funded allowance are charged privately.

The funding and fees terms offer an opt-in paid Extra Resource Package or a free Basic Resource Package. Under the paid option, food is included in the package charge, together with access to the nature garden, outings and photographs. The basic option requires families to send food that meets the nursery's lunchbox policy, and replaces photographs with the weekly learning message.

The package choice also affects cards for parents, the Santa present and show, and a leavers party or present. These are included in the paid package; the basic package excludes them, although families can choose to pay for the seasonal or leaving celebrations. Families meeting the criteria for Deprivation Supplement or EYPP pay only for food. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

There is a further practical condition in the basic-package terms: after its own staffing contingency has been exhausted, the nursery states that a child will be sent home if staffing is insufficient. It deserves close attention before choosing the package.

• Outdoor preference and package choice. Children can spend more than four hours outdoors on some days, but the basic funded package excludes the nature garden and walks. At a visit, discuss how the outdoor day works for a child using that package and for a child less comfortable with mud and wet weather.
• Continuity of funded attendance. The basic-package terms allow a child to be sent home after staffing contingencies are exhausted. Ask how families are contacted and what this condition means for their working day.
• Teaching beyond the activity. In March 2023, teaching did not consistently extend children's play, and some letter sounds were modelled incorrectly. Ask for examples of how practitioners now develop children's questions and support early language.
• The weekly timetable. Friday is a closure day, with additional summer and Christmas closures. Match the nursery calendar to your childcare requirements before committing to an attendance pattern.

Bears Hideaway suits families who value outdoor play, direct garden access and an indoor day that allows older children to move between activity spaces. Babies retain a more settled base. The Monday-to-Thursday opening suits families whose childcare requirements fit those days; Friday closure is a decisive practical consideration.

The March 2023 Good judgement gives a positive starting point, tempered by specific concerns about extending play and modelling language. For funded attendance, the resource-package decision carries unusual weight: food, garden access, outings, photographs and continuity conditions all need to be considered together. Choose the experience as carefully as the hours.