Emma's Day Nursery Pre-School

A woodland story telling circle and a parish hall divided into learning zones give Emma's Day Nursery Pre-School its character. Based at the Annunciation Church Small Hall on Charminster Road in Bournemouth, it welcomes children aged two to five and has capacity for 24 children. The hall offers space for different activities; two gardens take exploration outside.

At its September 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the pre-school Outstanding across all graded areas and found safeguarding effective. The detail behind that judgement matters: children used stories, conversation, counting and imaginative play to develop their learning.

The attendance offer is term-time, with a full day ending at 2.45pm and a shorter half day ending at 1.15pm. This is a pre-school timetable rather than care extending into the working evening. Funded hours are offered, with meals and supplementary services treated differently for funded and wholly private places.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage brings learning, development and care together through play, conversation and practical activity. Here, the sample timetable gives that framework a recognisable shape: children choose resources, spend time with their key worker, work with numbers and shapes, and tackle problems together or independently. There is room for child-led exploration alongside adult-planned teaching.

Key Worker Group Time provides small-group activities shaped around children's interests. A daily welcome combines a weather chart with a story linked to the current topic, while a letter of the week connects with show and tell. These are useful bridges between something a child knows or brings from home and the language being explored at pre-school.

ECAT, expanded as Every child a talker, uses circle-time activities to encourage speech and language. Music and movement with French combines movement with a story and musical theme. Both give communication a place in the timetable beyond sitting down with a book: children can talk, listen and respond through shared activity.

In September 2024, children sang familiar rhymes in different languages and connected their learning with countries and flags. Practitioners also developed vocabulary during an imaginary café game. The important detail is the connection between words and experience: language was used to extend play.

Storytelling had a similarly active role that September. Children joined in recurring phrases, recognised characters and began telling stories themselves. Alongside this, they explored sounds, recognised letters from their names and chose to practise writing. Counting and measuring were woven into activities too, giving early mathematics a practical purpose.

Outdoor and Community Life

Two gardens extend the learning space beyond the hall. The woodland story telling circle gives stories an outdoor setting, while garden play includes opportunities to run, use equipment and choose activities with other children. This is useful variety for children who need movement between quieter experiences.

Garden action games and indoor P.E. with small apparatus provide movement during the sample day. Full-day children also have afternoon outdoor play and stories.

Curriculum + is a supplementary package that may add visiting enrichment, events, digital journals, branded bags and consumables. Its examples include Baby Ballet and summer and Christmas parties. These are potential additions, rather than a promise that each runs to a fixed frequency; the package also has a practical charging consequence for funded families.

Relationships and Communication

Small-group work with a key worker provides a regular connection in the day, using children's individual interests as starting points for learning.

In September 2024, younger children sought comfort from practitioners, while older children independently organised activities. Adults also helped children think about how someone new might feel. These observations describe settling as both an individual relationship with an adult and something the wider group can help with.

In September 2024, practitioners discussed children's progress with parents and sent learning folders home containing activity ideas. This gave families something practical to use between pre-school days, rather than leaving the child's learning entirely within the setting.

In September 2024, children shared completed artwork with friends, using their creations as starting points for conversation.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the September 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that practitioners developed precise individual plans for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, working with professionals including health visitors to support access to learning. The mechanism is important: support was organised around individual needs and professional collaboration, rather than a general statement of welcome.

The pre-school accommodates children's differing needs for sleep and rest. Its sample menu includes a light savoury brunch followed by fruit, with milk or water at eating times and drinking water accessible during the session. For parents, the combination makes rest, food and drink part of the practical day alongside learning.

Sessions and Attendance

At Annunciation Church Small Hall, 218 Charminster Road, Bournemouth, BH8 9RW, full day provision runs from 8am to 2.45pm and half day provision from 8am to 1.15pm.

Attendance follows a 38-week year, with closure during holiday periods and on bank holidays unless otherwise confirmed. The detailed session arrangements give Monday to Thursday as the operating days and direct Friday bookings to the sister setting. The Friday discrepancy is a decision point below.

General enquiries can be made by telephone on 01202 773 816 or by email to emma@emmasdaynursery.co.uk. Booking involves an application and a holding deposit. Once an application has been accepted, that deposit is non-refundable if the place is not taken up; after attendance begins, its eventual return is subject to the contractual terms.

The terms require three months' written notice to withdraw a child or reduce sessions, with fees payable instead when the notice requirement is not met. This deserves attention before committing to an attendance pattern, especially where a parent's working arrangements may change. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Getting There

The church car park is accessed directly from Charminster Road, and families must leave reserved spaces for their designated users and consider other church users. Parking is therefore shared with the church's wider activity, rather than exclusive to the pre-school.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded early education is offered subject to eligibility, with the terms describing 15 or 30 hours a week over a minimum of 38 weeks. A separate parental agreement sets out the funding arrangement. Private hours are also charged, making the mix of funded and privately paid attendance relevant to the overall quotation.

Meals are included for wholly unfunded places; funded or partly funded attendance carries a separate meal charge. Curriculum +, including consumables such as wipes, is likewise included for wholly unfunded places, while funded and partly funded places have a variable charge linked to the hours taken. These distinctions matter because funded hours and the services around them are separate parts of the bill.

The pre-school fees and session information covers these charges; the written quotation should include meals and Curriculum +.

• Friday arrangements. The detailed session terms specify Monday to Thursday, while other opening descriptions include Friday. Ask which days the Charminster Road pre-school itself will provide under your proposed contract, since the detailed terms direct Friday bookings to West Way.
• Funded-place extras. Meals and Curriculum + are included for wholly private places but charged separately for funded or partly funded attendance. Obtain a written breakdown for your chosen hours so the distinction is clear before signing.
• Settling into the group. Key Worker Group Time links activities to individual interests. During a visit, ask how that relationship is introduced and how the first sessions would be organised for your child.
• Changing attendance. The terms require three months' written notice for withdrawal or reduced sessions. Consider how that commitment fits changes to work or family routines before agreeing the pattern.

Emma's Day Nursery Pre-School suits families seeking either a shorter half day or a term-time full day, with a hall-and-garden setting and a structured mix of language, stories, movement and practical learning. ECAT and Music and movement with French give its sample day recognisable detail; the woodland story telling circle adds a physical feature that belongs to this location.

The September 2024 Outstanding judgement is a substantial strength. The practical decision rests on whether the term-time calendar, early afternoon finish and funded-place extras fit family life. Resolve the Friday arrangements before committing, and weigh the notice terms alongside the educational offer.