Fingers 'n' Thumbs Day Nursery

Twenty places, children aged two to five and an Outstanding inspection make Fingers 'n' Thumbs a compact Southbourne nursery with a clear educational edge. In January 2025, children were building a house from foam bricks in the outdoor area, adding a television, bedroom and chimney, then testing balancing beams as part of the same project. That is ambitious imaginative play with real work in collaboration, language and problem-solving.

The January 2025 inspection judged overall effectiveness, education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management Outstanding. Safeguarding arrangements were effective. The nursery has capacity for 20 children aged two to five, and publishes full-day care from 8.30am to 5.30pm alongside part-time places.

Learning and Named Experiences

The Early Years Foundation Stage is the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care. Here, it translates into planned activities across communication and language, physical development, personal, social and emotional development, literacy, mathematics, understanding the world, and expressive arts and design. The nursery says staff also adapt plans to the interests children bring that day. That gives a two-to-five-year-old both a deliberate progression and scope to pursue an idea that catches fire.

One project about penguins used a globe and discussion of species and habitats before a story, while outdoor house-building prompted children to create roles, mark out a building area and solve construction problems. Staff joined the play as participants and added vocabulary in conversations about insects. It is learning that starts with an activity but does not stop at the activity.

Each child has an individual story journal, with developmental progress recorded for discussion with parents. The routine also places self-reliance in ordinary moments: children are encouraged to dress and feed themselves and to help tidy after activities. That makes independence part of the day rather than a separate lesson.

Outdoor and Community Life

Physical provision is a strength of the published offer: bright rooms have natural daylight, with toys, books, sensory equipment and natural materials available for activities. Outdoors, the large purpose-built play area is more than a release valve. It was the setting for the foam-brick construction project, where children developed a shared idea over time and revised it when structures fell.

The nursery does not turn this into a branded programme. Instead, its published model is learning through planned play, with adults extending children’s interests through questions, language and roles. For families who value a smaller nursery with serious imaginative play, that combination carries more decision value than a long list of add-ons. Books, sensory equipment and natural materials give practitioners several ways to return to an interest rather than moving children through a fixed activity circuit.

Settling is deliberately gradual. The nursery offers settling-in sessions in the half-term before enrolment, then lets a parent stay during the first week for as long as needed while the child develops a relationship with a key person. The practical test it describes is simple: a child looks for that practitioner for comfort and starts to join activities with the other children. This is a thoughtful arrangement for a first separation, especially where a family wants to build attendance in stages.

Relationships were a major part of the January 2025 inspection. Practitioners were found to know children well, use precise assessments to plan next steps and build confidence through high-quality conversation. Children with SEND had detailed learning plans with targeted challenge and practice. The nursery has a SEN coordination role, a designated safeguarding lead role, equal-opportunities coordination, and staff induction covering paediatric first aid.

Parent communication has two layers. The individual story journal records progress for discussion, while families receive detailed information about children’s development and ways to support learning at home. Staff also work with parents on consistent solutions to care needs. That matters when a child needs continuity between home and nursery rather than an update at collection alone.

Fingers 'n' Thumbs is at 6 New Park Road, Southbourne, Bournemouth, BH6 5AB. It publishes weekday opening from 8.30am to 5.30pm, closing over Easter, for two weeks in August, on bank holidays and between Christmas and New Year. Families can book full-day childcare across the working week or discuss a part-time pattern.

The provider offers a stretched funded-entitlement model. Its published terms set attendance conditions for working-family and universal or additional-support funding, so the relevant entitlement and schedule need to be checked against the family’s circumstances. It publishes an optional consumables charge for funded hours attended by children aged three and four, and requests payment monthly in advance. Current nursery-specific prices are supplied in the provider’s written quotation.

• Settling. The nursery offers pre-start settling sessions and allows a parent to stay during the first week. Families should discuss the child’s preferred timetable and the key-person arrangement before agreeing a start date.

• Funding and extras. The published offer is stretched rather than term-time-only, with stated attendance conditions and an optional consumables charge for funded hours for three- and four-year-olds. Check the entitlement, attendance pattern and current charge position that apply to your child.

• Capacity and attendance. This is a 20-place nursery offering full-day and part-time care. Families in competitive areas often register more than a year before a child is born and may still be offered only some days; some bridge this with a second setting until their preferred pattern is possible, which brings more changes for the child and more logistics for parents.

• Dietary needs. Food, drink and allergy policies form part of the published policy set. A family managing an allergy should confirm the current food and allergy arrangements directly before joining.

Fingers 'n' Thumbs is best suited to families looking for a small, full-day nursery where imaginative play is used with genuine intellectual purpose. The evidence is unusually rich on the day-to-day substance: construction projects, thoughtful conversation, careful assessment and a firm emphasis on friendships and independence.

It also suits parents seeking either a full weekday pattern from 8.30am to 5.30pm or a part-time arrangement, provided they are comfortable with the published stretched funding model and the annual closures. The gradual settling offer and individual story journals make it a strong fit for children who benefit from continuity between home and nursery.