Mighty Oaks Day Nursery & Preschool

Woodland walks, Astroturf play and a balcony garden give Mighty Oaks Day Nursery & Preschool a day that reaches well beyond its indoor rooms. Set within the Bournemouth University Sports Campus, this Christchurch nursery uses 65 acres of grounds for outdoor exploration throughout the year. Nature is part of the routine here, with discoveries brought indoors for further investigation and creative work.

Children can attend from birth to five, and the nursery has capacity for 44 children in total. At its January 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good, found safeguarding effective and judged that children made good progress from their starting points. That positive assessment sits alongside specific improvements needed in creative freedom and younger children's use of tools.

Little Acorns Room serves the youngest children, while Mighty Oaks Room is for those over two. Both connect to an enclosed balcony, giving children an outdoor option alongside trips into the wider grounds. Full days, mornings, afternoons and School Day sessions provide different attendance patterns.

Rooms and Ages

Little Acorns Room combines space for babies to explore and practise early movement with a double cot and a Dream Coracle for resting. Carpet and non-slip flooring provide different surfaces within the room. Its emphasis on exploring resources, socialising and taking first steps makes the room's purpose clear: early development through movement, interaction and play.

For children over two, Mighty Oaks Room brings together freely chosen resources, a science area and a reading corner furnished with armchairs and a sofa. Creative materials are accessible for drawing, painting and making. These arrangements give children choices within their day, from a quieter spell with books to practical investigation or creative activity.

The dedicated Dining Room adds another kind of shared space. Children eat together and learn to serve themselves as they grow older, with flowers and tablecloths used to prepare the tables. Mealtimes therefore have a practical role in developing independence as well as providing food.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the required framework for learning and care, with children learning through play, exploration, movement and conversation. Alongside that common foundation, Mighty Oaks draws on Forest School, an approach based on practical exploration in woodland and natural surroundings. Here, that means regular forest walks and bringing natural finds back into the nursery to examine or use in activities.

This connection between outdoors and indoors matters. A walk supplies material for later investigation, rather than ending when the children return to their room. The nursery describes using magnifying glasses and reference books to explore what children have collected, giving their curiosity somewhere to go next.

In January 2025, babies experimented with instruments while staff supplied the names of what they were playing. Counting and recognising shapes also appeared in everyday routines, and dolls and a play kitchen supported pretend play. These examples show how familiar routines and play supported children's learning.

Regular yoga is included at no extra cost. In January 2025, children also practised ball skills, including catching and kicking, giving physical activity a place alongside quieter experiences. At the January 2025 inspection, Ofsted identified a need for children to have more freedom to develop their own ideas during adult-led crafts and for younger children to receive more consistent help using tools such as scissors safely. Those are useful points to explore through examples of current activities.

Outdoor and Community Life

The enclosed balcony extends both rooms, with supervised access during the day. Its sandpit, water play and construction resources allow outdoor activity close to the indoor spaces; a reading area offers a quieter alternative. This is a different experience from the larger grounds, where woodland, fields and enclosed Astroturf pitches support exploration and physical play.

Daily walks and outdoor exploration take place across the grounds, in all weathers. For a child who likes movement and natural materials, the setting offers repeated contact with both. Outdoor clothing is therefore a practical part of attending, rather than something reserved for occasional outings.

In January 2025, community experiences included visiting a care home and welcoming residents back to the nursery. Children also posted a letter at the post office and bought food at a supermarket. These activities connected nursery learning with recognisable tasks and people beyond the setting, giving everyday conversation and social interaction a real purpose.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has an assigned Key Worker, providing a named role through which parents can share routines, interests and changes at home. Introduction to Nursery Life sessions offer a gradual start, with parents able to participate and discuss their child's requirements. The prospectus offers one or two complimentary sessions lasting one or two hours, allowing familiarisation before the usual attendance pattern begins.

Home routines inform care, and regular conversations with staff provide a way to discuss development. Famly, the nursery's communication and development app, adds observations, assessments, photographs and videos that parents can access online. Families can also contribute news from home, so communication works in both directions.

The app also carries messages, invoices and account balances. That gives parents a practical route for administration as well as a view of their child's learning. It complements direct contact with staff rather than making development something discussed only at formal meetings.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In January 2025, staff used observations to identify children's next learning steps and developmental gaps, then shared this information with parents. Recent behaviour training had also informed how staff helped children manage feelings. These are concrete examples of how staff adjusted their work around individual children at that time.

The nursery works with families on toilet training and uses familiar language from home to support continuity. Children are encouraged to wash their hands after using the toilet and before eating, with help available when needed. In Little Acorns Room, resting facilities sit alongside the play resources, allowing sleep and quieter moments to form part of the youngest children's day.

Food is cooked on site each day by nursery staff, with menus developed alongside Early Years Nutrition Consultants. This connects meal preparation with planning specifically for young children.

Sessions and Attendance

Open from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, Mighty Oaks operates for 51 weeks of the year. Full Day sessions run from 8am to 6pm; Morning sessions finish at 1pm after an 8am start, and Afternoon sessions cover 1pm to 6pm. These are separate booking patterns, giving families an alternative to attending for the whole opening day.

Private School Day sessions run from 8.30am to 3.30pm. The funded School Day starts earlier, at 8am, and also finishes at 3.30pm. Occasional hourly top-ups provide another way to add attendance to an existing session, with those hours charged separately.

Closures include bank holidays, Christmas week and the Friday before the first May Bank Holiday for Bournemouth Rugby 7s. Christmas Eve has a 1pm finish. The additional Friday closure deserves attention when arranging work cover, because it falls outside the ordinary bank holiday itself.

Getting There

The address is Chapel Gate, Parley, Christchurch, BH23 6BL, within the Bournemouth University Sports Campus. Off-street parking is provided, making the campus setting practical for families travelling by car.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by telephone on 01202 572 416 or by email to info@mighty-oaks.co.uk. These provide direct routes for discussing attendance and the registration process.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes the 15 Hours Free Childcare and 30 Hours Free Childcare entitlements, subject to eligibility. Funding can be taken across 38 term-time weeks or stretched across 51 weeks; stretching the 30-hour entitlement provides 22 hours per week. Additional attendance beyond the funded allowance is charged privately, so the chosen pattern and the funded allocation need to be considered together.

Food is included according to the private session: Full Day includes breakfast, lunch, tea and snacks; Morning includes breakfast, lunch and a snack; Afternoon includes tea and a snack; private School Day includes lunch and a snack. For funded attendance, food is charged separately, and hourly top-ups also carry a food charge when food is required.

The suggested nursery kit includes nappies, wipes and sun cream supplied from home. Those supplies remain separate from the session's food arrangements. Regular yoga carries no additional charge.

Private registrations require a registration fee and deposit, including where a child combines funded attendance with private sessions. The deposit is refundable when the account is paid up and four weeks' written notice of departure has been given. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the sessions and fees page sets out the attendance and charge structure.

• Creative independence and tool use. January 2025 improvement points concerned children's own ideas in craft activities and younger children's safe use of tools. On a visit, ask for examples of how these activities now balance adult help with children's choices.
• Outdoor routines. Daily exploration of the grounds and supervised balcony play are central to the offer. Discuss how your child's outdoor clothing, rest needs and readiness for woodland activity fit into the day.
• Funded and private attendance. Food charges differ between these arrangements, and the funded School Day begins earlier than the private version. Match the proposed booking to a written quotation covering hours and meals together.
• Annual closures. Christmas week, the early Christmas Eve finish and the additional Friday closure for Bournemouth Rugby 7s affect working arrangements. Build those dates into the family's childcare cover.

Mighty Oaks suits families who want regular outdoor exploration alongside either full-day attendance or shorter morning and afternoon sessions. The grounds, enclosed balcony and room resources give children several ways to move, investigate and choose activities, while the Key Worker arrangement and Famly support contact with home.

The January 2025 Good judgement provides a positive inspection position, with specific creative and practical improvements to pursue. For parents attracted by woodland learning and a choice of attendance patterns, this is a setting with a clear character and useful practical options.