Sandcastle Nursery & Preschool

Treasure baskets for babies, stories told with puppets for toddlers, and a wood-chip garden used throughout the year give Sandcastle Nursery & Preschool a recognisable character. This Southbourne setting puts everyday play and growing independence together: children explore materials, practise communication and gradually take more responsibility for themselves. The detail matters more than a grand curriculum label.

At its September 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, finding effective safeguarding and positive development overall, while identifying that some older children's activities needed greater challenge and clearer learning intentions. That gives families a balanced starting point: encouraging findings on care and education, with a specific question about how preschool learning is extended.

The nursery takes children from birth to school age at 19 Stourcliffe Avenue, Bournemouth, BH6 3PU. Starfishes, Turtles and Seahorses organise the experience around different stages of development. Full-day, morning and afternoon bookings are offered, with a minimum attendance requirement that deserves attention when planning a working week.

Rooms and Ages

Starfishes serves children from birth to two, combining treasure baskets, bubbles and sensory exploration with songs, movement and soft-furnished spaces for quieter play. These are manageable ways for very young children to explore: an object to handle, a sound to repeat or a comfortable place to share a book. Individual routines also shape the day, rather than expecting every baby to sleep and feed together.

Turtles, for children aged two to three, gives language a practical place in play through stories, puppets and story spoons, alongside opportunities for art, role play and movement. Props give children something concrete to connect with a story. The emphasis is on expressing ideas and becoming more confident in communication, rather than treating books as an activity separate from the rest of the day.

Seahorses takes children from three to school age, bringing counting, mark-making and hands-on problem-solving together with everyday tasks such as pouring drinks and putting on coats. Learning to manage these small jobs is part of preparing for school. The room's mathematics includes comparing sizes, exploring patterns and connecting numbers with quantities, so early number work has a purpose children can recognise.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the common framework: children develop communication, physical and social skills through play, alongside early reading, mathematics, creativity and exploration of their surroundings. Sandcastle makes that visible through the room routines.

Seahorses also introduces mathematical ideas through describing positions and routes.

In September 2025, older children made clay hedgehogs after earlier experiences with play dough, while staff introduced words relating to animals' night-time activity and winter habits. The combination joined hand movements with discussion of the natural world. However, some older children's activities offered too little opportunity to reason or deepen their understanding; staff needed more precise intentions for what children should learn.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden has a natural wood-chip surface and is used in every season. Daily outdoor opportunities include balancing, climbing, running and movement games involving throwing and catching. That gives physical activity a regular place in the nursery routine, rather than making it dependent on an occasional special session.

Starfishes and Turtles often share outdoor play. Younger children can spend time alongside an older group while still following their own room routines. In September 2025, staff supported less confident climbers nearby and used mixed-age experiences to let younger children copy older children, who in turn practised taking responsibility. These were practical examples of learning through other children as well as adults.

Relationships and Communication

Settling starts with time together. Starfishes and Turtles offer a 30-minute play session with a parent, giving staff an opportunity to learn about the child while the parent remains alongside them. For Starfishes, a home visit is another option. This makes the first step personal: familiar routines and the child's interests can enter the conversation before independent attendance begins.

Each child has a key person. In Starfishes, that relationship begins during the introductory play session, when the practitioner learns about the child and their routine. Sleep, feeding and play follow individual patterns, and the baby provision includes a sleep room. For families with a baby, the useful combination is continuity between home and nursery and a place set aside for rest.

In September 2025, staff gathered information about children's needs and development at the start, shared individual progress and group learning with families, and adapted settling to the child. They also acted on dietary and allergy information.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Practitioners hold current paediatric first-aid qualifications, and mealtimes have first-aid cover. Food is cooked fresh each day by designated practitioners with food-hygiene training; the nursery's dietary policy includes respecting parents' wishes, and staff have completed food-allergy and intolerance training. These are arrangements families can discuss in relation to their own child's needs.

Seahorses combines self-care practice with taking turns and following instructions, building independence through ordinary tasks.

Preparation for school also includes conversations and stories about starting school. A detailed transition report shares each child's learning, interests and needs with the receiving school, and staff communicate directly with schools. That combines practical preparation with information sharing, helping the next adults understand the child as an individual.

Sessions and Attendance

A full day runs from 7.30am to 6pm. Morning sessions run from 7.30am to 12.30pm, and afternoons from 1pm to 6pm. Children must attend at least three sessions each week, with a half day counting as one session. Families can therefore consider shorter bookings as well as full days, but the minimum still shapes the weekly arrangement.

Sandcastle opens for 51 weeks of the year and closes at weekends, on bank holidays and over the Christmas and New Year break. The enquiry form and nursery telephone, 01202 424632, provide contact routes.

Getting There

The address is 19 Stourcliffe Avenue, Southbourne, Bournemouth, BH6 3PU, with off-road parking for collection and drop-off. A sheltered buggy storage area beside the nursery is locked during the day, a useful practical detail for families travelling with a pushchair.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government Early Education Funding is offered for eligible children in the nine-month, one-, two-, three- and four-year-old categories, starting from the next term following the child's birthday and delivered on a stretched basis across the 51 weeks the nursery opens. Funding is spread across the year rather than confined to term time. Additional hours are charged separately.

Private-session fees include meals and snacks, plus nappies, wipes, pull-ups and sun cream. Funded attendance has a different charging position: a contribution towards meals, consumables and additional services may be payable, depending on the funding received. Families comparing bookings need to distinguish the funded education from the other parts of the day.

A deposit is credited against the first month's bill, while a separate registration and administration charge is non-refundable. Monthly payment is due at the start of the month in advance, and holiday absences attract a reduced place-retainer charge. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the sessions, fees and funding information sets out the charging structure.

• Preschool challenge. In September 2025, some older children's activities needed more scope for reasoning and deeper learning. At a visit, ask how Seahorses now extends an activity for a child who already understands its starting point.
• The weekly minimum. Attendance must total at least three sessions, with each half day counting as one. Discuss how the morning, afternoon and full-day choices fit the pattern you need.
• Funding and dietary needs. Funded attendance may carry contributions for food, consumables and additional services, depending on the entitlement received. Request an itemised quotation for your proposed pattern and, if allergies affect your child, confirm current meal arrangements.

Sandcastle suits families seeking either full-day attendance or morning and afternoon sessions, with individual baby routines, story-led toddler play and practical preschool independence. Its wood-chip garden and daily outdoor routine give movement a clear place alongside language and early number work.

The September 2025 inspection provides a positive overall judgement, but the concern about extending older children's learning is material. This is a nursery with concrete care routines and a useful choice of attendance patterns; the preschool challenge and the distinction between private fees and funded-place contributions are the points to weigh most carefully.