The Orchard Nursery

Children’s own ideas shape the day at The Orchard Nursery: a construction game can become number practice, while outdoor play and movement have a deliberate place in learning. This Bournemouth setting combines a baby room with mixed-age provision for older children, giving families two quite different early-years experiences within one nursery.

The nursery takes children from 3 months to 5 years and has 53 places in total. At its 15 August 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated it Outstanding and found exceptional progress, including for children with additional needs, alongside effective safeguarding arrangements. That is a dated judgement; repeated safeguarding compliance findings in June and July 2026 also matter to the present decision.

Cherries serves the youngest children, while Apples and Pears share provision for two-, three- and four-year-olds. The address is Durdells Avenue, Bournemouth, BH11 9EH, on the Christ the King School site. For parents, the strongest practical distinction is the combination of individual baby routines, older children choosing between rooms, and learning that develops from what children are already doing.

Rooms and Ages

Cherries, for children from 3 months to 2 years, combines sensory exploration with individual daily routines: babies handle textured treasure-box materials, try musical instruments and explore experiences such as ice and printing with tea bags. The emphasis is on touching, listening and experimenting, rather than expecting every baby to follow an identical activity schedule.

Apples and Pears serve children aged 2 to 4 together, with children choosing between the two rooms, accessible play resources and covered outdoor spaces. A younger child who initially prefers one room can remain there with staff support before exploring further. This makes the mixed-age arrangement a gradual introduction rather than an immediate expectation to use every space.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for children’s learning, development and care, with play, conversation and everyday routines carrying learning across the day. The nursery adds Our Orchard Goals, age-group progression documents that guide staff and help identify where a child needs further support. These give the responsive approach a developmental reference point.

In-the-Moment Planning means practitioners respond to an interest as it unfolds, adding a resource, a question or a next step. One example starts with a child building a bus: an adult introduces numbered seats and tickets to bring number recognition into the game. The child keeps the purpose of the play. The teaching comes alongside it, and observations are subsequently entered on eyLog, the nursery’s learning-record system.

Movement-Based Curriculum connects physical practice with preparation for writing. Dough Disco and Squiggle While You Wiggle are activities within that movement programme, alongside outdoor play and weekly sports coaching; the emphasis includes coordination, balance and control. Weekly Boogie Mites sessions add music and movement, while Read, Write Inc provides early phonics activities. These are concrete additions to child-led play, rather than a claim that learning happens only through free choice.

Resources also draw on The Curiosity Approach, using reclaimed objects and natural materials for exploration. Shells, pine cones, household objects and cable drums allow children to decide how to use materials instead of following a single prescribed activity. Story choices provide another thread: Owl Babies supports discussion of separation and emotions during the first autumn half-term. Stories therefore connect with experiences children may be working through themselves.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden supports climbing, crawling and hands-on investigation, and older children can choose outdoor play beneath canopies. An outdoor mud kitchen adds opportunities to mix, handle materials and invent. Indoors, story sacks, weighing scales and pretend-play household resources extend the same emphasis on active exploration.

In August 2022, children hunted for insects, made predictions and recorded their findings with tally marks; they also grew fruit and vegetables and practised ball skills. Those examples show how counting, food knowledge and physical effort were brought into ordinary nursery experiences at that time. They are useful illustrations of the approach, rather than promises of a fixed current timetable.

Relationships and Communication

Settling normally includes two sessions at no charge, with the length adjusted to the child’s age and needs and further time possible when separation is difficult. Short periods apart can build towards a whole session. For babies, retaining their individual routine gives staff a practical starting point for the transition from home.

Key people bring a child’s next learning step into play already under way, rather than routinely taking the child away for a separate task. Their observations contribute to the learning journey on eyLog. This connects communication about development with recognisable moments from the child’s day, such as the bus-building example, rather than reducing progress to a list of completed activities.

In August 2022, parent meetings and an online system allowed families to contribute information about their children, while staff shared ideas for learning at home. Children also had a sensory space and groups supporting speech and language at that time. These are dated examples of how communication and individual support worked at that visit.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO role coordinates support and liaison with outside agencies. The mechanism matters for families whose child needs additional help: there is a designated route for bringing nursery staff and external professionals together. Toddlers also have sleep mats in a partitioned area, allowing rest within the older children’s provision.

Meals are provided, staff sit with children while they eat, and preschool children practise serving lunch and preparing their snack. Eating therefore includes opportunities for conversation and increasing independence.

The compliance outcomes dated 10 June and 9 July 2026 recorded non-compliance and corrective action on both occasions. The June outcome covered strengthened safeguarding procedures, work with children’s services and staff suitability; July addressed electronic-device use, photograph sharing and staff coaching. Because safeguarding concerns recurred, these outcomes belong alongside the older inspection judgement when families weigh the nursery.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and one week at Christmas. These are opening arrangements, rather than a promise about the length of an individual booking.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01202 582228 or by email at theorchardnursery@plymouthcast.com. Appointments to look around can be booked directly with the nursery.

Getting There

The nursery is at Christ the King School on Durdells Avenue, Bournemouth, BH11 9EH. Its car park is reserved for staff, so parents cannot use it when collecting or bringing children.

Sharing school grounds does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still need to apply through the local authority admissions process; nursery attendance and the school application are separate decisions.

Funding and Paid Extras

In August 2022, the nursery received funding for early education for children aged two, three and four. That establishes its participation at the time of the visit, rather than a current entitlement or charging arrangement. Current prices should be obtained in a written quotation from the nursery.

• Repeated safeguarding findings. The June and July 2026 outcomes both recorded non-compliance followed by corrective action, with July covering devices and photograph sharing. At a visit, ask how those procedures now operate and how staff practice is monitored.
• Mixed-age rooms. Apples and Pears bring two-, three- and four-year-olds together, with supported choices about which spaces to use. Seeing how this works for a newly two-year-old would help families judge the fit.
• Staff-only parking. Parents cannot use the nursery car park. Plan collection and bringing children around that restriction, especially if travelling by car.
• The complete booking quotation. Opening spans weekdays across the year, and settling normally includes two free sessions. What attendance patterns, funded entitlement arrangements, meal charges and non-food consumables would the written quotation cover for your child?

The Orchard Nursery suits families who value sensory play for babies and an increasingly independent, mixed-age experience for older children. In-the-Moment Planning, Our Orchard Goals and the movement programme give that offer substance: staff respond to children’s interests while retaining developmental reference points.

The Outstanding judgement belongs to August 2022. Repeated safeguarding compliance findings in 2026 make present procedures a central part of the decision. The learning offer has clear character, but families should weigh it together with those later findings and the practical restriction on parent parking.