Hopscotch Day Nursery

Six children in the baby room, a garden built for rearranging and exploring, and school grounds beyond it: Hopscotch’s character rests on small beginnings and plenty of outdoor choice. Based at Kelvedon Hatch Primary School on School Road, the nursery combines care for babies with preschool learning and a separate school-age club. The nursery rooms cater for children from three months to five years; there are 35 places in total.

At its March 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated Hopscotch Good and found safeguarding effective, with strong support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, while identifying weaknesses in baby mealtimes and assessment information. That balance matters. Outdoor exploration and individual support earned praise, but families should give everyday routines and progress discussions equal attention.

Morning, afternoon and school-day sessions sit alongside weekday opening from 7.30am to 6pm. This gives parents several attendance patterns to consider, rather than a single daily timetable.

Rooms and Ages

Caterpillars accommodates six babies between three months and two years, with sensory activities, singing and messy play supported by its own kitchen, sleeping and changing facilities. That is the baby room’s capacity, separate from the nursery total.

Butterflies accommodates eight two-year-olds, combining early work on colours, shapes, numbers and mark making with a self-contained kitchen area and garden use whenever possible. Children choose their play and can nap when needed.

Rainbows takes children from three years through rising five, with capacity for up to 21, and combines phonics, mark making, cooking and a home corner with daily opportunities to explore the garden.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for learning through play, including communication, early number skills and physical development. Sensory materials, cooking and child-chosen activities put those areas of learning into practice.

In March 2023, cereal nest-making brought several kinds of learning together: toddlers weighed ingredients and explored changes caused by temperature, while babies investigated texture and heard new words. In the preschool room that month, an art activity involving flowers developed into an exploration of roots and bulbs when children became curious about growth. Staff adapted the activity to the question children were asking.

Books also had a place across the rooms in March 2023. Puppets helped toddlers retell stories, while textured books gave babies something to explore through touch.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor choice is central to the day. Staff support children who choose either indoor or outdoor play, and puddle suits are supplied for colder conditions. Planks, tyres, cable reels and crates can be rearranged alongside climbing equipment, giving children materials to build with and problems to solve. The garden has an all-weather surface, with bikes, slides and playhouses adding different kinds of movement and imaginative play.

Rainbows children visit a residential care home every other week for activities with older residents. Other outings include the library, forest and steam railway.

Named trips make that breadth more tangible. A whole-nursery outing to Hopefield Animal Sanctuary was scheduled for 19 May 2026, with bus travel and opportunities for parents to accompany the group.

Relationships and Communication

Each child is allocated a key person before joining. Observations inform individual next steps, including interests from home, and parents can contribute comments to assessments. Parents’ evenings provide a separate opportunity to discuss records, development and specific needs.

Baby routines are discussed during settling visits and adjusted as needs change. Each baby has individual bedding, and changes to sleep patterns are discussed with parents. For toddlers, potty training is coordinated with the routine used at home, helping the adults involved take a consistent approach.

At the March 2023 inspection, Ofsted identified uneven assessment methods that limited information sharing with carers and professionals, and baby mealtimes in which staggered food service led some children to become restless and leave the table. The improvement priorities were clearer monitoring and assessment, alongside continuing evaluation of room environments and care routines.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The nursery’s SENCO supports key people and families through personal plans based on a child’s abilities, interests and identified needs. Links include speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and the Area SENCO; information is shared after written parental consent. Families using another language at home are encouraged to provide useful words so the key person can better understand the child.

Room changes involve a handover between key people, with parents invited to meet the new person. For the move to school, teachers are invited to meet the key person and transition documents are passed on. These handovers help receiving adults understand the child.

Parents supply all food and milk before a baby reaches 12 months; afterwards the nursery supplies meals and snacks, but lunch and formula still come from home. Packed lunches come from home for Butterflies and Rainbows; Butterflies supplies breakfast, snacks and tea for all-day attendance, while Rainbows supplies breakfast for children arriving before 8.30am, mid-morning snacks and light tea for those staying after 3.30pm; nappies, wipes and creams are supplied in the baby and toddler rooms.

Sessions and Attendance

Hopscotch opens on weekdays from 7.30am to 6pm throughout the year, closing on bank holidays. The AM Session runs from 8am to 1pm, the PM Session from 1pm to 6pm, and the School Day Session from 9am to 3pm. The shorter school-day pattern may be useful where parents want nursery attendance to fit around a school timetable.

Breakfast Club runs from 7.30am to 8.45am, with After School Club from 3.15pm to 6pm. Daily school collections and deliveries are restricted to Kelvedon Hatch Primary School; during school holidays, the club also accommodates children attending other schools. That distinction matters for families considering care for siblings.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form or by telephone on 01277 372826. The nursery app also supports contact, fee payments and event bookings. A waiting-list form records the requested start date, days and sessions, giving parents a defined route for expressing their requirements.

Getting There

The address is School Road, Kelvedon Hatch, Brentwood, Essex CM15 0DH, within the primary school grounds. Directions identify the purple nursery building behind the school and instruct families to park on the road outside, then follow signs across the playground.

Sharing the school site does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still need to use the local authority admissions process for a state-school place; nursery transition arrangements are separate from that decision.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, and the funding arrangements include a parental agreement. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation. The funding process also includes food and consumables contribution policies, so families should consider the whole charge structure alongside their chosen attendance pattern.

A past outing illustrates why trip terms matter: the Rainbows cinema visit on 6 March 2025 carried a separate charge, and children not taking part could not attend nursery that day because of staffing arrangements. That was a condition of that particular trip, rather than a general rule for all activities.

• Baby routines and progress updates. March 2023 findings highlighted disrupted baby mealtimes and inconsistent assessment information. During the 30-minute showround, ask how food service now works and what progress information families receive.
• Funding and everyday supplies. Lunch and formula involve contributions from home, while nappies, wipes and creams are supplied. What does the written quotation include for funded and private attendance, including food, consumables and activities?
• School-site care. The nursery shares Kelvedon Hatch Primary School’s grounds, and daily wraparound collection serves that school. This is useful for eligible siblings, but nursery attendance does not secure a Reception place.

Hopscotch suits families who value outdoor choice, a small baby room and attendance through morning, afternoon or school-day sessions. Rearrangeable garden materials and care-home visits give the day substance beyond the room timetable, while personal plans and key-person handovers make support more concrete.

The March 2023 Good judgement provides a positive inspection position, with specific cautions about baby mealtimes and assessment. Those practical details should carry weight alongside the garden and outings when parents decide whether the nursery fits their child.