Home by The Sea Day Nursery & Pre-school

A detached Victorian building and a south-facing garden give Home by The Sea Day Nursery & Pre-school a clear identity: domestic in scale and appearance, with outdoor space that includes much more than a lawn. The 100-foot garden contains a children's allotment, fruit trees and places for investigation or quieter play. For families choosing between settings, the combination of indoor choice and outdoor exploration is a useful starting point.

At its June 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and reported that children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, made strong progress from their starting points. That judgement sits alongside a specific improvement priority concerning staff training, explored below.

The nursery has 44 places in total and accepts children from nine months to five years. Younger children use two toddler rooms with a separate room for sleep; preschool children have several rooms to explore. The address is 56 New Church Road, Hove, BN3 4FL.

Rooms and Ages

Toddler Room serves children aged nine to 30 months, with two rooms between which children can choose resources and activities, plus a separate sleep room with blackout blinds, music and monitors. That separation matters: rest has its own space rather than sharing the activity area. The emphasis is exploration through play, with daily sleep routines treated as part of care.

Pre-school Room covers ages two-and-a-half to five, using five rooms for child-chosen and adult-guided activities that develop independence, emotional regulation, early literacy and mathematics. Small-group activities sit alongside interactions between children of different ages. Families whose children enjoy choosing what to investigate may value this arrangement, while those who prefer a single-room routine should consider how their child responds to movement between spaces.

Natural wooden furniture and airy rooms give the indoor environment a recognisable character. The room arrangement also makes choice a practical part of the day: children can move towards activities that interest them rather than remaining with one set of resources.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning and care: children develop communication, physical skills and relationships alongside early reading, mathematics, creativity and understanding of the world. Here, planned activities are combined with opportunities arising from children's play, and individual progress informs personalised plans. The framework is the common foundation; the useful detail is how interests and development shape each child's activities.

In June 2025, language learning included singing to babies as they watched bubbles, talking about insects during garden exploration and introducing words associated with medical role play. Books supported both familiar stories and finding information. These examples show how conversation can connect an activity to new vocabulary, rather than keeping language learning separate from play.

Independence also had concrete expression in June 2025. Babies practised feeding themselves and using open cups, while older children poured drinks, selected activities and took responsibility for belongings. The practical implication is preparation for everyday tasks as well as organised learning: choosing, managing possessions and trying self-care all formed part of the day.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden combines decking and wood-chip surfaces with a lawn, a hideaway and a scientific exploration zone. Its children's allotment and fruit trees bring growing into the outdoor environment. These are different kinds of space, allowing active movement, investigation and quieter play to sit alongside one another.

In June 2025, children grew strawberries and sunflowers and searched for insects outdoors. The garden therefore supported both physical activity and attention to living things. For a child interested in plants or small creatures, there are concrete subjects to return to as their questions develop.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key person who acts as the main contact for the family, gives daily updates and discusses questions. The eyparent app adds photographs, observations and information between conversations. Stay-and-play sessions and termly reviews offer further opportunities for parents to understand their child's experiences and development.

This gives communication several forms: a familiar practitioner for everyday exchanges, an app for shared observations and scheduled reviews for longer discussions. Families can follow both daily experiences and the progress informing their child's personalised plan.

In June 2025, preparation for room changes involved visits to the next room, allowing younger children to become familiar with its staff, children and surroundings before moving. Parents and practitioners worked together on these transitions. The practical value is gradual familiarity, rather than expecting a child to adjust to a new room all at once.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Developmental monitoring informs individual plans, and a progress check for children aged two is shared with health professionals. These are concrete mechanisms for discussing a child's development across nursery, home and health services. They provide a clearer picture of the support process than a broad promise of individual attention.

Respect for children's choices also featured in June 2025: staff sought permission before assisting with personal care and challenged stereotyped expectations about children's interests. Children encountered and discussed one another's cultural backgrounds. These daily interactions gave children opportunities to express preferences and learn about their friends.

Food is made from scratch by the chef at Cromwell Road Day Nursery and Preschool, the nearby sister setting. Meals and snacks are included in the nursery fee; parents supply prepared formula in sterile bottles each day when required.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates throughout the year, closing on bank holidays and between Christmas and New Year. For working families, the closing time is an important practical boundary when matching childcare to the working day.

Visit booking and a general enquiry form provide the contact routes. The year-round calendar means families can consider childcare beyond school terms, while allowing for the stated holiday closures.

Getting There

The nursery is at 56 New Church Road, Hove, BN3 4FL, with a pay-and-display car park directly in front.

Funding and Paid Extras

Meals and snacks are included in the nursery fee; formula, when needed, is supplied by parents. In June 2025, the nursery provided government-funded early education for children aged ten months to four years. That is a dated description of funding participation, separate from the current nursery age range.

Current prices should come in the nursery's written quotation. Families considering funded childcare should use that quotation to understand the attendance and charge arrangements applying to their booking.

• Consistency of teaching. In June 2025, Ofsted identified a need to strengthen staff training because some newer practitioners were still developing effective teaching skills and activities did not consistently make the most of learning opportunities. Ask how training now supports purposeful activities across the rooms.
• Choice and rest for younger children. Toddler children can move between two activity rooms, while sleep takes place separately with blackout blinds and monitors. A visit is a useful opportunity to discuss how your child's sleep routine and preference for familiar surroundings fit this arrangement.
• The funded booking quotation. Meals and snacks are included in the nursery fee, while parents supply formula when required. For a funded booking, request a written quotation covering entitlement delivery, additional hours, meals and non-food consumables so the full arrangement is clear before committing.

Home by The Sea suits families who value a year-round nursery with several spaces for children to explore, a separate sleeping area for toddlers and a substantial garden with growing and investigation built into its layout. The key-person arrangement, eyparent app and termly reviews give parents several ways to stay involved.

Its appeal is concrete: children can choose between rooms, spend time around fruit trees and an allotment, and develop everyday independence alongside learning activities. The June 2025 staff-training priority deserves a direct conversation. For families whose routines fit the 5.30pm closing time, the strongest reasons to consider it are the physical environment and the practical arrangements for communication, choice and rest.