Orchard Day Nursery

Weekly Forest School in Queen’s Park and preschool play sessions with older people at an Age UK day centre give Orchard Day Nursery a clear community character. Learning extends beyond its rooms on Queens Park Road, Brighton: the beach, museums and library are among its destinations. These experiences give children reasons to notice, question and talk about the world around them.

At its 14 December 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated Orchard Good overall. The practical attraction is the combination of different learning spaces and activities tailored to children’s development, rather than a single programme for everyone. Babies have a bright room capped at 14; older children gain more opportunities to direct their play. The accepted age range is six to 60 months.

There is a substantial choice of attendance times, from morning and afternoon sessions to days ending at 3pm, 4pm or 6pm. That makes the nursery relevant to families with different working patterns. The important educational qualification is the December 2022 finding that some group teaching needed better adaptation for younger children, an issue to explore alongside the strengths.

Rooms and Ages

Group 1: Baby Room accommodates up to 14 babies in a light, airy space, with exploration and child-led activities shaping its day. That room cap deserves attention when weighing the youngest children’s experience: it describes the room’s maximum, rather than how many babies attend together on a particular day.

Group 2: Toddler Room has capacity for 32 children and uses a large, colourful space divided into sections that change with children’s interests. Its layout gives practitioners different areas in which to develop play, rather than treating the whole room as one activity space.

The Pre-school accommodates up to 24 children across two learning rooms with interchangeable resources and areas, emphasising children’s choices and growing independence. For an older child, that means the environment can change with the play rather than every activity needing to stay in a fixed corner.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage brings learning, development and care together. In December 2022, children developed communication through conversation and signs, while practising independence by feeding themselves and managing clothing. These everyday activities show how learning fits into care routines. Orchard’s community outings, music and outdoor sessions add further experiences to that foundation.

Forest School takes children aged three and over to Queen’s Park each week for learning through nature and developing respect for their surroundings. This is a recurring outdoor experience, rather than an occasional excursion. Its value for a family is the regular opportunity for a preschool child to learn in a different environment.

Weekly music and movement provision includes Musical Bumps, Long Tall Silly and Dance, with sessions adjusted to children’s interests and developmental stages. These are music and movement activities, so the named sessions have a clear place in the day rather than standing as unexplained brands. Children aged zero to three can also choose weekly free-flow Yoga, centred on exploring what their bodies can do.

In December 2022, everyday language activities included making dough and talking about ingredients, size and weight; babies used signs to communicate requests and indicate when they were finished. These examples show how conversation could grow from practical activity. They also distinguish the experience of younger children from older children’s discussion.

Group learning was less consistent in December 2022. Singing and stories could lose younger children’s attention when teaching was insufficiently adjusted or sessions were positioned poorly. The improvement action concerned both teaching and the choice of space. For parents, the useful issue is how staff make a shared activity work for children at different stages.

Outdoor and Community Life

The Age UK day centre in Brighton is the partner for the preschool’s intergenerational project, involving stay-and-play sessions with older people. This brings another generation into children’s social experience through shared activity. It is a concrete community connection, rather than simply a statement about belonging locally.

Other outings include the park, museums, library and beach. In December 2022, children also travelled by bus to buy cooking ingredients at supermarkets, linking an outing with something they would use afterwards.

Animal care has a place too: Orchard keeps fish and two guinea pigs so children can learn about responsibility for living things. Babies’ garden activities include watering plants and using a mud kitchen. These give outdoor play practical tasks as well as opportunities to explore.

Relationships and Communication

In December 2022, children sought comfort from familiar staff, and settling and room changes were organised around attachments to their key people. Younger children practised feeding themselves while a key person stayed alongside; older children managed belongings and clothing before outdoor play. Independence therefore meant supported practice, rather than expecting children to manage everything immediately.

The admissions route includes an application form, a parents’ agreement and a settling-in booklet. These give families separate documents for joining, understanding the arrangement and preparing for the start. A settling booklet is useful preparation, while the relationship with a child’s key person remains the more personal part of the transition.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the December 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and identified timely, targeted support for children with learning gaps through the special educational needs coordinator, families and outside agencies. That is a dated assessment of practice: the useful detail is the route from noticing a possible difficulty to organising support, rather than a general promise that every need can be met.

In December 2022, oral-health resources sent home included toothbrushes and a toy crocodile, giving families a practical way to approach toothbrushing. This connected nursery learning with a routine children also needed at home.

Orchard employs a chef and a kitchen assistant, and its meal offer includes freshly cooked hot lunches. Meals and snacks are included in session fees, including funded sessions; the terms also itemise voluntary food contributions, so the distinction matters when understanding a funded booking.

Sessions and Attendance

Orchard Day Nursery is at Queens Park Road, Brighton, BN2 0GL. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates across 51 weeks, with bank holidays and a Christmas-week closure affecting attendance.

The April 2026 session chart gives several genuine alternatives. An 8am start can finish at 1pm, 3pm, 4pm or 6pm; a 9am start can finish at 1pm, 3pm or 4pm. The afternoon session runs from 1pm to 6pm. This lets families distinguish a morning booking, a shorter daytime booking and a full day instead of treating the opening window as the only choice.

Applications and enquiries use a form, email or telephone. Fees are payable monthly in advance, and the annual calculation spreads 51 weeks across 12 months. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

Funding and Paid Extras

Orchard offers early years funding entitlement (EYFE), Early Learning for 2 year olds and working parent entitlement for eligible children. Funding is stretched across 51 weeks: the terms describe a maximum of 11 hours a week for the base entitlement and approximately 22 hours for extended funding. Eligibility remains a condition of receiving the relevant entitlement.

The funding examples distinguish funded time from additional private hours. Those private hours are not compulsory. For different session choices, the booking calculation separates funded hours, private hours and voluntary charges, which is useful when comparing the attendance pattern with the final bill.

Meals, snacks, nappies and wipes are included in fees, including funded sessions. The same terms itemise voluntary contributions for food, care consumables, sun cream and weekly activities; families who cannot or choose not to pay those contributions can discuss changes with management. This deserves careful reading because an inclusive session description and itemised voluntary contributions sit together in the charging structure.

A deposit based on two weeks of the chosen sessions secures a booking, with no deposit for funded-only sessions. It returns through the final invoice when four weeks’ notice has been given and the account is clear; it is retained if the family does not take up the place. These conditions make the commitment worth understanding before signing.

• Younger children’s group activities. In December 2022, teaching adjustments and the positioning of group sessions needed attention. On a visit, ask how a singing or story activity now accommodates children at different developmental stages.
• Funded booking structure. Funding is stretched across 51 weeks, and the terms combine inclusive fees with itemised voluntary contributions. Request a written quotation separating funded time, any chosen private hours and the contributions attached to your pattern.
• Baby-room experience. The Baby Room cap is 14, while its activities emphasise exploration and children’s choices. Ask how the space and key-person arrangements work for your baby’s routines during the sessions you are considering.
• Commitment before starting. The deposit is retained if a booked place is not taken up, except that funded-only sessions require no deposit. Read this alongside the four-week notice condition and settling-in booklet before committing.

Orchard suits families who value regular outdoor learning and contact with the wider Brighton community. Queen’s Park Forest School and the Age UK project give that character substance, while music, movement and animal care bring different experiences into the week.

It also serves genuinely different attendance needs: morning and afternoon sessions sit alongside shorter daytime bookings and full days. The December 2022 Good judgement provides a dated quality reference, with the younger-child group-teaching concern an important counterweight. For babies, the room cap and settling arrangements deserve close attention; for preschool children, the strongest draw is learning that extends into nature and community life.