Wise Owls Nursery School

A walled garden, an Artist in Residence and a home visit before nursery begins give Wise Owls Nursery School its character. At 15 Park Crescent Place in Brighton, creative exploration sits alongside careful preparation for a child's first separation from home.

At its 8 April 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found strong progress among children, including those with special educational needs or disabilities. There is an important qualification to that positive picture: some children needed more encouragement to participate during freely chosen play.

Wise Owls has capacity for 28 children, with a current age range of 3 to 60 months. Morning sessions and a Core Day provide different attendance patterns, rather than a single compulsory nursery day.

Rooms and Ages

Squirrels, for children aged 9 months to 2 years, occupies its own area in Treetops, with space for climbing and exploration to develop physical confidence. Younger children have a separate base and opportunities to use the garden.

Hedgehogs, for ages 2 to 4, has a classroom beside Bluebirds, for ages 3 to 5, with movement between their spaces and access to the walled garden. Connections across age groups support transitions through nursery.

Garden use is staggered between the groups, extending exploration beyond the indoor rooms.

Learning and Activities

Planning uses the EYFS: children learn through play and shared activities, with staff choosing next steps around each child's development. Group activities are adapted to age, while individual interests help shape what follows. This is the required early-years framework; the artistic work is an addition to it.

The Artist in Residence brings together storytelling, explorations of colour and light, creative art and early science experiments. These experiences extend across the sessions and are open to all children. The learning approach connects creativity with scientific exploration.

In April 2025, children acted out stories with staff, while sensory activities created opportunities to introduce descriptive vocabulary. Babies practised crawling and climbing. A number-searching parachute game was adjusted to children's different capabilities, showing how one shared activity could offer different levels of challenge.

Outdoor and Community Life

Beach School adds a recognisably coastal strand for preschool children. Delivered in five-week blocks with an additional charge, it takes children to Ovingdean or Rottingdean beach to explore marine wildlife, conservation, weather and art using natural materials. The programme links scientific questions with the places children can actually explore.

Annual beach outings also formed part of nursery life in April 2025, extending children's experiences beyond the classroom.

Relationships and Communication

Settling starts with a key person and a home visit. A director and the child's key worker meet the family before nursery sessions begin, giving the child an opportunity to build familiarity on home territory. A subsequent settle takes place outside normal opening hours, followed by sessions within the nursery day that increase gradually.

Parents cannot stay inside for those in-session settles. The number of sessions depends on the child's age and the nursery's scheduling, with extra time discussed individually when needed. Settling sessions are chargeable from the agreed start date where applicable. The process is flexible, but the separation arrangements are clear enough for families to prepare for them.

Famly, the nursery's communication app, connects daily care with the child's learning journey. Parents can see photographs and observations alongside updates about food, nappy changes and sleep, and can contribute observations of their own. Direct messages provide a route for information about the child's day; booking changes, invoices and general enquiries go by email.

The app also carries permissions and accident or incident acknowledgements. Staff check messages during the day, responding around their care responsibilities.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENDCo works with the child's key worker and family on concerns, referrals and additional support. Development checks at 27 months and opportunities to discuss concerns provide starting points. Specialist advice comes from Seaside View's speech and language team and BHISS, the Brighton and Hove inclusion service.

Where a diagnosed child needs greater support for starting school, the nursery can seek a local authority assessment and, where appropriate, apply for an Education, Health and Care Plan. Families must already have worked with BHISS and Seaside View before that application.

Staff roles include teachers, Early Years Educators, an Artist in Residence, a designated safeguarding lead and a deputy safeguarding lead. In April 2025, books and familiar phrases in children's home languages helped connect nursery experiences with their lives at home. During that April 2025 visit, encouragement was inconsistent for children hesitant to join free play. Staff needed to recognise more reliably when individual help was required.

Meals are cooked on the premises using a vegan menu; the nursery has a nut-free policy and works with families on dietary requirements and allergies. Supervised Tooth Brushing, delivered with the Oral Health Team from the Special Care Dental Service, gives children their own toothbrush and toothpaste, with a replacement brush each term.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 15 Park Crescent Place, Brighton, BN2 3HF. Opening hours are 8.15am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, across 48 weeks of the year. The nursery closes for bank holidays and four INSET days.

The AM session runs from 8.15am to 1.15pm. Core Day runs from 9am to 4pm, and Breakfast Club covers 8.15am to 9am. Breakfast Club adds an earlier start to Core Day.

Enquiries can be made through the nursery's enquiry button, by telephone on 01273 232 308 or by email at info@wiseowlsnurseryschool.co.uk. Enrolment involves agreeing days, session times, funding arrangements and a start date, followed by an online registration form and a deposit. Part of the deposit is credited against the final invoice when the child leaves; discounts apply to a stand-alone funded offer.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, including up to 30 hours weekly for eligible working parents of children from nine months to school age. Wise Owls stretches entitlement across its 48-week year, offering a maximum of either 12 or 24 funded hours per week. The entitlement is expressed over 38 weeks.

Paid fees and funded places both include meals and snacks, plus nappies, wipes and suncream. From the term after a child's third birthday, the nursery may request a voluntary parental contribution towards funded hours to cover costs beyond government funding. Beach School carries its own additional charge. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, and the fees information sets out the included items.

Tax-Free Childcare and valid Childcare Vouchers are accepted. Families using funded childcare need a code before the relevant term begins and must reconfirm their details every three months.

Preparation for Reception emphasises dressing, toileting, managing cutlery, conversation, friendships and physical coordination. These everyday skills give school preparation a practical shape, with development supported at each child's pace rather than an expectation that children should already read before starting school.

• Help during free play. The April 2025 improvement point concerned children who needed encouragement to participate. During a visit, ask how staff now identify a child who is hanging back and help them become involved.
• The shape of the day. The AM session ends at 1.15pm and Core Day at 4pm, with bank holidays and four INSET days closed. Compare these finishing times and closures with your regular work and care arrangements.
• Settling and the visit. Home visits precede nursery settles, but parents cannot stay inside during in-session settling. Tours usually take place at 2pm and require photo ID.
• Food and what you bring. The vegan menu and nut-free policy merit a discussion of current practice for a child with allergies. There is no storage space for buggies, scooters or bikes, so plan what will accompany the journey.

Wise Owls suits families choosing either a morning session or Core Day who value creative learning, outdoor exploration and a structured settling process. The Artist in Residence and Beach School give that offer substance, while Famly keeps everyday care and learning visible to parents.

The April 2025 judgement was Good, with a specific weakness around helping less confident children join free play. That is the useful balancing point: attractive experiences matter, but so does the adult encouragement that enables an individual child to take part in them.