Jordans Village Nursery

Woods, a village green and gymnastics give Jordans Village Nursery a day that stretches well beyond its village hall. Children use the surrounding outdoor spaces throughout the year, while Fun Flip Fridays introduces gymnastic skills. This is a nursery with a recognisable village rhythm: shared activities, outdoor play and practical preparation for school.

Based at Jordans Village Hall, it welcomes children from age two and has 30 places in total. At its October 2021 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective. That dated judgement provides a useful quality reference, while the current day includes music, cooking, gardening and opportunities to become more independent.

Attendance is term-time, with morning, afternoon and full-day sessions, plus additional clubs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The shorter patterns matter as much as the longer ones here: most children begin with two or three sessions and build up their attendance as they grow older.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage shapes the educational programme, covering children's communication, physical development and relationships alongside literacy, mathematics, creative work and understanding the world. In everyday terms, learning happens through planned play indoors and outdoors, with regular small-group activities in a classroom area. Stories, construction and painting sit alongside opportunities to talk, count and explore.

Morning groups include cooking, gym, singing, band activities and movement. Fun Flip Fridays introduces gymnastic skills; a pianist plays regularly and at concerts. Children have concrete opportunities to make music and move together.

Learning Pathways describes exploration, persistence and children's own problem-solving ideas. It helps parents understand the learning behind a finished painting or completed task.

In October 2021, children grew tomatoes and apples, harvested fruit and prepared apple crumble using kitchen tools. Younger children worked together to send balls through tubes; older children practised writing and folded paper for envelopes. These examples connected practical activity with problem-solving, hand control and an understanding of how things work.

At the October 2021 inspection, Ofsted identified uneven delivery of the intended curriculum because some staff needed stronger subject knowledge and a clearer understanding of what to teach and how. This is the material qualification to the Good judgement: an appealing activity needs a clear learning purpose, understood by everyone delivering it.

Outdoor and Community Life

The hall is used exclusively by the nursery during its operating hours. Beyond it, a gated site contains grass and a substantial tarmac play area, giving children different surfaces for active play. Our Sensory Garden includes a mud kitchen and a boat, adding places for messy exploration and imaginative games.

Tricycles and scooters support movement, with slides, balance equipment, water play and a sand-pit adding other ways to explore. Children play outdoors daily except in very harsh conditions. The woods and village green are used year-round, with sports on the green during the summer term, so outdoor life extends beyond the nursery's own garden.

In October 2021, children bought cooking ingredients at the village shop and learned about nurses and dentists, connecting money, food and community roles with everyday experience.

Relationships and Communication

Each child's key person works with the family on individually paced settling, giving parents a consistent contact. Tapestry, an online learning journal, shares regular observations and reports; families can add comments and observations of their own.

A parents' WhatsApp group connects families. Parents can also contribute stories, gardening, crafts or news, choosing how to get involved alongside following their child's journal.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO lead supports children with special educational needs through observations, records and regular parent meetings, with professional or agency recommendations where needed. Meetings, training and briefings with the Early Years Inclusion team support this work.

Staff undertake paediatric first aid and child protection training, and there is a Child Protection Officer role. Those arrangements describe how responsibilities are organised; the dated safeguarding judgement remains the relevant assessment of effectiveness.

Independence is built into practical routines. Children need clothing they can manage for changing and toileting, and each receives a peg bag for spare clothes and any nappies or wipes required. Medication needs a completed medical form, and children must be free of sickness or diarrhoea for 48 hours before returning. These details affect the family's daily preparations as well as the child's growing self-care.

Sessions and Attendance

Families can book mornings (9am to noon), afternoons (noon to 3pm), full days (9am to 3pm) or mornings with lunch (9am to 1.30pm). Lunch club runs from noon to 1.30pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Breakfast Club runs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 8.15am to 9am and includes breakfast. After Nursery Club operates on those days from 3pm to 4pm, with play and a snack. There is also a paid early start from 8.45am to 9am each day. Early starts and late pickups sit outside the funded allocation.

The nursery closes for school holidays. Autumn 2026 ends on 11 December, with half-term from 26 to 30 October. Attendance requirements are discussed towards the end of each term, and older children receive priority when sessions are built up. Leaving requires six weeks' notice; insufficient notice incurs a charge equivalent to half a term's fees.

Admissions enquiries go to admissions.JVNS@gmail.com. Oversubscription priority begins with looked-after children and children with exceptional needs whose needs can be met, followed by village and family connections.

Getting There

The address is Jordans Village Hall, Green Road West, Jordans, HP9 2SY, behind the village shop and close to the green. Parking uses bays around the green, with families asked to keep the fronts of the shop and neighbouring cottages clear; the nearest railway station is Seer Green & Jordans.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded children aged two to four are welcomed. Universal funding provides 15 weekly hours from the term after a child's third birthday; eligible families taking extended funding can use 27 hours here, with the remaining three elsewhere if desired. The limit reflects an existing Thursday-afternoon hall commitment. Funding is used during term time, and families can pay for additional hours.

Families provide packed lunches, while snacks on funded sessions form part of a separate voluntary contribution; lunchbox guidance requests no nuts and an ice pack because food cannot be heated. Allergy information is collected through a Health Form, with changes passed to the key person or another staff member.

Non-food consumables have a mixed arrangement: families supply nappies and wipes when needed, while funded sessions carry a voluntary contribution towards resources and hygiene supplies, with occasional requests for items such as tissues or hand wash. The contribution also covers activities. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees and funding page explains the session and contribution structure.

Older children visit Jordans School, joining Reception activities, sharing a story and snack, playing outdoors and changing for gym. These visits make school routines familiar before transition. Attendance at the nursery does not guarantee a school place: families still use the local authority admissions process.

• Teaching consistency. The October 2021 improvement point concerned staff understanding and delivery of the curriculum. During a visit, ask how staff now agree each child's next learning steps and put them into practice.
• Term-time coverage. School-holiday closures and the Thursday-afternoon hall commitment shape attendance and the extended-funded-hours offer. Families needing care through holidays or the full extended allocation in one setting should weigh those boundaries carefully.
• Food and contributions. Packed lunches come from home, and funded-session contributions cover snacks, consumables and activities on a voluntary basis. Families managing allergies should confirm current food handling and the lunchbox requirements.
• Settling and session building. Most children begin with two or three sessions, and visits are normally arranged for Monday mornings. Use a visit to discuss how the key person would pace settling and a later increase in attendance for your child.

Jordans Village Nursery suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as full days during term time, with club extensions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The village setting has substance: woods and green space are used throughout the year, gymnastics has a named place in the week, and school visits introduce practical routines before the move to Reception.

Tapestry and key-person contact keep parents involved. Holiday closures, packed lunches and the dated teaching concern are the trade-offs against outdoor activity, practical learning and village life.