Manor Farm Day Nursery

An Edwardian house, gardens for each age group and a teepee in the top garden give Manor Farm Day Nursery a clear outdoor identity. In Sandy, this is a setting where the physical space offers more than a shared patch of garden: each room has its own outdoor area, allowing play to suit babies, toddlers and preschool children separately.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good at its 7 August 2025 inspection. The practical appeal is the combination of daily garden play, freshly prepared food and a choice between full days and morning or afternoon sessions. Manor Farm accepts children from two months to five years, covering the journey from early baby care to preparation for school.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage shapes learning through play, with imaginative activities, creative work, problem-solving and small-group experiences. This is the framework for children's learning and development, rather than an extra programme. At Manor Farm, the emphasis is on children exploring ideas and practising skills through what they do.

Alongside that framework sit Family First's group-wide commitments. Critical And Creative Thinkers encourages children to imagine possibilities and test ideas; Confident Communicators supports expression in ways that work for the individual child. Explorers of Our World brings an emphasis on experiences in nature. These describe the direction of learning, rather than a timetable of separate lessons.

In August 2025, toddlers tackled an icy dinosaur rescue, using little hammers to free the toys. Older children drew their own imagined birds with pens and pencils. The activities gave children different ways to investigate materials and represent ideas, with early writing developing through pictures that mattered to them.

Counting also had a social purpose that August. Children took turns concealing toys in sand and finding them, with staff helping the counting. Waiting, counting and sharing a game happened together. The example gives parents a useful picture of how learning can be woven into play rather than separated into formal tasks.

Outdoor and Community Life

Daily outdoor play uses large gardens and open spaces, with each room having its own garden area. That arrangement matters across the age range: babies and older children can have outdoor experiences suited to their stage. The teepee in the top garden is among the spaces that may be used for forest school-style learning, an outdoor approach based on exploration and practical experiences in nature.

In August 2025, babies practised crawling and early walking across different outdoor surfaces, while older children climbed, balanced and used stairs. Toddlers filled jugs with water and poured it out. The progression was concrete: movement for the youngest children, control of hands and eyes for toddlers, and more demanding physical tasks for older children.

At the August 2025 inspection, Ofsted found effective safeguarding and good support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including collaboration with other professionals and use of a sensory room to help children settle emotionally. This gives families a dated assessment of practice alongside a specific support mechanism, rather than a general promise of inclusion.

Everyday respect was visible in August 2025 through small acts: staff sought children's agreement before cleaning their noses and offered physical reassurance when needed. Independence was built into meals too. Babies worked on using cutlery, toddlers put their bibs on, and older children helped themselves to food. Those are manageable responsibilities at different stages.

Communication now includes photographs and updates about children's routines and activities, with key workers feeding back on observations and assessments. In August 2025, staff also discussed toilet training with parents, and families could borrow books from the nursery lending library. That connected nursery learning with practical things families could do at home.

School preparation that August included trying on uniform and organising bags for school. Children also played cooperatively after making pretend wands. The emphasis was on familiarity with the next stage and managing shared play, rather than treating readiness as an academic checklist.

Meals are cooked on the premises each day, using seasonal ingredients. For parents, that places food preparation within the nursery's daily operation rather than relying on meals brought in from elsewhere.

Sessions and Attendance

Manor Farm is at 76 London Road, Sandy, SG19 1DZ. Opening hours run from 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks, with public holidays and a Christmas week excluded.

A full day runs from 8am to 6pm; mornings run from 8am to 1pm and afternoons from 1pm to 6pm. An Early Start extension covers 7.30am to 8am. A full-week pattern also runs Monday to Friday, from 8am to 6pm.

The minimum weekly booking is either two full days or four morning or afternoon sessions, and it must include Monday or Friday. This is a meaningful constraint for families whose work falls entirely in the middle of the week. Onsite parking supports collection and drop-off, and the nursery has links to the A1.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and private hours can be combined, or funded hours can be used alone. The nursery offers the 15-hour and 30-hour entitlements for 38 weeks and stretches them over its operating weeks; it also accepts 2 Help funding. Stretching distributes the entitlement across more of the year, with fewer funded hours each week.

Private fees are inclusive except for nappies and wipes, so meals and other consumables are included. During funded hours, food, consumables and enrichment are charged separately through the optional Essentials Package, which families can decline by contacting the manager before term starts. Its consumables cover cream, nappy bags and suncream; opting out may involve supplying alternatives or collecting and disposing of consumables under the nursery's policies.

The Enrichment Programme covers additional experiences that may include gardening, cooking or celebration activities. These are possible elements of the package, rather than a promise that each activity runs routinely. Additional hours beyond the funded allocation are paid for separately.

A registration charge and a deposit apply, with both waived for fully funded places; the deposit is credited against the final invoice. Permanent session changes and cancellations require one calendar month's notice. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, and the fees page sets out the booking structure.

• Older children's language. In August 2025, staff development needed a clearer emphasis on extending older children's vocabulary, especially before school. At a visit, ask how practitioners now build new language into preschool play.
• The weekly commitment. Two full days or four shorter sessions must include Monday or Friday. Compare that requirement with your working week before choosing a pattern.
• Funded extras. The Essentials Package is optional during funded hours, with an opt-out deadline before term starts. Request a written breakdown of your chosen hours and the arrangements for alternatives before committing.

Manor Farm suits families who value daily outdoor play and want either full-day attendance or shorter morning and afternoon sessions. Separate garden areas and the Edwardian house give the setting a recognisable character, while on-site food preparation and routine updates add practical value.

The August 2025 assessment provides a positive quality benchmark, with older children's language teaching the area requiring sharper attention. For families whose week accommodates the Monday-or-Friday booking rule, the mix of attendance patterns and stretched funding makes this a useful option to weigh carefully.