Forest Rock Day Nursery

Cooking in Fox Cubs, quiet corners outdoors and a sensory/creative room for preschool children give Forest Rock Day Nursery a recognisable character: practical independence sits alongside space to experiment. In Woodhouse Eaves, this is a nursery where learning includes managing a cup, trying a recipe and finding somewhere calmer when play gets busy.

At its April 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, with children building close relationships with adults and developing confidence in their learning. That judgement is dated; its practical detail matters more than the label alone. The nursery has capacity for 70 children, with an accepted age range of 2 months to 5 years.

Full-day, morning, afternoon and school-day bookings give families different ways to use the nursery, alongside term-time attendance. The strongest reason to consider it is the progression from early sensory exploration towards everyday self-care, supported by named rooms and an enclosed outdoor space.

Rooms and Ages

Owls is the baby room, extending to around 20 or 21 months, where touch books, songs and adults responding to early sounds support exploration and communication in a bright room.

From 21 months, Fox Cubs introduces open cups, cutlery and the Coat Flip method for putting on a coat, alongside hands-on cooking that gives children something purposeful to practise.

Foxes follows at around 29 or 30 months and continues towards age 3, combining dressing and toileting independence with creative work and outdoor movement, while activities respond to children's interests.

For ages 3 to 5, Hedgehogs includes the older children approaching school and Hoglets the younger cohort, with small-group communication and number activities, yoga, dancing and a sensory/creative room for experimenting with materials.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care; here, play, conversation, physical activity and practising everyday tasks give it practical meaning. Forest Rock's own approach follows individual interests and developmental needs, with increasing structure as children get older. The rooms and learning approach connects those ideas to what happens in each room.

Independence is a repeated thread rather than a single preschool objective. A toddler learning to handle cutlery and an older child taking responsibility for the nursery environment are working towards different stages of the same practical skill. Room moves also have preparation: visits precede the transition into Foxes, giving children time to become familiar with the next stage.

Teddy Tennis brings tennis-based physical games to preschool on Monday mornings during term time. Kimbles, offered across the rooms on Thursday mornings in term time, combines singing and dancing with props and imaginative movement. These are separately charged sessions, so their role in the week is also a budgeting decision.

Preschool Cookery takes place on Tuesday afternoons during term time, alternating savoury and sweet recipes; children take their creations home with a recipe card. Wednesday morning term-time French introduces vocabulary including animals, colours and numbers. Cookery provides a tangible link between nursery and home, while French adds another opportunity to use language in a group.

In April 2023, babies explored textured books and reached for objects at different heights, while older children talked about volcanoes and took stories outdoors. These examples show the breadth of activity at that time. There was also an important limitation: adults sometimes let play continue without adding enough challenge, and children needed more help recognising and responding to risks when using digital technology.

Outdoor and Community Life

An enclosed outdoor space accommodates movement and exploration, with hoops, bean bags and balls providing different ways to practise coordination. Quiet playground areas give children an alternative to busier activity. That balance matters: outdoor time can include energetic play and a calmer pause, rather than requiring every child to engage in the same way.

The outdoor area carries learning beyond the indoor rooms. In April 2023, children continued an indoor potion-making activity outside, experimenting with coloured water and using a syringe. It is a concrete example of revisiting an idea with different materials and surroundings, rather than treating outside play as a separate part of the day.

Relationships and Communication

Settling visits allow a child and family to spend time getting to know the nursery before regular attendance begins. The baby team also shares milestones and daily achievements with parents. For families starting care with a very young child, that connection between home and the room is as relevant as the activities themselves.

An online learning journal carries updates about development, wellbeing and nutritional intake, while face-to-face meetings offer another route for discussion. The practical benefit is breadth: parents can follow care as well as learning, then discuss an issue directly with the team. Communication is not confined to completed artwork or occasional progress conversations.

In April 2023, staff used family photographs with babies and helped children identify emotions through stones showing expressions and a mirror. Toddlers sought comfort from familiar adults. Those dated examples give substance to the relationship-led approach: support included recognising feelings and responding to a child's need for closeness.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Activities are adapted to individual needs and interests, and resources and planning follow a non-discriminatory approach. This is a description of how learning is organised, rather than a blanket assurance about support for every additional need. The preschool's small-group work and the outdoor quiet areas provide different settings for participation.

The team includes management, senior and practitioner roles, alongside apprentices, assistants and a nursery cook. In April 2023, there were 15 childcare staff, of whom 10 held an early years qualification at level 3. Those figures describe the team at that time, rather than the number of adults deployed in a room today.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 16 Church Hill, Woodhouse Eaves, Loughborough, LE12 8RT. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm from Monday to Friday; the nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and a week at Christmas. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01509 891131 or by email to admin@forestrockdaynursery.co.uk.

Bookings include a full day from 7.30am to 6pm, a morning from 7.30am to 12.30pm, an afternoon from 1pm to 6pm, and a school day from 9am to 3.30pm. Term-time attendance is also offered. These patterns make different demands on family schedules: the school-day finish is earlier, while morning and afternoon bookings divide the day around lunchtime.

An enrolment form is required when booking. A non-refundable deposit is credited against the first month's fees, and payment for the coming month falls due on its first day. These terms make the written quotation and booking agreement useful documents to read together before committing.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, with the nursery's funding information addressing children aged 2, 3 and 4, subject to eligibility. Private childcare is also offered. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the session and charge information explains the different booking patterns and inclusions.

The nursery has a cook and provides meals suited to children's dietary requirements. Paid sessions include snacks and milk, with breakfast, lunch and tea for a full day, breakfast and lunch for a morning, tea for an afternoon, and lunch for a school day.

Nappies and wipes are included in paid-session fees. For children using nursery education funding, meals attract a separate daily charge unless a packed lunch is supplied. Teddy Tennis, Kimbles, preschool Cookery and French carry separate charges, so they belong alongside attendance and food when comparing the overall arrangement.

• Settling arrangements. Two initial settling sessions and three tailored settling visits are both described. Ask which arrangement applies to your child and how it will be adapted if they need more time to become comfortable.
• Challenge and digital safety. In April 2023, extending children's learning consistently and teaching responses to online hazards were improvement priorities. During a visit, ask for current examples of how staff develop a child's play and explain safe technology use.
• Funded meals and dietary needs. Funded attendance carries a meal charge unless a packed lunch is provided. Allergy-affected families should confirm the current food arrangements, including how individual requirements are managed with either option.

Forest Rock suits families seeking full-day care, shorter morning or afternoon attendance, or a school-day pattern, including those choosing term-time attendance. Its appeal is concrete: room-by-room self-care, cooking, an enclosed outdoor area with quieter spaces, and preschool provision that includes a sensory/creative room.

The April 2023 Good judgement provides a useful dated assessment, while the learning-challenge and digital-safety priorities deserve attention. For parents who value everyday independence and want communication covering both development and care, this is a nursery with clear reasons to consider it.