Broomfield Hospital Nursery, Seymour House

An outdoor classroom accessible throughout the year and a kitchen garden give Broomfield Hospital Nursery, Seymour House a practical connection between play, growing and food. Its position within Broomfield Hospital grounds makes it relevant both to hospital workers and to families living nearby. The garden has a purpose beyond outdoor space: children plant there as part of learning where food comes from.

Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding at its inspection on 22 April 2022. That judgement is a dated assessment, while the current offer accepts children from 3 months to 5 years and has 51 places in total. The baby provision emphasises keeping routines close to those at home; older children move towards independence and preparation for school.

Attendance choices include Nursery Days, Full Days and Extended Days, with term-time-only attendance also offered. Those different windows give families more than one way to fit nursery around their working day.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the framework for children's learning, development and care: it brings these parts of the nursery day together rather than treating education as separate from everyday routines. Here, current activities include exploring outdoors, planting and cooking, alongside age-related provision for babies, two-year-olds and children approaching school.

For babies, the emphasis is on responding to individual needs and keeping familiar home routines wherever possible. Interactive play gives them opportunities to explore. For two-year-olds, independence becomes a clearer priority, with discovery and exploration supporting that next stage. These are different developmental emphases, rather than a single activity plan applied across the age range.

School & Beyond is a group-wide programme offered here for 3- and 4-year-olds, combining learning and activities intended to prepare them for starting school. It gives the preschool stage a named strand of preparation. The practical detail to explore is how that programme translates into activities for an individual child, rather than assuming the name alone tells the whole story.

In April 2022, older children were recognising letter sounds and writing their names and simple words. Their imaginative activity showed an understanding of how stories work, while mathematical activities included addition and subtraction. These examples show the kind of learning observed at that time: early literacy and number work alongside imaginative play.

Younger children had different challenges in April 2022. They took turns constructing a tower with foam bricks, adjusting the way the bricks sat to make it steadier, and learned to operate a camera designed for children. Both examples put practical problem-solving into play. The camera activity also gave children a task they could complete independently.

Outdoor and Community Life

The outdoor classroom is usable across the seasons, and the kitchen garden connects outdoor exploration with food education. The Nursery Food Champion supports cooking and planting activities, helping children link what they grow with what they eat. That connection gives the garden a clear role in learning, rather than leaving it as a backdrop.

In April 2022, a climbing wall gave younger children a physical challenge, with staff helping them judge their footing before progressing. Outdoor play also prompted spontaneous discussion when children heard a vehicle. Such moments added questions and conversation to planned activities, allowing children's immediate interests to shape part of the session.

Relationships and Communication

In April 2022, key persons used their knowledge of individual children to decide what learning should come next. Staff also drew on parents' accounts of experiences and achievements at home when planning activities. For families, the useful connection was between what happened at nursery and what a child was doing elsewhere, rather than two separate accounts of development.

Home learning had a concrete form in April 2022: parent borrow bags supplied resources and guidance for emotional wellbeing, with children practising techniques at home that were also used at nursery. Parents received ideas for extending learning, as well as communication about their child's time in the setting. The bags made that exchange practical, giving families something to use together.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the April 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that support was closely adapted for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those learning English as an additional language, and that safeguarding arrangements were effective. Those findings belong to that assessment. The current team structure includes a SENCo role held by the Head of Early Years Practice and a Designated Safeguarding Lead role held by the manager, giving families identifiable responsibilities within the nursery team.

In April 2022, photographs of the children featured in activities about identity, similarities and differences. Staff avoided gender stereotypes, while children took turns helping others and considering safety during play. These were concrete ways of bringing belonging and responsibility into everyday activities.

Meals and snacks span breakfast to tea, with Nursery Kitchen working alongside the Nursery Food Champion on the food offer. Cooking and planting also form part of children's food education, connecting mealtimes with practical learning.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Broomfield Hospital Grounds, Puddings Wood Lane, Chelmsford, CM1 7SS. Opening hours are Monday to Friday, 7am to 6pm. The nursery operates across the year, with closures for bank holidays and Christmas, and also offers term-time-only attendance.

Three day patterns have different attendance windows: Nursery Days run between 9am and 4pm, Full Days between 8am and 5pm, and Extended Days between 7am and 6pm. Families can combine day types across up to 5 days a week. The distinction matters: a Full Day has a shorter window than the nursery's complete opening day, while an Extended Day spans it.

The branch has an enquiry form and offers tours through its booking form. These provide a direct route to starting the joining process.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, with 15 Hours and 30 Hours options alongside privately paid attendance. Eligibility remains a condition of using funding. Families should obtain current prices in the nursery's written quotation, with their chosen attendance pattern identified clearly.

• Matching the working day. Nursery Days, Full Days and Extended Days have different starting and finishing windows. At a tour, discuss which combination fits your actual working hours, especially if you need the earliest opening or latest collection.
• Baby routines. The baby provision aims to follow routines from home closely. Use a visit to discuss how your child's feeding, sleep and comfort routines would work within the nursery day.
• The complete quotation. Funding choices sit alongside different day lengths. Ask for one written breakdown covering funded-hours delivery, additional paid hours, meals and non-food consumables, so the total arrangement is clear before joining.
• Preparation for school. School & Beyond serves 3- and 4-year-olds. Ask to see examples of its activities and discuss how they would support your child's next stage.

The strongest reasons to consider this nursery are its hospital-ground location, outdoor classroom and kitchen garden, with food education linking planting and cooking. The April 2022 Outstanding judgement adds a substantial dated assessment to that practical offer.

It suits local families and hospital workers seeking either the shorter Nursery Day window or the longer Full Day and Extended Day patterns; term-time-only attendance broadens that fit. For parents of babies, the emphasis on familiar home routines is a useful starting point for a discussion about individual care. For older children, the garden and School & Beyond provide concrete areas to explore when judging whether the day matches their interests and next steps.