The Valley Nursery School

A tree-house, a growing poly-tunnel and an onsite Forest School give The Valley Nursery School a clear outdoor identity. Its grounds between Crantock and Cubert are part of the learning space, with a secret garden, water habitats and a lodge used for movement, music and sensory activities. There is plenty here for a child who learns by doing.

At its January 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding, judged safeguarding effective and found that teaching encouraged sustained interest, thoughtful discussion and strong progress. That judgement has concrete substance: children experimented with materials, tested ideas from stories and helped one another with practical tasks.

The nursery accepts children aged 3 to 60 months and has 34 places in total. It is a charity overseen by voluntary trustees. Term-time attendance features in its booking arrangements, while paid additional childcare extends beyond funded hours.

Rooms and Ages

Pre-School 1, Pre-School 2 and the Nursery Room each have a room-leader role.

Accessible wooden blocks and loose parts let children build, combine and rearrange materials as their ideas change.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: play, communication and practical exploration help children develop across its areas of learning. Alongside that framework, the nursery uses planning in the moment (PITM), an approach in which practitioners observe children's chosen play and respond with a question, demonstration or challenge while the interest is active.

The curriculum description explains how flexible resources and outdoor challenges support this teaching through children's interests.

In January 2024, children investigated how to make a mixture of spices and water thicker, drawing on an earlier conversation about construction materials. Another story-inspired activity involved making houses from different materials and testing them by blowing. These examples show ideas travelling between conversation, books and practical experiments. Children were doing more than completing a craft.

Language has its own deliberate support. Learning Language and Loving it is staff development used to examine and improve interactions with children; Staff are trained in Makaton to support children who are not yet communicating verbally. Songs, rhymes and stories recur throughout the day, and story days build activities around favourite books. Yoga adds playful breathing, poses, relaxation and storytelling, offering a different pace alongside active play.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School adds practical learning in a natural setting within the nursery's own grounds. A secret garden with a tree-house and a lodge for sensory activities, movement and music give children further ways to explore.

Growing food connects another part of the grounds with everyday life. Children help raise and harvest produce in the poly-tunnel, and vegetable waste is composted. Water collected in a butt is used for some activities. These are tangible ways to encounter growing, reuse and the handling of resources.

The lake area and river support pond dipping. Cubert Common and the beaches of Crantock and Polly Joke are nearby.

Pete the Bear provides a link between Pre-school 1 and family life. Children take the bear home and contribute notes, drawings or photographs to a diary about their time together. Annual World Book Day celebrations also bring books into shared activities, with children appearing as characters. Both give families a recognisable way to contribute to nursery life.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who develops a relationship with the child and family, observes learning and monitors development. Settling starts with an induction session in the term before attendance begins. Children meet their key person and spend time at nursery; where that first period is difficult, a more gradual arrangement is agreed with parents. The approach allows settling to be adjusted to the individual child.

Weekly focus sheets bring parents' knowledge into planning. Verbal updates, agreed progress discussions and access to learning journeys and trackers keep families involved.

In January 2024, a library cart let children borrow books for family reading at home.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the January 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that the SENCO, parents and other professionals worked effectively together on individual plans, supporting children with SEND to make excellent progress. The current support arrangements explain how that collaboration is organised: parents can raise concerns with the key person or SENCO, and an Individual Support Plan can set targets that are reviewed every six weeks.

An Early Help Assessment can bring together a fuller picture of a child's needs and identify suitable services. Advice from other professionals informs individual targets, with support delivered individually or in a group according to the child's needs. The environment can be adapted, and funding can be sought for additional support. These are mechanisms families can discuss in relation to their own child, rather than a general assurance that every need will be met in the same way.

Physical access includes a ramp into the main building, hard paths to play areas, and low-level sinks and toilets. Weekly wellbeing sessions led by the SENCO also provide support for families. Safeguarding arrangements include designated lead roles and a deputy role; staff refresh safeguarding training every two years, alongside supervision and peer observation used to identify professional development needs.

The manager and SENCO prepare a school transition report. With parental permission, support information can be shared and a meeting arranged with the family, the receiving school's SENCO and other professionals.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is at Wheelgate House, Trevowah Road, Crantock, Newquay, TR8 5ES. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. It operates across the year, with closures for two weeks at Christmas, Bank Holidays and three training days annually.

Charges use a session or hourly basis, and term-time children take holidays during school holiday periods. Requests for extra sessions or extended childcare hours are considered. Families apply using the joining and registration forms; after a successful application, the place must be accepted within one week, followed by a deposit to hold it. Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by email or by telephone.

The deposit is returned after the final invoice has been paid. Reducing attendance or leaving requires at least one month's notice, with withdrawal completed using the leaving-date form. Illness and other absences are generally charged at the booked rate; the holiday entitlement is two weeks annually, taken in weekly blocks with the required notice. These terms matter when comparing the total commitment with a child's expected attendance.

Getting There

Car parking is available, and the rural position between Crantock and Cubert is part of the nursery's practical character. The ramp and hard paths also matter for families considering how their child will use the building and outdoor spaces.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes two-year-old provision subject to the stated benefit or tax-credit income eligibility conditions, the universal entitlement for eligible three- and four-year-olds, and 30-hour funding subject to eligibility. The universal arrangement covers 15 hours weekly over 38 weeks, with a daily funding limit of 10 hours; additional hours and extra weeks are paid for separately. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, and the funding page sets out its entitlement categories.

A cook is part of the team, and food and drink are provided on the premises, with meat and vegetarian choices usual; children help grow produce, with other ingredients sourced locally and organically where possible. The allergy policy acknowledges possible cross-contamination, uses a risk assessment for known allergies and warns that not every child's dietary needs can be accommodated; allergy-affected families should confirm current arrangements for their child.

• Outdoor provision. The tree-house, water habitats and onsite Forest School are central to the offer. At a visit, discuss how your child's age, mobility and confidence shape access to those spaces.
• Funding and everyday extras. Additional hours and weeks beyond the universal entitlement are charged separately. Ask for one written quotation distinguishing childcare, meals and non-food consumables for the attendance pattern you want.
• Attendance commitment. Christmas and training-day closures sit alongside notice and absence-charging rules. Compare those terms with your working calendar before accepting a place.
• Individual support. Plans can be reviewed every six weeks, with parents and outside professionals involved. Use the settling discussion to establish which adaptations and targets would apply to your child.

The Valley suits families seeking term-time attendance or paid childcare beyond funded hours who value outdoor exploration. Its tree-house, growing area and Forest School give teaching through children's interests practical substance. The January 2024 Outstanding judgement supports that educational case; attendance terms and individual support arrangements deserve equal weight in the decision.