Broadfield Nursery, Broadfield Children & Family Centre

Two gardens, an open-plan play space and access to a sensory room give Broadfield a recognisable character. Based within Crawley Broadfield Family Hub, it combines a smaller base for its youngest children with workshop areas that children can explore according to their development. The layout makes movement between experiences part of the nursery day, rather than keeping every child in a fixed room.

Broadfield has capacity for 40 children and accepts ages from 6 to 60 months. At its September 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good and judged safeguarding effective, while asking for stronger support for learning at home and more consistent opportunities for children to manage everyday tasks themselves. Those improvement points matter alongside the grade.

Hourly charging supports flexible attendance, alongside the nursery’s full-day care offer. For families, the more revealing details are how the smaller baby base works, how practitioners respond to children’s interests and how much parental involvement settling requires.

Rooms and Ages

The Nest is the base for children aged 0 to 2 within the open-plan nursery, offering smaller surroundings and access to both gardens, with movement into the larger environment guided by individual development. Its room age band describes the space; the nursery’s overall accepted ages begin at 6 months.

Beyond that base, the interior is organised into workshop areas. Children can choose experiences and move between them as their interests develop. This gives families a useful distinction to weigh: Broadfield combines a smaller area for younger children with a shared environment, rather than describing a sequence of separate rooms for each age group.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for children’s learning and development through play. Broadfield’s approach adds In the moment planning: practitioners build teaching around what children are already interested in. Teachable Moments are the opportunities staff use during that play to introduce a challenge, a new idea or further thinking. The practical emphasis is on extending an absorbing activity while the child is engaged.

Uninterrupted play sits alongside a recognisable daily rhythm. Children choose activities in the nursery and garden, with some led by adults and others developed through their own exploration. A rolling snack bar lets them take a break from play rather than requiring everyone to stop together. Later, key-worker group time brings stories, singing and conversation into a smaller social setting.

In September 2022, activities followed children’s interests in concrete ways: treasure-map play led to searching the sandpit for hidden objects, while cold spaghetti became a material for sensory exploration. These examples show what responsive planning looked like at that visit. They are more useful than a broad claim that play is educational, because they connect an interest with something children could investigate themselves.

Outdoor and Community Life

Both secure outdoor play areas are reserved for nursery use, with outdoor experiences continuing across the seasons and in different weather. The two gardens add another setting for exploration alongside the indoor workshop areas. Outdoor play is part of the learning offer, rather than simply a break between indoor activities.

In September 2022, babies and older children spent time outdoors each day. Older children practised movement and balance with bicycles and scooters; examining creatures beneath a log gave children a close look at the natural world. These are dated examples of physical activity and investigation, rather than a promise of a particular activity on every future day.

The connection with Crawley Broadfield Family Hub also gives children access to its sensory room. Visitors include the fire service, police and vets, while outings are arranged around children’s interests with parental consent. That brings people and experiences from beyond the nursery into children’s learning, without tying the offer to a fixed weekly trip schedule.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who observes their play and plans experiences around their needs and interests. Settling is organised around building that relationship, with familiar resources and items from home helping to connect nursery life with family life. Individual eating and sleeping patterns are accommodated as far as possible, especially for younger children.

Parents are expected to remain for much of the settling sessions during the first week, reducing their time as the child becomes comfortable. The arrangements are agreed together and can be adapted. This needs practical planning: a gradual start may require a parent or close relative to keep time free before their usual childcare pattern begins.

Tapestry, the online learning journal, holds observations, assessments and children’s achievements, and parents can contribute experiences from home. Communication also includes progress meetings and, where useful, an Information from home book used by the family and key person. These give several ways to share developments, rather than relying only on brief conversations.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO works with the key person, family and outside agencies to plan additional support. Resources and activities can be adapted around a child’s needs, and referral routes include SEND under 5 and speech and language services. The SENCO attends network meetings with West Sussex County Council Early Childhood Services, providing a connection with local support beyond the nursery.

The building is wheelchair accessible and has a disabled toilet area. Children’s home languages are supported through play, with parents helping staff with words and translations. These are concrete arrangements families can discuss in relation to their child, rather than a general assurance that one approach will suit everyone.

In September 2022, staff sometimes completed tasks children could have attempted themselves, including serving food and changing clothes. Support for extending learning at home also needed further development. The current communication tools provide routes for sharing information, but they do not by themselves establish how those earlier improvement points have been addressed.

Lunch and prepared tea can be purchased separately, or families can send healthy, ready-to-eat packed meals in a named container with an ice pack. Snacks include fruit, rice cakes and breadsticks, with water accessible throughout the day and milk offered at snack time.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Broadfield Children & Family Centre, Creasys Drive, Crawley, RH11 9HJ. Broadfield opens Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm and operates for 51 weeks each year. Closures include Bank Holidays, a Christmas week and 5 staff-training days annually, so the opening window needs to be read alongside the closure calendar.

Full-day care and flexible hourly charging serve different attendance needs. The hourly model can suit families whose required childcare does not fill the whole opening window, while the full-day offer supports a longer attendance pattern. The nursery’s daily routine describes activity periods, meals and group time; those routine timings should not be mistaken for separately sold morning or afternoon sessions.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01293 512734 or by email to infobfnursery@gmail.com. Before a child starts, parents contribute information about their interests, health, development and dietary needs. That gives the key person a starting point for planning care and play around the individual child.

Getting There

Allocated parking supports drop-offs and collections at the Family Hub site. The nursery is a short walk from the Broadfield shopping parade, giving families a nearby local reference point without requiring a separate journey-time estimate.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes 15- and 30-hour arrangements over 38 weeks, subject to eligibility, with an option to stretch funding across the year. The distinction matters for household planning: term-time funding and year-round attendance are different arrangements, even though both can be used within the same nursery offer.

Private childcare is charged by the hour, and current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation. Lunch and prepared tea attract a separate charge, with ready-to-eat packed meals as an alternative. The costs and funding page sets out the charging model and funding options.

When children move on to school, their new teacher is invited to meet the key person and discuss development and next steps. Learning Journal information is passed on after parents have seen it, or parents can take it themselves. This is preparation and information sharing, with the child’s experiences carried forward into the next setting.

• Settling needs family time. Parents are expected to stay for much of the first week’s settling sessions. During a visit, discuss how that gradual start would fit around work and who can remain with your child.
• Independence and home learning. Both were improvement priorities in September 2022. Ask for examples of children serving themselves or managing personal tasks, and of practical learning ideas families can use at home.
• The Nest and shared space. Younger children move into the larger environment according to their development. A useful visit question is how staff decide when that move suits an individual child and how the smaller base remains available to them.
• Meals and individual dietary needs. Separate meal charges and the packed-food alternative create different arrangements for families. If allergies affect your child, confirm current food-handling practice and how their meals would be managed.

Broadfield suits families seeking either full-day attendance or flexible childcare charged by the hour, especially those who value child-led play and close communication through a key person and Tapestry. The Nest, two gardens and Family Hub sensory room give the physical offer substance.

Its September 2022 Good judgement provides a dated quality reference, with independence and learning at home remaining useful questions for a visit. The strongest reasons to choose it are concrete: responsive planning, a smaller base for younger children, adaptable settling and practical links with local support services.