The Faraway Tree Day Nursery

A reading den, a mud kitchen and an allotment give The Faraway Tree Day Nursery a practical, outdoorsy character. Babies and toddlers use the rear play area, while preschool children have climbing equipment at the front. These are spaces for stories, movement and growing things, rather than outdoor time built around a single activity.

The Bedford Close setting in Derby accepts children from three months to five years and has capacity for 38 children. At its 26 July 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good overall and found safeguarding effective, with prompt support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). That is a dated assessment, rather than a description of today's staffing or daily practice.

Blossom Room, Conker Room and Acorn Room organise the day by age, with different materials and activities for babies, toddlers and preschool children. Full-time and term-time attendance are offered. The strongest reasons to consider Faraway Tree are its concrete room arrangements, outdoor spaces and mechanisms for sharing children's development with parents.

Rooms and Ages

Blossom Room covers the baby stage up to 24 months: singing, sensory activities and messy play sit alongside a soft play tunnel for crawling and pulling up, with puppets and story sacks supporting shared reading. This gives younger children opportunities to move and communicate through play, with activities planned around individual needs.

For children aged 24–36 months, Conker Room combines daily sand and water play with a home corner for acting out familiar experiences, plus facilities for nappy changing and potty training. The arrangement brings imaginative play and the practical business of becoming more independent into the same room.

Acorn Room serves children aged 36–60 months, bringing together group experiences, jigsaws, pencil control, painting and messy play as part of preparation for school. Its emphasis includes the hand movements children need for managing small objects and making marks. Work is displayed, giving their creations a visible place in the room.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) supplies the shared framework: children's days develop communication, relationships and physical skills alongside early literacy, mathematics, understanding the world and creative expression. Faraway Tree puts this into practice through play and experiences directed by both children and adults, indoors and outside.

Planting seeds, baking and meeting people such as a dentist or police officer connect learning with everyday life. Local walks, park trips and care-home visits broaden children's experiences beyond the nursery. These are examples of the curriculum, rather than a promise of a fixed weekly timetable. Festivals and special occasions can involve food tasting, dancing, visitors and making cards, giving children different ways to take part.

In July 2022, books, songs and rhymes were used to introduce new words, and older children counted the cutlery needed for lunch. However, opportunities to reuse vocabulary in different situations needed attention, and adults sometimes redirected play before children had explored their own ideas. Both points matter: introducing a word is only part of helping a child use it, and an interesting activity needs room for the child's own decisions.

Outdoor and Community Life

Two outdoor play areas separate the younger children's rear space from the preschool area at the front. A reading den and mud kitchen give babies and toddlers places for quieter and hands-on activity; preschool children have a large climbing frame and tyres for physical play. Bikes, tunnels, leaf collecting and bug hunts add different reasons to go outside.

The allotment provides another kind of outdoor experience: children grow vegetables, linking planting with food. Outdoor play takes place in different weather, so movement and exploration are woven into the day rather than reserved for sunny conditions. World book day and Chinese New Year are among the celebrations children take part in over the year.

Relationships and Communication

Settling begins before the start date. A settling session is arranged, with windows of 9am–11am or 1pm–3pm. Parents also supply information about their child's interests, dislikes, language, comfort preferences and routines, giving staff practical starting points for care rather than just administrative details.

The baby form asks about sleep, feeding and whether a child uses a dummy or comforter. The nursery aims to accommodate a child's familiar routine where possible. That qualification matters for families: individual routines are considered within a shared nursery day.

Key-worker roles are identified in both baby and preschool provision, and Tapestry is the online learning journal used to share children's learning with families. Developmental assessment starts with parents shortly after a child joins, followed by termly summaries and a leaving assessment. The system connects everyday observations with discussions about what a child needs next.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCo role sits alongside preschool leadership and the deputy-manager role. The curriculum includes identifying children who need extra help, involving parents in the two-year progress check and working with other professionals. For children learning English as an additional language, the nursery works with Derby Early Years & Childcare Partnership to seek support for children and parents.

At the July 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that staff and parents worked closely to address learning gaps for children with SEND, while staff understood how to recognise and respond to safeguarding concerns. Current arrangements include a designated safeguarding lead role and paediatric first-aid training for all staff. These describe the arrangements in place; the safeguarding judgement belongs to the dated inspection.

Food is cooked on site in an equipped kitchen, with a nursery cook and a seasonal four-week menu rotation. The dietary policy covers dietary requirements and medical conditions, while water is accessible throughout the day and fruit and other snacks are offered between meals.

School preparation includes sharing information with receiving schools in summer. This helps the next setting understand a child's development, interests and experiences, rather than making the move depend solely on what a child can demonstrate on their first day.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Bedford Close, Derby, DE22 3HQ, and opening hours are 6.30am–6.30pm, Monday to Friday. The baby booking form offers All Day, 6.30am–6.30pm, and Middle Day, 8.45am–3.30pm, with full-time or term-time attendance. The older children's form includes morning, afternoon, All Day and half-day choices; session arrangements may change for funded-only children.

Bank holidays and the period between Christmas and New Year are closures. An application joins the waiting list and does not guarantee a place. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01332 265593 or through the enquiry form, and a large car park serves the nursery.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes 15/30 HOURS arrangements over 38 weeks for term-time attendance, and stretched sessions are also offered. Funding and additional private hours are separate parts of the bill. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

For funded attendance, food and snacks are charged separately, alongside enhanced provision and a parental communications log charge; food charges depend on the times attended. Enhanced provision covers additional materials and experiences, including craft and sensory resources, baking and food tasting. For private hours added beyond funded hours, enhanced charges are included in the price.

Parents provide nappies, wipes, cotton wool and named sunscreen. For babies, parents also provide food and prepared formula bottles until the child can eat puréed solids and drink cows' milk from a beaker. These home-supplied items sit alongside the separate enhanced-provision charge on funded attendance.

A non-refundable registration charge applies when a place is accepted, and a deposit is required after an offer. The deposit is returned when the child leaves with payments cleared; cancellation before taking up the place can make it non-refundable. The precise cancellation conditions should be settled in the written contract. Ending the contract requires one month's notice. Fees continue during sickness, which matters when budgeting for periods when a child cannot attend.

• Children directing their play. In July 2022, staff sometimes took over activities too quickly, and children needed more chances to practise new vocabulary. On a visit, ask how practitioners now give children time to develop their ideas and use new words.
• Annual attendance. The attendance descriptions differ: full-time and term-time places are described across 47.5 weeks, while registration forms specify 51 weeks. Confirm the annual calendar and how it fits the attendance pattern you need before accepting a place.
• Funded attendance costs. Food, snacks, enhanced provision and the communications log carry separate charges, with food costs affected by attendance times. A written quotation should show the funded hours, private hours and each additional category separately.
• Your child's care needs. Blossom Room has movement equipment and individual activity planning, while the dietary policy covers medical conditions. Ask about the baby room's usual group size and, where allergies affect your child, confirm current food-handling practice during the visit.

Faraway Tree suits families choosing between All Day and Middle Day baby care, as well as those seeking morning, afternoon or half-day attendance for older children. Its appeal is tangible: age-specific rooms, separate outdoor areas, vegetable growing and Tapestry communication give parents a clear picture of what their child can experience.

The July 2022 Good judgement is useful context, with child-led play and vocabulary practice the points needing attention at that time. The decision also rests on practical fit: the annual calendar, funded attendance charges and the care arrangements for your own child deserve as much weight as the room activities.