Holwell Nursery School

Forest School within the nursery’s own grounds gives Holwell a clear outdoor identity. Children explore a natural forest setting as part of their ordinary nursery day, with opportunities to choose activities and tackle manageable challenges. This is a countryside nursery where outdoor learning has a practical place in the timetable, rather than being reserved for occasional outings.

Holwell Nursery School is a charity-run setting on Crouch Lane in Holwell, near Sherborne. It has 46 places in total and accepts children from 3 months, with Caterpillars, Butterflies and Rainbows covering the stages through to school. At its September 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective.

Term-time and year-round contracts sit alongside morning-only sessions. That gives families more than one attendance pattern to consider, although the Friday finishing time needs clarification before a booking is agreed.

Rooms and Ages

Caterpillars, for children aged 3 months to 2 years, combines child-selected play with daily activities shaped by their interests, while a dedicated sleep area gives rest its own space. Puzzles, drawing materials, small-world play and role play provide different ways for babies and younger children to explore. Keeping sleep provision within the room’s account is useful: the youngest children’s day includes rest as well as activity.

Butterflies, for ages 2–3 years, uses observations to plan learning around children’s interests, with plenty of outdoor time and introductory Forest School experiences when children are ready. Readiness matters here. Participation is linked to the child’s stage, rather than presented as an identical experience for everyone in the room.

Rainbows, for ages 3–4 years, combines an organised daily routine with interest-led activities, Forest School and a summer-term school readiness programme that develops skills for school life. The preparation is attached to the older children’s stage, giving the final nursery term a clear purpose alongside play.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS framework guides children’s learning, development and care, so the day combines play with opportunities to develop language, relationships and physical skills. Holwell’s Forest School adds outdoor exploration within a natural forest setting: children make choices, attempt achievable challenges and learn to take responsibility for their actions. It runs within the regular nursery day, rather than as a separate attendance arrangement.

In September 2024, an interest in making play-dough snails led to a search outdoors for living creatures. Staff discussed the differences between slugs and snails and answered questions about the bugs children discovered. The example shows how an activity could move between indoor play, observation outside and conversation, rather than ending when the play-dough session finished.

Other September 2024 observations included younger children practising pedalling and preschool children taking part in small-group listening activities. These were age-related experiences, not a single activity applied across the nursery. The same visit identified a need to leave children more time to speak and rehearse unfamiliar words, an important qualification to the otherwise purposeful language work.

Relationships and Communication

For Caterpillar children, staff work with families to understand routines at home and carry those routines into nursery care where possible. A key person is allocated during settling as relationships develop. That makes the relationship part of the settling process itself, rather than simply an administrative allocation made before staff know the child.

Parents can speak with staff at collection and drop-off, and can telephone the office during the day. In September 2024, families also received learning updates through an app.

At the September 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that assessment helped staff recognise learning gaps promptly and organise individual support, enabling children to progress.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The manager holds both the SENCo and designated safeguarding lead roles, with a deputy safeguarding lead also in place. All staff have paediatric first aid training. These are concrete arrangements families can understand, while the dated safeguarding judgement remains separate from the nursery’s current staffing structure.

In September 2024, staff had undertaken safe-sleeping training and were using a monitoring procedure while children rested. This sits alongside the current Caterpillar sleep area, but the training and observed practice belong to that visit. For parents of babies, the combination of a defined resting space and attention to sleep routines is a relevant part of the care account.

Food arrangements are straightforward: fees include milk and healthy snacks in the morning and afternoon where relevant, with lactose-free milk available on request. Families supply lunch and tea for children attending those mealtimes, plus bottles, formula, nappies, wipes and creams.

School preparation also deserves a measured reading. In September 2024, younger children poured drinks and used cutlery themselves, but adults sometimes completed tasks for older children that they could have attempted independently. Giving the older group more responsibility was an improvement priority, directly relevant to the current school readiness programme.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Crouch Lane, Holwell, Sherborne, DT9 5LP. Families can contact the office by telephone or use the contact form to make an enquiry. Both term-time-only and year-round contracts are offered, allowing attendance to follow either the school-term pattern or the wider working year.

Sessions run from 8am to 5.30pm Monday to Thursday, and morning-only attendance is also offered. Two current descriptions give different Friday end times; that unresolved point is addressed below. The nursery closes on public holidays and for two weeks over Christmas.

Changing booked sessions requires six weeks’ notice, and a change depends on room capacity. Extra sessions may also be booked when there is capacity, so occasional additions are conditional rather than an assured part of a contract. A move between term-time and year-round contracts can take place only in September, at the beginning of a new academic year.

For year-round children, the holiday arrangement provides two weeks per year at half the usual charge, subject to four weeks’ notice and a completed request form; the Christmas closure is not charged. Additional holiday is charged at the ordinary rate. Illness-related absences do not bring a refund or replacement session, which matters when comparing the total cost of different attendance patterns.

Funding and Paid Extras

Holwell accepts government-funded childcare, including 15-hour funding for eligible nine-month-olds and two-year-olds, 15-hour funding for three- and four-year-olds, and 30-hour funding. An eligibility code is required for the nine-month and two-year entitlement and for 30-hour funding. The nursery also participates in Tax-Free Childcare.

Private childcare is paid through monthly invoices in advance. A registration charge is retained, and a refundable deposit may be requested when a place will not be taken up within four weeks; that deposit is deducted from the final invoice when the child leaves. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation, while the fees and funding information explains the charging structure.

A voluntary committee of parents and non-parents manages the charity and meets each half term. Parents and carers are welcome to join it, giving families a practical route to contribute to how the nursery is supported.

• Friday collection. One current session description ends Friday at 4.30pm and another at 5.30pm. Confirm the contractual finish time before arranging work or collection commitments.
• Children’s own voices and independence. September 2024 improvement priorities concerned time to practise new vocabulary and opportunities for older children to complete tasks themselves. On a visit, ask how these priorities now shape conversations and the Rainbows school readiness programme.
• Food and supplies from home. Snacks are included, but families pack meals and provide care consumables. Account for that preparation alongside the session charge when comparing options.
• Funding within your contract. Term-time and year-round attendance are both offered. Ask how the funded entitlement would be allocated across your proposed contract and how any additional charges would apply.

Holwell suits families drawn to outdoor learning who want either term-time attendance, year-round care or morning-only sessions. Its own grounds, Forest School and room-specific progression give that choice substance. For babies, the settling approach and dedicated sleep area are useful practical details; for older children, the summer preparation programme brings school readiness into the nursery day.

The September 2024 improvement priorities keep the judgement balanced: children need time to use language themselves and opportunities to take responsibility. Families should weigh those points alongside the outdoor offer, the packed-meal arrangement and the notice required for session changes.