Little Gems Day Nursery Petersfield

An enclosed rear garden gives Little Gems Day Nursery Petersfield space for outdoor play. In June 2025, learning built around children's interests included scooping, sorting, counting and moving outdoors. It has capacity for 40 children, with an accepted age range from birth to five years.

At its June 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found that its curriculum responded to children's abilities and needs, although staff needed to extend learning more consistently. That balance matters: the activities gave children useful opportunities, but the next step in their learning was not always picked up.

The Petersfield branch is based at the Childrens Centre, 1 Readon Close. Opening hours run from 7.30am to 6pm, giving families a substantial weekday window.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the framework for children's learning, development and care here. In everyday terms, play brings together communication, movement, early number skills and learning to manage relationships, rather than treating these as separate lessons.

In June 2025, children used ladles to collect coloured lids from water, sorted them into matching containers and counted their collections. One activity therefore brought together handling tools, recognising colour and working with numbers. The useful detail is the connection between physical action and a learning task: children had something concrete to handle and think about.

Children also chose resources for themselves and took part in activities staff had organised around their interests. This gave them both room to make decisions and opportunities to try something adults had planned. Assessments helped staff decide what children needed next as they moved between rooms.

The limitation was in extending that play. In June 2025, some staff missed opportunities to add information or guidance during activities and routines. For parents, the distinction is between keeping a child occupied with a suitable task and helping that child take their understanding further.

Outdoor and Community Life

The enclosed rear garden supplies a physical counterpoint to indoor activities. It gives outdoor play a defined space within the nursery grounds.

In June 2025, children practised movement through running, bending and crouching outdoors. Bike riding also carried a clear safety expectation: children wore helmets, and staff explained the reason. Daily checks of the outdoor environment sat alongside helping children recognise risks themselves, linking active play with learning how to use the space safely.

At the June 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective, key-person care personalised and support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities successful through targeted plans and collaboration with parents and other professionals. These are important findings for families whose child needs coordinated support as well as everyday care.

In June 2025, staff used comfort and reassurance to build relationships with the youngest children. They also talked with children about kindness when children noticed that a friend needed help. Care therefore included both a reassuring adult relationship and attention to how children treated one another.

Communication connected the nursery day with home. In June 2025, staff shared assessments, activities and care routines with parents. That gave families information about both learning and the practical details of their child's day, rather than only an account of what activities had taken place.

Everyday independence featured too. Children were encouraged to wash their hands around meals, toileting and coughing. These small routines offered opportunities to practise doing things for themselves while understanding how their actions affected others.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery opens Monday to Friday, from 7.30am to 6pm, and operates across the year with a Christmas closure of one week. That closure is a practical consideration for families arranging care through the festive period.

Getting There

The address is Childrens Centre, 1 Readon Close, Petersfield, GU31 4BN, off Love Lane. Enquiries can be made through the contact form by selecting Petersfield, or by telephone on 01730 260 132.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered through 15 hours a week for children aged two, three and four, and 30 hours for children aged three and four. These are the nursery's stated entitlement categories; they are not a promise that an individual family qualifies. Families should obtain current prices in a written quotation from the nursery.

• Extending learning. The June 2025 improvement priority was to challenge children more consistently during activities and routines. Families who value adult guidance alongside independent play should pay attention to how staff take a child's interest to the next step.
• Booking and funded costs. Opening hours span 7.30am to 6pm, while the nursery offers both 15-hour and 30-hour funding categories. At a visit, what attendance pattern would suit your child, and how would the written quotation separate funded hours, additional care, food and consumables?
• Christmas cover. A one-week Christmas closure sits within the year-round calendar. Families needing care throughout that period will need to plan around it.

Little Gems suits families seeking care across the year and an enclosed outdoor space. The June 2025 picture combines personalised care, purposeful activities and a clear teaching priority: making the next learning step more consistent. Its garden and the interest-led activities observed in June 2025 give parents concrete reasons to consider it, while the Christmas closure deserves a place in their practical planning.