The Avenue Day Nursery

Messy science, growing things and weekly movement workshops give The Avenue Day Nursery in Petersfield a recognisable character. A discovery room makes exploration a physical part of the setting, while outings into the town and surrounding countryside extend learning beyond the nursery. Play leads the day.

The nursery accepts children aged 3 months to 5 years and has capacity for 55 children in total. Ofsted rated it Good at its inspection on 3 June 2021. That dated judgement sits alongside a current offer built around play, family communication and activities led by specialists.

Opening hours are 7am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, throughout the year except bank holidays.

Rooms and Ages

A dedicated baby room gives the youngest children their own space. For toddlers and preschool children, domestic-style role-play spaces provide opportunities to explore familiar situations through imaginative play. The emphasis is on children trying ideas, developing independence and working things out.

The discovery room brings messy scientific exploration and growing things into the nursery day. There is also a sensory room. These are different kinds of space, rather than one playroom expected to serve every activity: exploration has a room of its own, alongside the provision for babies and imaginative play.

Learning and Activities

Learning takes place through play, with speech and language coaching supporting communication and exploration encouraging independence and understanding of the world. Adults build curriculum topics around children's interests, combining brief activities led by staff with resources children can choose and explore themselves.

Specialists lead sports, dance and yoga coaching every week. This adds a regular movement strand alongside the room-based activities. Speech and language coaching also forms part of the programme, making communication an explicit part of the nursery's work rather than leaving it entirely to incidental conversation.

Outdoor and Community Life

Children have access to play outdoors as well as indoors during the day. Outings take them into Petersfield and the surrounding countryside, with counting and literacy woven into the experiences. They also meet people who help in the community. The practical appeal is learning connected to places and people beyond the nursery's rooms, rather than activities confined to a table.

Relationships and Communication

Staff work with parents around each child's interests, needs and routines. That gives family knowledge a place in planning the child's nursery experience. Parent information workshops sit alongside speech and language coaching, providing another way for families to engage with children's development.

Tapestry, the online learning journal, carries weekly updates about progress and achievements. For parents, this creates a regular account of learning to follow between conversations with staff. It is a concrete communication arrangement, with a stated weekly rhythm.

Family involvement also extends to stay and play, fundraising walks, sports days and nativity activities during the year. These offer different ways to participate: sharing play, joining an event or supporting fundraising. Work with parents continues as children build confidence towards the move to primary school.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The staff structure includes a SENDCO role and a designated safeguarding lead. These identify responsibilities for additional needs and safeguarding within the team. The nursery also aims to reflect individual routines in its care, an important consideration across an age range that includes both babies and children approaching school.

Sessions and Attendance

The Avenue Day Nursery is at 2c The Avenue, Petersfield, GU31 4JQ. It opens from 7am until 6pm on weekdays and operates across 52 weeks, with bank holidays excluded. The early start and year-round opening are useful practical features for families organising care around work.

Enquiries can be made by email at nursery@the-avenue.org.uk or by telephone on 01730 233721. Families can arrange a nursery viewing on a weekday.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers 15 funded hours for all children aged 3 and 4. Eligible families can access up to 30 hours a week for children aged 9 months and over, with funding beginning in the term after the child's birthday. The 30-hour entitlement can be taken in term-time weeks or stretched across 52 weeks. This gives families a choice between concentrating funded hours into term time and spreading them across the year.

• Year-round opening. Weekday hours run from 7am to 6pm, with bank holiday closures. Families whose working day extends beyond the closing time will need to plan around that finish.
• Funding and everyday costs. The 30-hour offer can be stretched across 52 weeks. When arranging a viewing, ask for a current written quotation for your chosen attendance pattern.
• A dated inspection judgement. The Good rating dates to June 2021. Treat it as a judgement from that point in time when weighing it alongside the nursery's present activities and arrangements.

The Avenue suits families seeking play-based care across the year, with weekly sports, yoga and dance, dedicated exploration spaces and regular Tapestry updates. The combination of town and countryside outings with indoor discovery gives the offer its character. Its funded-hours arrangements also suit eligible families choosing between term-time delivery and a stretched pattern.