Molescroft Farm Children's Nursery

An apple orchard, nursery chickens and vegetables grown for lunch give Molescroft Farm Children's Nursery a character that reaches beyond its playrooms. This Beverley setting puts the farm to practical use: children tend crops, explore outdoor spaces and encounter the connection between growing food and eating it. Nature supplies the materials for learning, rather than simply the backdrop.

At its June 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and praised an ambitious curriculum built around sustainability, children's interests and carefully sequenced learning. The current age range is three months to five years. Secure outdoor areas connect directly with each age group's space, while covered areas make outdoor play possible in changing weather.

Full-day, morning and afternoon bookings give families different ways to use the setting. Its strongest appeal is the combination of outdoor exploration, practical independence and a day in which children can follow their own ideas.

Rooms and Ages

The Meadow Room caters for the youngest children and has a fridge for breast milk. The Woodland Room caters for toddlers. Children aged two to three use the Hedgerow Room, while the separate Pre-School building serves children aged three and above.

Across the setting, children can move freely into secure outdoor spaces. Covered areas extend the usefulness of those spaces, and quad cross-country buggies allow the youngest children to join farm excursions. That matters here: the wider farm experience includes babies, rather than being reserved for children who can manage a longer walk.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning and care, with play supporting communication, physical development and growing independence. Molescroft adds concrete opportunities to that foundation through gardening, science, music and exploration of the farm. Activities respond to the individual child, with an emphasis on choosing, trying and taking ownership of learning.

Gardening Club gives children opportunities to investigate smells, tastes and textures while lifting, digging and tending plants. Raised beds and a polytunnel make growing food part of nursery life. The resulting produce can become part of lunch, so children experience a complete sequence from planting to harvesting to eating.

In June 2024, gardening also provided opportunities for mathematics: children measured planting holes, while baking introduced quantities and younger children counted toy animals. Those examples show how practical tasks carried learning beyond a separate counting activity. Picking up seeds and handling tools also brought small, precise movements into the same experiences.

Language developed through similarly concrete encounters in June 2024. Staff repeated new vocabulary and supported communication with gestures, signing and visual prompts. Children discussed insect trails, bees and the scent of herbs. The surroundings gave them something immediate to describe, while different communication methods helped children take part.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School gives preschool children sessions in a private wood on the site, involving den making, listening walks, climbing and using tools. Fire building is also part of the programme. These are opportunities to practise judgement and physical skills through specific tasks, alongside imaginative play.

The apple orchard offers another place to explore the seasons. Children help care for the nursery's chickens and collect their eggs daily; pygmy goats add another animal encounter. Farm life brings recurring responsibilities as well as things to look at, making care for living things a practical experience.

Educational visits to Frith Farm introduce children to an on-site vegetable-box enterprise concerned with sustainable food production. A community allotment sits alongside this activity. Together with the nursery's own growing spaces, these connections show children that food production is something happening around them, involving people as well as plants.

Relationships and Communication

Settling sessions take place before a child starts and are adapted to the family. Early conversations cover favourite activities, family life, medical needs and diet, helping the key person understand the child beyond a list of care instructions. Each child has a key worker responsible for their learning journey, observations and assessments, including personal routines such as nappy changes and toileting.

Moves between rooms are built up gradually, with the key worker involved and a transition poster supporting the handover. Readiness is considered with the family. This gives changes of room a familiar relationship to carry them, rather than treating a birthday as the whole transition plan.

The Famly app brings daily diaries, observations and assessments together with information about meals, bottles and nappies. Families can message their child's room or management and contribute photographs and observations from home. That exchange gives practitioners material they can use to extend a child's interests during nursery activities.

Regular stay-and-play sessions, parents' evenings and newsletters offer other ways to stay involved. The Molescroft Farm Parent/Carer Committee provides a route for discussing developments with management. Open gardening club days also let families join the growing activities their children know.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the June 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and identified precise individual support for children with SEND, with adapted activities and suitable equipment helping children participate and progress. Current arrangements include SENCO and designated safeguarding lead roles, alongside work with health visitors, speech and language services and Portage.

Children have access to yoga and a cosy retreat in each room when they want some quiet. Baby-room staff undertake training in infant care and safe sleeping. The nursery uses its employed team rather than agency staff, supporting familiarity in children's everyday relationships.

Meals are cooked on site using seasonal ingredients, including produce the children grow; the nursery publishes a nut-free policy and caters for dairy-, egg- and gluten-free diets. Meals, drinks and snacks are included in the fee, as are nappies, wipes and sun cream, while families supply formula milk and bottles, and breast milk can be stored in the Meadow Room fridge.

School preparation includes inviting teachers to visit children at nursery and using school uniform in dressing-up activities before the move. For children attending another setting, a shared communication book supports contact between the adults involved. Both arrangements centre on continuity for the child.

Sessions and Attendance

Full-day sessions run from 7.30am to 6pm, mornings from 7.30am to 1pm, and afternoons from 1pm to 6pm. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates for 51 weeks, closing on bank holidays and between Christmas and New Year, with no charge for those closed sessions.

The application terms set a minimum attendance of one full day or two half days each week. Fees are paid monthly in advance, and booked sessions remain payable when children miss nursery because of sickness or holidays. Reducing sessions or leaving requires one month's written notice, with fees continuing during that period.

A non-refundable administration charge accompanies the application. Once the form and payment have been received, an email confirms the childcare requirements. Telephone and email enquiries go through the nursery office, and a contact form provides a route for arranging a visit.

Getting There

The address is Molescroft Grange Farm, Grange Way, Beverley, HU17 9FS, with access from the A1035 on the edge of town. Dedicated nursery parking includes disabled parking spaces.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is accepted for children aged nine to 23 months, two-year-olds and three- to four-year-olds. The arrangements include Working Families Funding, the universal 15-hour entitlement for three- and four-year-olds and an alternative 15-hour two-year-old entitlement; the alternative cannot be claimed alongside the other two-year-old funding.

Working Families Funding extends to 30 hours across the eligible age groups following the change on 1 September 2025. Funding can follow the 38-week school-term arrangement or be stretched across the year. Eligibility and the start of entitlement depend on the family's circumstances and the relevant term, so the funding offer should be distinguished from a guaranteed funded booking.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. Included care items sit alongside payment and notice terms, so the overall decision involves both what a session covers and the commitment attached to the booking.

• Outdoor participation from infancy. Buggies extend farm excursions to the youngest children, while preschool children use the private wood for Forest School. At a visit, ask how those different experiences fit your child's stage and everyday routine.
• A recurring booking commitment. The application terms require one full day or two half days weekly, and sickness or holiday absences remain payable. Families seeking occasional care should weigh that commitment against their likely attendance.
• Feeding and allergies. The nursery has a nut-free policy, offers dietary adaptations and stores breast milk in the Meadow Room. Confirm current allergy procedures and agree your baby's milk arrangements before starting.
• Funded-session costs. Funding can be stretched, while the fee package includes food and several care supplies. Ask for a written breakdown showing how meals, consumables and any private hours apply to your funded booking.

Molescroft suits families who want outdoor exploration to shape the nursery day, whether they book full days or shorter morning and afternoon sessions. The orchard, growing spaces, animal care and preschool woodland activities give that preference concrete substance.

The June 2024 Outstanding judgement adds weight to the educational offer, while personalised settling, key-worker continuity and Famly communication make the care arrangements useful to parents. The trade-off is a regular booking and payment commitment. For families comfortable with those terms, the farm supplies an unusually coherent connection between play, practical skills and everyday care.