Adventure Farm Day Nursery & Pre-School

Daily animal encounters give Adventure Farm Day Nursery & Pre-School its character: this is childcare on a working farm, with private gardens and a purpose-built nursery building in Tatenhill. The farm is part of the children's day rather than an occasional excursion. For families drawn to outdoor play, that combination gives the setting a clear identity.

The nursery has capacity for 96 children, with a current age range of two months to five years. At its 27 October 2022 inspection, Ofsted graded it Good and found safeguarding effective. Morning, afternoon and full-day attendance are offered, with an extension option for the standard full day.

Rooms and Ages

Babies have baby and pre-toddler rooms, with an emphasis on exploring touch, movement, colour and sound, alongside supervised animal visits each day. That makes sensory exploration part of both indoor play and the farm experience.

Toddlers, aged 24 to 36 months, have imaginative and creative play alongside early number work and language development, with hands-on animal activities during their daily farm visits. Their day is structured around developing interests.

Mini Farmers (Pre-School), for children aged three to five, combines indoor and garden play with practical jobs such as weighing animal feed, tending vegetables, grooming goats and cleaning stables. These tasks give early learning a purpose: weighing is attached to feeding animals, while caring for their surroundings involves practical responsibility.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage is the educational framework here, covering children's learning and development through play and everyday experiences. The farm activities sit alongside that shared foundation. They give children practical material for counting, communicating and solving problems, rather than replacing the framework with a separate farm curriculum.

Mini Farmers is also the name of the preschool farm-learning programme. The play and education page sets out the different age groups' activities.

The group-wide Planning in the Moment approach follows children's exploration and uses it to shape teaching. Its feedback pattern differs by age: monthly for babies, every five weeks for toddlers and every ten weeks for preschool children. This gives parents a defined rhythm for more detailed developmental feedback alongside everyday communication.

At the October 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that children made good progress across the learning areas, but asked staff to respond more skilfully to babies' and preschool children's interests and choices because missed opportunities affected engagement and sometimes older children's behaviour.

Outdoor and Community Life

Private nursery gardens have free-flow access, while the on-site farm visits happen daily under supervision. Children can move between the nursery's own outdoor space and animal experiences. The branch prospectus also describes animal barns, paddocks and a tractor-and-trailer ride, adding further variety to the farm setting.

In October 2022, children encountered alpacas, chickens and cows while developing vocabulary. Older children built routes from tyres, crates and pallets, then discussed how to move safely between obstacles. Farm learning also involved collecting eggs, watching milking and harvesting vegetables they had grown. These dated examples show how the surroundings were used for language, movement and understanding food production.

Relationships and Communication

A nominated key person supports each child's move into and through nursery and acts as a main contact for developmental feedback. The group-wide arrangements include regular meetings and sharing a learning journey book. This gives families an identified person to speak to as their child changes rooms or develops new interests.

ParentZone, the group-wide communication app, lets parents access information about their child's day when convenient. It complements the key-person conversations rather than making the app the only channel. Group-wide Play and Stay sessions invite parents to participate; there are also opportunities to contribute through reading stories, gardening or sharing expertise.

In October 2022, children turned to their key persons and encouraged one another when someone felt unsure. Parents received app updates and took part in stay-and-play sessions.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The registration form gives families space to explain medication needs, dietary preferences, allergies and intolerances. It also records whether a care plan has been completed and asks about professionals already involved, including a speech therapist, health visitor or portage worker. These are concrete ways to pass on information that staff need to understand an individual child.

Collection arrangements identify authorised adults and emergency contacts, with collection passwords on the registration form. Medical permissions are recorded separately.

Menus are developed by a nutritionist, food is prepared daily by the nursery kitchen team, and the summer menu rotates over three weeks. Staff also help children practise serving their own food and drinks, making mealtimes an opportunity for independence.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Postern House Farm, Postern Road, Tatenhill, Burton-on-trent, DE13 9SJ. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates across the year and closes on public bank holidays; Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve have an earlier finish at 4pm.

A standard full day runs from 7.30am to 6pm, with a paid extension to 6.30pm. Morning sessions run from 7.30am to 1pm, and afternoon sessions from 1pm to 6.30pm. The registration timetable also includes a funded full-day pattern from 7.30am to 6.30pm, specified as two days and 22 hours stretched.

The minimum booking is two sessions each week. Term-time-only and school-hours-only places are not offered. Confirmed sessions cannot be swapped, although additional ad hoc sessions can be booked subject to the child's room having space. That suits a regular weekly routine better than frequent changes between mornings and afternoons.

Enquiries go through the nursery's administrator on 01283 907008 or admin@adventurefarmdaynursery.co.uk. A registration form is required to join the room-based waiting list, which is organised around age groups rather than a simple first-come queue. It does not promise a particular timescale.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is accepted from nine months, with funding also accepted for two-, three- and four-year-olds, including the 30 hours free childcare scheme. Funding is stretched across the year. Tax free childcare is accepted too, alongside privately paid childcare. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees page explains the broad structure.

For privately paid care, food, milk, nappies, wipes and nappy cream are included in the fee. For funded sessions, meals and non-food consumables are charged separately through the optional Enrichment Package, which also covers additional farm experiences and activities; parents can opt out by speaking with management.

The Enrichment Package includes sun cream, while the registration form asks families to provide their child's sunscreen and allows nursery sunscreen to be used if necessary. This is an item-specific distinction to settle within the chosen package. Written notice of one calendar month is required when ending a place, and fees remain payable for holiday or sickness absences.

• Teaching and settling. Tours take place at 10am on weekdays and can be arranged through the tour enquiry form. Use the visit to discuss how staff follow a child's changing interests, the improvement point from October 2022, and ask how rest is arranged for the youngest children.
• The funded calendar. The FAQ describes funding stretched over 52 weeks, while the terms describe a maximum of 51 fully funded weeks and a payable week in December. These conflict, so obtain the funded attendance calendar and charging agreement in writing before committing.
• A stable booking pattern. The two-session minimum, room-based waiting list and restriction on swapping confirmed sessions make the chosen routine consequential. Consider the morning, afternoon and extended-day options against the hours your family needs consistently.
• Individual dietary arrangements. Allergy and intolerance details, care plans and special diets are addressed through the registration paperwork. Families affected by allergies should confirm current food-handling arrangements and how their child's instructions reach the kitchen and room staff.

Adventure Farm suits families who want daily contact with animals and practical outdoor learning, whether they need morning sessions, afternoon care or a full day with an extension. The strongest draw is the connection between play and real farm jobs, especially for Mini Farmers. A key person and ParentZone provide complementary routes for communication. The October 2022 teaching improvement point and conflicting funded calendars are the main considerations. Families comfortable with a regular, year-round attendance pattern are the clearest fit.