Moat Barn Nursery School

A Bamboo Jungle, chickens to care for and woodland cooking give Moat Barn Nursery School its countryside character. Outdoor learning carries real substance here: children grow vegetables, experiment with flowing water and practise judging risk, alongside play and learning indoors. For families who want nature to be part of the nursery day, these are concrete reasons to look closely.

Based in Hasketon, Woodbridge, the nursery accepts children from three months to five years and has 87 places in total. At its 27 June 2024 inspection, Ofsted judged the provision Good and found safeguarding effective. The strongest practical attractions are the extensive outdoor spaces, a planned progression between rooms and school preparation that includes individual support.

Full days and half days are offered, with an earlier start carrying an additional charge. The central decision is how the room-based day and woodland provision would work for your child, rather than simply whether you like the rural setting.

Rooms and Ages

Seedlings, for babies up to two, combines hands-on exploration with a feeding sofa, low windows and doors onto decking; its water and sand equipment lets younger children investigate materials at their own level. The whole nursery's starting age remains three months. A room description beginning at birth does not change that accepted age range.

Saplings can accommodate up to 20 children aged 22 to 36 months, depending on individual needs, with an emphasis on growing independence supported by low sinks, accessible toilets and doors to both grass and decking. That is a room maximum, not a statement about how many children attend on a particular day. Its younger starting point also makes the move from the baby room a developmental decision rather than a rigid birthday boundary.

Oaks, for children aged three to five, uses two connected play rooms and indoor-outdoor access, with an emphasis on confidence, language and early mathematical ideas. Cutting snacks and pouring drinks give independence a practical purpose. A deck provides space for ride-on play, while the grassed area adds climbing and room for physical activity.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage sets the framework for learning and care: children develop language, physical skills, relationships and early understanding through play and everyday routines. Moat Barn's Creating Confident Learners (CCL) curriculum adds monthly topics and weekly room themes, using stories and rhymes to introduce ideas and vocabulary. The themes connect with seasons and celebrations, giving staff a structure for planning across the year.

School Readiness is a programme of daily number and sound activities for Saplings and Oaks. Maths Moments and Sound Sessions bring those experiences into the routine, while the School Readiness Officer provides smaller-group and individual work in Oaks. Activities address phonics, mathematics, hand control and managing emotions. Anima Phonics and White Rose Maths support planning for school readiness.

There is useful breadth beyond those planned sessions. Drawing, making things, stories and movement offer different ways for children to express ideas. Ballet is also part of the weekly enrichment offer. These activities matter most when they connect with a child's interests, rather than becoming a timetable that every child must approach in the same way.

In June 2024, staff used books and selected vocabulary to extend children's conversation. Babies practised negotiating steps, and older children were encouraged to persist with small practical challenges, including operating a gate latch. The same visit identified an important limitation: staff sometimes missed chances to extend knowledge and skills already recognised in their planning. Further coaching was needed to make delivery of the new curriculum more consistent.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School brings learning into the woodland through vegetable growing, cooking over a fire and supervised opportunities to assess risk. Children can combine indoor learning with this outdoor provision. The approach is more than a change of scenery: practical tasks give children something to investigate, discuss and attempt for themselves.

The Sensory Garden includes a Gym Trail for pulling up and balancing, a Bamboo Jungle that brings movement and sound into play, and a grass mound with a tunnel. Water exploration has its own physical resources: a stream and wooden viaduct let children investigate floating, quantities and flow. The stream area is supervised, and its water drains away between uses.

Elsewhere, the outdoor adventure playground includes a race track and pretend shops, giving imaginative play a setting that children can organise and change. A wildlife pond and sensory room broaden the environments available. The chicken area connects animal care with food, including collecting eggs for cooking.

In June 2024, younger children explored mud and herbs and learnt to look after the chickens. Older children explained fire safety and responded to signs marking greater risk in the woodland. Those observations give the outdoor offer a useful context: the activities involved language, judgement and responsibility as well as movement.

Relationships and Communication

A key person provides the main link between each child, their family and the nursery. Children are encouraged to develop attachments with staff, and the nursery aims to keep that relationship consistent for as long as possible. Daily reports cover the child's day, while photographs and observations build an individual learning record. Parents' evenings provide a separate opportunity to discuss next steps.

Moving rooms is planned with families. Before the move downstairs around age two, children spend shorter periods in the new area; their existing key person shares care and developmental information with the next one. Parents receive updates on these trial sessions and can contribute to the transition record through eyLog. Extra support or a later permanent move can be discussed where a child needs it.

Sleep has dedicated arrangements. Babies have their own cot and a designated sleeping area, while older children rest on mats with blankets. Seedlings has individual bedding refreshed daily, and its daily diaries include sleep, meals and nappy changes. That gives parents practical information to connect the nursery day with routines at home.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The SENCO coordinates the identification of additional needs and advises practitioners on supporting individual children. A deputy SENCO role is also in place. At the June 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that children with SEND were well supported through relationships with staff, collaboration with families and professionals, and access to additional funding. That is a dated judgement about support in practice, alongside the current organisational arrangements.

Food is cooked in the nursery kitchen by a chef, with breakfast, snacks, lunch and tea represented in the menus. Dietary and cultural requirements are recorded on the all about me form, and food textures are considered according to a child's ability to manage them.

School preparation also extends to daily self-care. Children put away coats, prepare snacks and help set tables. Before school starts, the nursery invites teachers to meet children and prepares a transition report; a Transitioning to School workshop gives parents a chance to discuss the change. These arrangements help children and parents prepare for the move to school.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Hasketon, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP13 6JW. Standard opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, with a 7.30am start offered for an additional charge. Full and half days are booking options, and collection can take place during the day. The nursery operates for 51 weeks a year, closing on bank holidays and for a week at Christmas.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 07494 654803, by email to manager@moatbarnnursery.co.uk or through the contact form. Those routes cover session and fee enquiries as well as general questions.

Funding and Paid Extras

Moat Barn accepts government early education funding and offers 15 and 30 hours free funded childcare. Access to the extended entitlement depends on eligibility, and the nursery requires the eligibility code before the term in which funding is claimed. Families must reconfirm eligibility every three months. This is an administrative requirement to plan around, rather than an assurance that every family qualifies.

Parents supply nappies and wipes for Seedlings. The 7.30am start is separately charged. For the full cost of your chosen attendance pattern, request a current written quotation covering funded and private hours and any additional charges.

• Early starts and attendance. Standard hours begin at 8am, with a charged 7.30am option and both full and half days offered. At a visit, establish which pattern fits your working day and how the early start is booked.
• Curriculum consistency. In June 2024, staff needed further coaching to extend children's existing knowledge consistently. Ask how staff now use Creating Confident Learners to build on what your child already knows.
• Woodland participation. Forest School includes fire cooking and supervised risk-taking. Discuss how indoor and woodland time is organised for your child's age and needs, including clothing and weather arrangements.
• The complete quotation. Parents provide nappies and wipes for Seedlings. Ask for meals and any activity charges to be itemised for your proposed funded and private hours.

Moat Barn suits families seeking either full days or half days who want outdoor exploration to carry substantial weight in their child's experience. The Sensory Garden, woodland activities and practical animal care give that preference something tangible to rest on. Planned room transitions and daily school-readiness work add useful structure around the play.

The June 2024 curriculum coaching point deserves attention alongside those attractions. A visit should make clear how the current curriculum, key-person relationship and balance of indoor and outdoor learning would work for your particular child.