Jumping Beans Nursery CIO

In March 2025, woodland, coast and school-ground animals gave Jumping Beans Nursery CIO an outdoor character beyond its classrooms. This charity-run nursery shares the Parklands Infant School site in Eastbourne, with capacity for 55 children. At its March 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated it Outstanding, with teaching that responded closely to children's interests and learning needs.

Children are accepted from nine months to five years old. Little Beans and Big Beans are the named rooms for older children, while Tapestry gives families an online account of learning and a way to share experiences from home. Morning, afternoon, full-day and extended-day bookings serve different term-time routines.

Rooms and Ages

Little Beans caters for children aged two to three; Big Beans is for ages three to four. The rooms have bright, modern surroundings and equipment for exploration, giving children opportunities to investigate at their own pace. These room age bands sit within the nursery's broader accepted age range.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage sets the learning and care framework: children develop language, social confidence and physical skills alongside early reading, mathematics, creative expression and understanding their surroundings. Playing, exploring and trying out ideas are part of that learning, rather than separate from it.

In March 2025, practitioners followed children's play and added resources or ideas to extend it. Role play was one example: adults joined the children's imaginative activity and introduced materials that helped it develop. The important detail was responsiveness. Children could shape an activity, with adults building on what interested them.

Dough play gave older children a practical route into calculation in March 2025, as they added and removed pieces during number games. Younger children arranged chairs in a circle to signal that they wanted the song box, and staff responded. These examples connect learning with things children choose to do, rather than treating play and teaching as separate parts of the day.

Outdoor and Community Life

Running on the field, riding bikes and climbing trees are part of the outdoor offer. The school site supplies space for movement and exploration, so physical activity has several forms rather than depending on a single play area. Healthy-eating activities also take place each term, connecting food with learning.

In March 2025, specialist teachers led experiences involving camp fires, whittling and nature in woodland and coastal settings. Children also regularly encountered ducks and llamas on the school grounds. Those experiences made the natural world tangible: animals, materials and outdoor activity supplied things to investigate beyond the classroom.

World Book Day brought book-character costumes and conversations about those characters in March 2025. It is a concrete example of books becoming a shared social experience, with children talking to friends and adults about the characters they had chosen.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person, allocated before starting or after an initial settling period according to the child's needs. Settling is organised with parents, giving the family a recognisable staff contact as the child becomes familiar with the group. The timing allows the relationship to develop around the individual child.

Tapestry is the online learning journey used to record development and share daily and weekly diaries. Parents can contribute experiences from home too. That creates a two-way account of the child's interests, rather than leaving nursery learning and home life disconnected.

Families can take part through fundraising, charity governance or activities such as reading, singing and cooking. There are practical ways to contribute alongside receiving updates. In March 2025, family support also included home-learning packs, borrowing books and guidance on extending play at home, with parents directed towards other support services when needed.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2025 inspection, Ofsted judged SEND provision Outstanding and safeguarding effective, and found that carefully assessed needs led to prompt targeted help and outstanding progress from children's starting points. Accurate assessments helped secure support funding, while teaching was adapted so children could participate across the curriculum.

In March 2025, daily intensive communication support addressed the needs of children who required it. Emotional regulation was also a deliberate part of the curriculum: two-year-olds used quieter spaces when overwhelmed, with familiar adults ready to help them return to play. This gives a specific picture of the support in practice, rather than relying on a general promise of individual care.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Parklands Infant School, Brassey Avenue, Eastbourne, BN22 9QJ. Opening hours are 7.45am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday, during term time.

Morning bookings run from 8.30am to 11.30am, or to 12.30pm when lunchtime is included. Afternoon bookings run from 12.30pm to 3.30pm. The full day is 8.30am to 3.30pm, with an extended full day from 7.45am to 4.30pm. Additional morning time runs from 7.45am to 8.30am, and the afternoon extension from 3.30pm to 4.30pm.

Enquiries can be made by email to manager@jumpingbeansnursery.org or by telephone on 01323 502620. Sharing a school site does not guarantee a Reception place; families still use the local authority admissions process.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes working-parent funding from nine months, two-year-old funding, and universal and extended funding for three- and four-year-olds. Eligible children can use their funded hours within the opening window, with additional hours charged privately. Attendance is term-time only.

A funding form is required each funding term, alongside the relevant eligibility codes and a birth certificate or passport at registration. This paperwork matters: failure to complete the termly form makes families liable for full fees. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fee structure explains the booking and payment arrangements.

Children staying for lunch bring a healthy packed lunch with a large ice pack, and parents supply fruit or vegetables for snack time. Snacks carry no additional charge, although families are asked for a packet of breadsticks, rice cakes or crackers each term; milk and water are supplied.

Daytime activities and trips are covered by the nursery. Missed sessions remain payable, and withdrawal requires four weeks' written notice, funded or paid during term time. Families experiencing financial difficulty can discuss an arrangement confidentially with the manager.

• Term-time planning. Morning, afternoon and extended-day choices give several ways to organise attendance, but the nursery operates during term time. Families needing holiday childcare must plan around that calendar.
• Starting under two. Children can join from nine months, while Little Beans and Big Beans have older age bands. On a visit, ask how care, sleep and settling are organised for the youngest children.
• Leaving or missing sessions. Absences remain payable and four weeks' written withdrawal notice must be funded or paid in term time. Build those terms into any change of childcare plans.

Jumping Beans suits families seeking term-time morning or afternoon sessions as well as those combining a full day with extended hours. Its school-ground setting, outdoor experiences and two-way communication through Tapestry give it a recognisable character. The March 2025 judgement supplies a strong quality benchmark, with individual learning and support central to that assessment. The practical trade-off is the term-time calendar, alongside parent-provided lunches and clear payment and withdrawal terms.