Downside Nursery

Half an acre of grounds, a former village school and a preschool programme that gives French, gymnastics and live music their own place in the week: Downside Nursery has a clear character. The setting occupies the original village school in Downside, near Cobham, with interconnected classrooms and outdoor space for growing, climbing and imaginative play. There are 37 places in total.

At its June 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated Downside Nursery Good and found safeguarding effective. The important qualification concerns group teaching: in June 2025, some organised activities failed to hold children's attention, so children missed parts of the intended learning. Improving engagement during these sessions was the action required.

The Junior Room serves children aged 2 to 3, while the Senior Room is for children aged 3 and over, including 4-year-olds. Morning sessions and full days sit within a mainly term-time offer, with breakfast clubs and some additional holiday weeks. This is a setting to consider for its preschool experience as well as its attendance arrangements.

Rooms and Ages

Two connected classrooms organise the nursery day, with a home corner and library corner among the shared resources. These give children space for pretend play and books alongside materials for practical science, mathematics and computing. The physical arrangement matters: learning includes exploring resources and developing ideas, rather than depending entirely on scheduled lessons.

For children aged 2 to 3, the Junior Room emphasises becoming comfortable in a group, making friends and developing communication, physical skills and early literacy and maths through play. The Senior Room, for ages 3 and over including 4-year-olds, uses daily pretend play indoors and outside, alongside weekly themes, to build vocabulary and prepare children for their next educational stage.

Learning and Activities

EYFS provides the framework for children's learning and care, with play, creative work and planned activities supporting development across its areas of learning. Downside adds the Curriculum Enrichment Programme in the Senior Room: scheduled sessions in sounds and letters, movement, French, live music and art. The additions have concrete content. They are more than a programme name.

Monday's Phonics session extends the week's sound work through a workbook completed each term. Tuesday brings Gymnastics, with activities aimed at balance, coordination and core strength. On Wednesday, French introduces greetings, colours and numbers through crafts and other activities; pretend passports and customs encounters also feature during French week. These are different ways of practising language and physical skills within the nursery week.

Thursday's Music session uses live performance, singing and movement to explore rhythm, rhyme and stories, with children experiencing musical instruments. Art Club on Friday introduces an artistic technique or process and produces something children can take home. Bookham Arts Society helped develop the art activity, connecting the programme with a local arts organisation. The Senior Room curriculum explains how these sessions extend the everyday learning programme.

June 2025 observations give useful examples of ordinary play alongside the scheduled sessions. Children shaped dough, worked wet sand with scissors and made drawings, practising hand movements needed for writing. Comparing dinosaur sizes introduced mathematical language, while building with magnetic tiles and bricks gave older children opportunities to concentrate on their own constructions. The group-activity improvement point matters precisely because there was purposeful learning elsewhere in the day.

Outdoor and Community Life

The grounds bring growing and physical play together. Children collect herbs from the sensory garden and harvest produce from the allotment; a castle and rigging support climbing and pretend adventures. These resources make seasonal change something children can handle and explore, alongside opportunities to move their bodies.

In June 2025, children investigated insects using magnifying glasses and tested their physical abilities on the climbing frame. Older children worked together to examine what they found, seeking adult help when needed. The outdoor examples combine observation, conversation and cooperation rather than treating outside time simply as a break from learning.

Village walks and taking nursery-reared frogs to a local pond connect learning with the surrounding area. Visitors from The Yehudi Menuhin School have come to the nursery, while Christmas Tableau and Sports Day are among its events. Sports Day brings extended families into the grounds at the end of the academic year. For major outings, parents give specific consent, and outing risk assessments can be shared with them.

Relationships and Communication

A key person is allocated before a child starts and remains the family's main contact for care, learning and developmental records. Settling is agreed with parents, with time away from them increased according to how the child copes. The settling policy rejects leaving a distressed child to cry as a way of speeding up separation. That gives families a clear expectation about the approach to a difficult transition.

Progress is discussed with parents and recorded in a personal profile of achievements. Parents can contribute to developmental records and meet their child's key person regularly, so information from home forms part of the picture. This is useful when a child's interests, routines or confidence differ between home and nursery.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the June 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that children had secure relationships with staff, that individual settling arrangements supported their wellbeing, and that sensitive SEND support and work with other professionals helped children progress from their starting points. Those findings sit alongside practical support mechanisms: a SENCO coordinates provision, individual educational plans are reviewed, and parents are involved in assessment and planning.

Behaviour support begins with a calm adult response to conflict, acknowledging feelings and helping children understand what happened. Where difficulties persist, staff work with parents to identify triggers and agree support. The ABC method records what preceded an incident, the behaviour itself and what followed, giving staff a structured way to look for patterns rather than simply applying a sanction.

Children can attend while still wearing nappies, and toilet training is approached with parents according to the child's needs. The team has paediatric first aid and safeguarding training, and a designated safeguarding lead role is in place. For long-term medical conditions, a health care plan is drawn up with parents and includes emergency arrangements; prescribed medication requires prior written permission. These are arrangements families can discuss against their child's individual circumstances.

Sessions and Attendance

Downside Nursery is at The Old School Room, Downside Road, Downside, Cobham, KT11 3NA. Enquiries can be made by telephone, email or the contact form. The nursery operates five days a week during term time, covering 38 weeks, with some additional holiday weeks.

Junior morning sessions run from 9.15am to noon, and Junior full days from 9.15am to 3.45pm. Senior mornings run from 9am to 12.30pm, with Senior full days from 9am to 3.45pm. Lunch attendance is separately priced, running from noon to 1.30pm for Juniors and 12.30pm to 1.30pm for Seniors. These age-specific timings matter when arranging collection or coordinating siblings' routines.

Early bird breakfast club starts at 8am and includes breakfast; another breakfast club starts at 8.30am. Early Learning for Two Year Olds sessions run from 12.45pm to 3.45pm. Families can choose the number and combination of sessions, rather than follow a stated minimum attendance pattern.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, with the entitlements described as Universal 15 and Extended 27 hours, subject to eligibility. Funded attendance runs between 9am and 3.45pm from Monday to Thursday, and between 9am and 12.30pm on Friday. The Friday funding window therefore needs attention when planning the week.

Private sessions are also offered. Fees are paid in advance each term, absences and holidays do not attract refunds or discounts, and leaving requires a term's notice or payment instead. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The fees page sets out the attendance and additional-charge structure.

An additional session charge covers snack breaks, outings, visitors and special events, including on funded sessions. Families can decline participation in those additions by notifying the nursery in writing. Senior enrichment is included in full private fees and otherwise has a separate activity charge; written withdrawal removes both participation and the corresponding charge. A quotation should therefore distinguish the chosen attendance from the additions attached to it.

Families supply packed lunches, while snacks fall within the additional-charge arrangement and breakfast is included with the 8am early bird club; families declining the additional activities provide their child's drink, fruit and savoury snack. The nursery has a nut-free policy covering its food and food brought from home, with dietary requirements recorded with parents. Children needing nappies or pull-ups have their own bag containing these and changing wipes.

Downside describes links with neighbouring St Matthew's Primary School as part of transition work. Attendance does not guarantee a school place: families still apply through the local authority admissions process for a state school, or through an independent school's own process. Preparing for school and obtaining a place are separate matters.

• Group teaching. In June 2025, some group activities lost children's attention and missed intended learning. During a visit, ask how staff now adapt these sessions and support children who disengage.
• Age-specific attendance. Junior and Senior mornings start and finish at different times, and Friday's funded window ends at 12.30pm. Match the proposed weekly pattern to collection arrangements before booking.
• Participation and notice. Additional activities and Senior enrichment can be declined in writing, while departure requires a term's notice or payment instead. Get a written quotation that separates attendance, funded hours and chosen additions.
• Food and medical needs. Packed lunches, shared snack activities and a nut-free policy shape the day. Families affected by allergies should confirm current food-handling practice and agree their child's medical arrangements before starting.

Downside suits families seeking either morning preschool sessions or full days built around a term-time calendar. Its strongest practical attractions are the substantial grounds and the Senior Room's clearly described enrichment, from French greetings to live music and art techniques. Key-person care and agreed settling arrangements add a defined approach to the first move away from home.

The June 2025 group-teaching concern deserves attention when choosing the setting. Parents should weigh how their child responds to organised sessions alongside the opportunities for independent construction, outdoor investigation and creative work. For families whose routines fit the Junior or Senior timetable, there is a recognisable preschool offer here, with costs and participation choices that need to be understood together.