Scribbles Day Nursery

A garden Pirate Ship, sensory play and dedicated spaces for smaller learning groups give Scribbles Day Nursery in North Weald a recognisable character. The setting at Barley Barn takes children from four months to five years, with rooms that move from early exploration towards independence and school preparation. Practical support for communication is another substantial part of the offer: personalised core boards, sensory resources and structured attention sessions sit alongside everyday play.

Ofsted rated Scribbles Good on 14 June 2022 and judged safeguarding effective at that inspection. That is a dated assessment, while the current offer includes the Purcell Room for older children's learning and a PSED Room for individual support, smaller groups and visiting professionals.

Families can choose a School Day or Full Day package. The shorter pattern still extends into the afternoon, making the choice more useful than a simple distinction between morning care and a whole day.

Rooms and Ages

Buttercups serves children aged four months to two years, combining books, puzzles and messy materials with daily outdoor play and ride-on toys to support early movement, communication and exploration.

For two- to three-year-olds, Bluebells brings sensory experiences such as bubble wrap, gloop and a mirror maze together with resources stored within children's reach, giving them opportunities to choose their own play.

Peonies spans two and a half to three and a half years, using sensory play and accessible resources alongside outdoor exploration as children practise sharing, expressing their needs and managing everyday tasks.

Sunflowers takes children aged three to five, with early phonics, pencil control and opportunities to make decisions helping preschool children practise the independence they will need for school.

Those overlapping age bands matter. The overlapping age bands sit alongside different emphases, from sensory exploration to communication and independence.

The Purcell Room adds a quieter space for older children, where practitioners work with smaller groups on science, literacy and mathematics linked to individual next steps; it can also be adapted for additional activities. This gives focused work a place alongside the busier room day.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the shared framework for children's learning, development and care, covering language, physical development, relationships and later learning through play. At Scribbles, activities combine children's choices with adult guidance, indoors and outside, rather than treating early learning as a succession of formal lessons. Staff use observations to decide what a child needs next, sometimes responding immediately with a new resource or challenge.

Peonies and Sunflowers children can take part in additional sessions led by visiting coaches. Phonics with Robot Reg introduces early sound skills through an energetic class, while Ninja Warriors uses games to practise basic movement. These sessions complement the EYFS with additional phonics and movement activities.

Trower Dance Academy provides dance and yoga instruction. French sessions use stories, games, songs and movement, giving children another way to explore language; the cooking activities involve preparing ingredients, using equipment and noticing food's texture and smell. The timetable also includes gymnastics and athletics, so physical activity takes several forms rather than relying entirely on garden play.

At the June 2022 inspection, Ofsted identified uneven staff understanding of newly introduced teaching approaches and asked for further development so children would receive consistently strong learning across the nursery. The useful distinction for parents is between having an appealing programme and delivering it consistently in every room.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden Pirate Ship supplies a substantial prop for imaginative outdoor play. Younger children have ride-on toys, while Bluebells combines garden time with local outings. Outdoor learning therefore includes both movement and exploration, with different experiences attached to children's stage of development.

RAFT, the road awareness for tots course, adds a practical school-transition element: preschool children receive a six-week course each year, with activities on Wednesday mornings preparing them for journeys to school. It tackles an everyday skill alongside classroom preparation.

Community participation includes a yearly Harvest Collection supporting 3food4u with food and toiletries donated by families. Halloween parties and Sports Day also create opportunities for families to participate; the Halloween celebration includes fancy dress. These occasions make parent involvement more tangible than a general invitation to stay connected.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person responsible for their development and for building a familiar relationship. Observations help that practitioner plan the next step in learning, while families can contribute experiences from home. This makes information about a child's interests part of the planning, rather than something kept separate from nursery life.

Eylog handles messages, daily diaries and observations. It gives parents a regular channel for understanding the nursery day and sharing information back, especially useful when something at home changes how a child feels or behaves. During settling, an all about me form gathers information about care, education and health needs.

In June 2022, staff used conversations with parents to gather information about children between nursery days and recorded it for colleagues in the room. Activities also drew on family circumstances: children with new baby siblings explored caring for dolls and talked about their feelings. Those examples show how everyday care and learning connected at that time.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Additional-needs support has a clear sequence. Practitioners collect observations over time, discuss concerns with room leaders and the SENCO, and use an Individual Child Profile to set out strengths, interests and next steps. Families take part in review meetings, and referrals to outside agencies are made with parental consent. A diagnosis is not required before support begins.

The Attention Autism approach is used through structured Bucket Time sessions that practise listening, attention and communication, individually or in smaller groups. Personalised core boards provide another communication tool, while tactile resources and oral chew aids can be used where appropriate. The value is in matching the resource to the child, rather than assuming one intervention fits everyone.

The PSED Room offers individual and small-group work and can accommodate Speech and Language Therapists. Specialist input can therefore happen in a familiar nursery space. Separately, secure door systems, collection passwords and staff paediatric first aid training form part of the nursery's practical care arrangements.

Hot food is prepared fresh each day by the on-site kitchen team, with dietary and religious requirements taken into account. Parents provide sun cream and their child's sleep aids; nappies are supplied by the nursery.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Barley Barn, Rayley Lane, North Weald, Epping, Essex, CM16 6AR, in the grounds of North Weald Golf Club. Opening hours are 7am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.

School Day runs from 9am to 4.30pm; Full Day runs from 7am to 6pm. Both are day packages, so the shorter option still covers much of the working day. The nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and one week at Christmas.

Enrolment starts with an online enquiry form handled by the occupancy team. Once availability is confirmed, families receive a registration form; the place is secured after the nursery receives the completed form and registration charge. Funding applications also require a completed parent agreement and confirmed eligibility; a term's headcount deadline affects subsequent transfers or changes to funded hours.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes funding for eligible working parents of children aged nine months and over and two-year-olds, plus universal funding of 15 hours for three- and four-year-olds from the term after their third birthday. An extended 15 hours is offered to eligible parents of three- and four-year-olds.

Funded hours are stretched across 51 weeks, with a maximum of 10 funded hours in a day. That delivery pattern spreads the entitlement across the year, rather than concentrating it into term time. Additional activity sessions may carry an extra charge or be covered by the chosen session charge, so the package matters as well as the attendance hours. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Teaching consistency. The June 2022 improvement point concerned differences in staff understanding of new teaching approaches. During a personal tour, ask how practitioners now share training and apply it across Buttercups, Bluebells, Peonies and Sunflowers.
• The full package. Funded hours are stretched across the year, and additional activities may be charged separately or covered by a session charge. Ask for a written breakdown covering private hours, meals, nappies and other consumables alongside the registration charge.
• Room moves and support. The age bands overlap, and the PSED Room provides a separate space for targeted work. Use the tour to discuss how room moves are decided and how individual support fits into your child's ordinary day.

Scribbles suits families seeking either the shorter School Day package or Full Day attendance across the year, with sensory play for younger children and structured additions as preschool approaches. Its strongest practical details are the focused learning spaces, communication resources and annual road-awareness course.

The balance is appealing: garden play and early independence sit alongside a defined process for additional support. The dated teaching-consistency concern deserves attention, especially for families weighing the programme itself against how it is delivered from room to room.