Shorncliffe Nursery

A birthday visit from Peter Rabbit, nature activities on neighbouring grassland and a lending library give Shorncliffe Nursery a character that reaches beyond its playrooms. Families can borrow resources, continue conversations at home and bring those experiences back into nursery. These are practical connections between a child's two worlds.

At its November 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated Shorncliffe Outstanding overall, with the same judgement across education, behaviour, personal development and leadership. The current age range is two to five, with capacity for 36 children in total, at Shorncliffe Community Centre on Mackenzie Drive in Folkestone.

Service families and the surrounding community both use the nursery, which is based on the St John Moore army housing estate. Bilingual staff support communication with families from different national backgrounds. Term-time attendance includes morning, afternoon, school-day and full-day patterns, giving families several ways to organise care around their week.

Rooms and Ages

The room arrangements deserve close attention because the baby provision extends below the nursery's current overall age range. Ladybird Room covers nine to 24 months and has nine babies per session, with its own milk kitchen, nappy-changing facilities and outdoor area; sensory exploration sits alongside care organised around each baby's routine.

Caterpillar Room serves children aged two to three, with a group of up to 16 and garden access; messy materials and different textures support exploration, while interaction and language shape the room's emphasis. Butterfly Room takes children from three until primary school, with up to 24 in the room and access to the garden; independently using resources and practising skills for school are central to its organisation.

These room-level figures are separate from the nursery's total capacity.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the learning framework: children develop communication, physical skills, relationships and early understanding through play and everyday activities. At Shorncliffe, individual interests and next steps inform planning, so an activity can be adjusted to the child rather than requiring everyone to work in the same way.

The room routines combine adult-led activities with free play, outdoor opportunities and group time. A book corner offers a quieter part of the afternoon, while resources are refreshed during the morning.

In November 2022, children used containers and fruit to investigate size, colour and filling, cooperating over a shared task. Sand timers helped them organise turns independently. These examples connect early mathematics with social learning: children were working out how objects behaved while also managing play with someone else.

Peter Rabbit goes home with a family for a child's birthday and becomes a starting point for conversation afterwards. Book bags and the lending library provide other ways to carry learning home. The value is concrete: parents have resources to share, and practitioners can use the resulting conversations and photographs to understand a child's interests more closely.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School adds child-led exploration and supported risk-taking in natural surroundings alongside the Early Years Foundation Stage. Shorncliffe buys in sessions from Brock hill country park at different points in the year. Around the nursery, nature activities include building dens, searching for bugs, working with clay and listening to stories outdoors.

Two outdoor spaces are used daily, with an adjacent grass area available for further exploration. Each playroom also has access to a smaller garden, while the larger garden accommodates group activities and more physical play.

Hands-on challenges also include woodwork, sewing and preparing fruit. Greater supervision accompanies these activities. Rather than keeping practical tasks entirely in adult hands, children have opportunities to try them with support and learn how to handle materials carefully.

Relationships and Communication

Before a child starts, play sessions allow families to talk with their new key person about interests and support needs. An introductory form gathers information about the child, and starting points are established during the first three weeks. This gives planning an individual starting point and gives parents a role before the regular routine begins.

Blossom is the online parent portal for learning information, photographs and observations. It sits alongside conversations at the end of sessions, three parents' meetings a year and six parent-involvement afternoons. Families can also arrange a quieter meeting. Different channels matter here: a brief daily exchange serves a different purpose from time set aside to discuss development.

In November 2022, families preparing to move from another country could make virtual contact before starting, and illustrated booklets introduced nursery life. That preparation addressed a specific transition, helping children and parents become familiar with the setting before an international move.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the November 2022 inspection, Ofsted found effective safeguarding arrangements and highly effective targeted support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, alongside outstanding progress from children's starting points. Those findings belong to that assessment.

Current support mechanisms include a SEND coordinator, individual plans developed with families, adapted activities and work with outside agencies. Visual timetables and picture resources help make activities understandable. A quiet room can be used for family meetings, speech-and-language work or smaller sessions with a key person or SEND coordinator.

The support process involves discussing targets with parents, reviewing progress and, where further help is needed, seeking consent before referrals. This makes family involvement part of the process rather than a separate update after decisions have been made. Ramps at the nursery entrances and to the larger garden, together with an accessible toilet, address physical access too.

Lunch comes from home, as do breakfast and afternoon snacks; children also use a snack bar during the nursery day. For moving on, preparation includes classroom role play, photographs of the new teacher and a transition report completed with parents, with relevant information passed on with consent.

Sessions and Attendance

Shorncliffe operates during term time, Monday to Friday. Long Morning runs from 8am to noon and Short Morning from 9am to noon; Short Afternoon runs from noon to 3pm and Long Afternoon from noon to 4pm. School Day is 9am to 3pm, while Full Day runs from 8am to 4pm.

The nursery closes during school holidays.

The nursery is at Shorncliffe Community Centre, Mackenzie Drive, Folkestone, CT20 3LR. Enquiries can be made through the contact form or by telephone on 01303 278442. Office opening hours are 8am to 4pm on weekdays.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible families can use 15/30 hours of funding between 8am and 4pm within the term-time offer, without additional or consumable charges. Private sessions and additional paid hours are also offered; current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The nursery takes no deposit.

Non-food consumables carry no separate charge, including during funded hours. Families provide lunch and the breakfast and afternoon snacks, so those food responsibilities remain with parents when planning either funded or paid attendance.

• Baby provision and accepted ages. Ladybird Room covers nine to 24 months, while the nursery's overall age range is two to five. Before arranging baby care, confirm the current age terms for that room and discuss its individual routines during a visit.
• Term-time calendar. Morning, afternoon and full-day choices all sit within a term-time offer. Families needing childcare through school holidays will need arrangements covering those periods.
• Food from home. Lunch, breakfast snacks and afternoon snacks are family responsibilities. For a child with allergies, confirm current food-handling practice and how the snack bar fits their needs.
• Individual support. Planning can involve the SEND coordinator, outside agencies and meetings in the quiet room. A visit is an opportunity to discuss how these arrangements would work for your child and what information the key person needs before starting.

Shorncliffe suits families seeking term-time morning or afternoon sessions as well as those choosing a school-day or full-day pattern. Its character comes from tangible details: garden access, practical exploration, resources to borrow and a birthday visit from Peter Rabbit that carries conversation between home and nursery.

The Outstanding judgement dates to November 2022. Today's decision also needs to fit the calendar, food responsibilities and the age terms for baby care. For families whose requirements match those arrangements, the combination of individual planning, outdoor experiences and several routes for parent communication gives clear reasons to consider Shorncliffe.