The Crescent Nursery School

Woodland, storybooks and a cricket-club setting give The Crescent Nursery School its character. Based at Merrow Cricket Club in Guildford, it welcomes children aged two to five and has 24 places in total. This is a term-time nursery with outdoor exploration woven into its learning, rather than reserved for occasional outings.

At its 20 May 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found safeguarding effective. The detail behind that judgement is useful: children used books to extend their investigations, practised independence through familiar routines and had space to manage their emotions.

Families can choose full-day, morning or afternoon attendance, with funded sessions and optional private hours. That choice matters for parents fitting nursery around school terms or seeking a shorter day for their child.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) guides learning through play, planned activities and everyday routines. Here, children's interests help shape activities, while regular use of the woodland and outdoor areas gives them another setting in which to explore ideas. The balance allows children to pursue their own discoveries alongside experiences organised by practitioners.

In May 2025, early literacy and mathematics were threaded through play. Staff used comparisons of weight and quantity during children's investigations, while letters and shapes became starting points for conversation. These were practical encounters with ideas: children could use language and test their thinking during an activity, rather than encounter it only in a separate teaching slot.

Books had several jobs. In May 2025, children consulted recipes during kitchen role play and used reference material to identify insects after a bug hunt. Familiar stories also prompted detailed recall and discussion about the order of events. The connection between reading and doing gave books a purpose beyond listening to a story.

Outdoor and Community Life

The outside area includes woodland, with local walks adding further opportunities to explore. In May 2025, regular visits to The Gruffalo Woods and climbing The Gruffalo Tree connected a familiar story with a real outdoor experience. These named places made the story something children could revisit through movement and conversation.

During a woodland walk that month, children shared equipment for observing insects and worked together to move logs. They also understood which areas were out of bounds. Outdoor exploration therefore involved cooperation and boundaries as well as curiosity about wildlife.

Preparation for school runs through the learning rather than resting on a single activity. In May 2025, personal and social development sat alongside early reading and mathematical ideas. Practising cooperation, communicating needs and understanding a routine are relevant parts of that preparation.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key worker who gets to know them and works with their parents. Activities take account of individual interests and needs, giving family knowledge a place in planning rather than treating every child as starting from the same point.

Tapestry, an online learning system, is used to record observations and progress. It gives practitioners a way to build a picture of children's learning over time, alongside their day-to-day knowledge of each child.

In May 2025, staff gathered information before children started and used it to plan subsequent learning. Adults also ate with their key groups, making snacks and meals opportunities for conversation and connection. Those small routines put relationships into the nursery day.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENDCo provides guidance where children need additional support. At the May 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that children with SEND received individually planned help shared across staff, and that vulnerable and disadvantaged children made exceptional progress. This is a finding about how support worked at that inspection, rather than a general promise about every child's experience.

In May 2025, resources were adapted to children's needs, including familiar objects and toys brought from home to help with transitions. A visual timetable helped children anticipate changes of activity. These arrangements made the next step easier to understand.

A designated safe space also gave children somewhere to pause when emotions became difficult to manage. In May 2025, children could recognise that they needed a break and communicate that need to adults and friends. Emotional independence included knowing when to seek help.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Merrow Cricket Club, Epsom Road, Guildford, GU4 7AA. Attendance is term-time only, so the calendar suits families organising childcare around school terms.

The full day runs from 9am to 4pm, the morning from 9am to 1pm and the afternoon from 1pm to 4pm. An afternoon with a lunch hour runs from noon to 4pm. Early drop-off is a private hour from 8am to 9am, adding an earlier start to the attendance choices.

For full-day and morning attendance, 9am to 10am is private time; their funded periods begin at 10am. The standard afternoon is funded from 1pm to 4pm, while the noon-to-1pm lunch hour in the longer afternoon is private time. Families need to distinguish the session they choose from the hours within it that funding covers.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers 15 or 30 hour funded sessions during term time, alongside optional private hours. The universal offer provides 15 hours from the term after a child's third birthday; working parents of two-, three- and four-year-olds may qualify for 30 hours, and some two-year-olds may qualify for funding.

Funded hours carry no additional charges. Parents can also pay privately for sessions when their child does not qualify for funding. The times and funding page explains the session structure; current private prices belong in the nursery's written quotation.

• School-term calendar. Attendance is term-time only. Families needing childcare through school holidays will need to plan around that operating pattern.
• Private time within sessions. A full day or morning begins with a private hour, and the longer afternoon adds a private lunch hour. Choose the attendance pattern with those boundaries in mind.
• Settling and daily supplies. Visits can be arranged through the contact route. Use a visit to discuss how settling would work for your child and what families need to supply for meals and personal care.

The Crescent suits families seeking term-time care with a choice between full days and shorter morning or afternoon sessions. Woodland exploration, a key-worker relationship and learning built around children's interests give the offer a clear shape. Its May 2025 Outstanding judgement adds weight, while the session structure deserves careful attention: funded attendance and private additions occupy different parts of the day. For parents whose calendar fits, that combination is compelling.