Stockton House School

Ancient oak woodland, courtyard play and book corners overlooking the gardens give Stockton House School a clear outdoor character. In Fleet, this term-time setting combines space to explore with everyday work on independence: younger children practise self-care, while older children grow vegetables, build dens and help shape their activities. Muddy Acorns Forest School adds weekly woodland learning for children aged three to four.

At its April 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the setting Outstanding, judged safeguarding effective and found that children, including those with SEND and those learning English as an additional language, made excellent progress. That is a dated assessment, rather than a description of every aspect of today's provision.

Stockton House has capacity for 70 children and accepts children from nine months until statutory school age. Morning-only attendance and days extending through lunch are both offered, with an earlier start option. Its strongest practical distinction is the combination of a term-time timetable and substantial outdoor space, rather than an evening childcare service.

Rooms and Ages

Caterpillar and Butterfly Class serve the nursery stage, from nine months to three-and-a-half years, with each room combining activities led by adults and play shaped by children's interests. Large windows beside the book corners look towards the gardens, and both rooms open directly onto a courtyard reserved for nursery children. This makes outdoor play part of the room arrangement, rather than an activity dependent on leaving the nursery spaces behind.

Daffodil and Poppy Class are the preschool rooms, for children turning four during the academic year, with an emphasis on managing feelings, becoming independent and working through disagreements. Children can display their creations and contribute ideas to activity planning. The shared rear outdoor space includes vegetable growing, a mud kitchen and opportunities to make dens, so practical exploration continues beyond the indoor resources.

Indoors, preschool children can use construction materials, cameras, recording equipment, puzzles and writing resources. These give them different ways to investigate an idea or communicate what they have made. The Sensory Room brings together coloured light, sound and soft objects for sensory exploration; its physical equipment is the useful fact here, rather than a promise of a particular developmental outcome.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS is the required framework for learning and care: children develop language, movement and social skills through play, alongside early mathematics, literacy and creative activity. Stockton House uses individual learning journals to record development, while key people plan around children's interests and needs. The learning through play page explains how those areas inform the nursery day.

Children have a role in deciding what happens next. Preschool routines can adapt to their interests, while younger children explore materials through painting, water, sand and dough. This gives families a concrete picture of the approach: adults plan learning, but children's ideas also influence the activities and resources they use.

In April 2022, younger children experimented with mixtures that reminded them of lava, then sought out books about volcanoes to develop the idea. Older children used outdoor materials to imagine roadworks and a runway, deciding that a wheelbarrow would help move soil. These examples show how one piece of play could lead into reading, prediction and practical problem-solving at that time.

Outdoor and Community Life

Muddy Acorns Forest School operates in a dedicated part of the ancient oak woodland within the grounds. Weekly term-time groups for three- and four-year-olds take place across seasons and weather conditions. Activities include using tools, cooking over a fire, climbing trees and making art from natural materials. Sessions vary with the weather, available resources and children's interests, giving the woodland work a clear place alongside the EYFS rather than replacing it.

For children attending with an adult, Muddy Acorns Stay & Play Sessions run on Wednesday mornings and require advance booking for a half-term block. Children must be steady on their feet and no older than five. Woodland crafts, stories, bug searches and mud kitchen play make this a separate shared activity for families, rather than another nursery attendance pattern.

The Friends of Stockton House School, known as FoSH, organise family activities and raise money for equipment. Their annual Easter Egg Hunt includes a chocolate egg for each child. This gives parents a route into the setting's social life as well as its fundraising, with involvement extending beyond routine conversations about their own child.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key person, providing a consistent relationship for learning and personal care. For younger children, that includes building independence with handwashing and agreeing the right point to begin toilet training with parents. Child-sized toilets and washing facilities make the expectation practical: children have equipment they can use as their self-care develops.

For children learning English as an additional language, parents help create picture phrase books that support their first language and transitions into the nursery. This is a specific communication mechanism, rather than a broad assurance about language support. Learning journals and access to children's written records also give families ways to contribute to the account of their development.

In April 2022, staff used signs and visual prompts when children needed help with feelings or changes in routine. Children also took on small responsibilities, such as carrying lunch information to the kitchen. Those observations illustrate how emotional support and independence were linked in the nursery day at that time.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENDCo contact provides a dedicated route for families discussing additional needs. The Sensory Room adds another type of space for exploration, while the medication procedure requires an individual care plan for children needing long-term prescribed medicine. Specialist medical training, where necessary, must happen before a child starts if the condition is already known.

Sleep takes place in the nursery room with music and reduced lighting. Children can bring a comforter specifically for sleep, and staff can gently rock them when needed. This matters for families choosing care for a younger child: rest is accommodated within the room, so its arrangements belong alongside the play spaces when assessing the day.

Lunch is prepared on site, with much of the meat coming from a Fleet butcher; the food policy provides for dietary adaptations and excludes packed lunches and food brought in to share. Families managing allergies should confirm current practice before attendance.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Stockton Avenue, Fleet, Hampshire GU51 4NS. Attendance is term-time only, Monday to Friday, and charging is by the hour. The morning-only pattern runs from 9am to noon; lunch-day options run from 9am to 2pm, 3pm or 3.30pm. An 8.30am start can be added to any of those patterns.

These are meaningfully different choices. A morning ends before lunch, while the later finishes include the lunchtime part of the day and more afternoon activity. Collection needs to be punctual so that the remaining session can continue smoothly. The office accepts enquiries by telephone, email and an online form, and requests a child's date of birth to help answer them.

Funding and Paid Extras

The setting participates in the two-year-old funding scheme, Early Years' Universal Entitlement (15 hours) and The Working Parent Funding (known as 30 Hours Funding). Two-year-old funding has eligibility criteria; the universal entitlement runs from the term after a child's third birthday up to and including the term of their fifth birthday. Attendance remains term-time, and funded entitlement does not cover every cost.

Cooked lunch carries a separate daily charge for children staying beyond noon, including children using funded hours. A completed registration form and a registration payment are required to secure a nursery place, and places cannot be held. Bank transfer, childcare vouchers and tax-free childcare are accepted; current prices belong in the nursery's written quotation.

Getting There

On-site parking has marked spaces, a 5mph limit and a designated pedestrian route and crossing. The nursery prohibits parking immediately beside the entrance except by prior arrangement, and its parking rules describe incidents and near misses, making careful use of those routes a practical consideration for families.

• Term-time timetable. Morning-only attendance and later lunch days offer different patterns, but the latest finish is 3.30pm. Families need a plan for school holidays and care beyond that finish.
• The youngest children's day. Nursery children sleep within their room and share access to the courtyard. During a visit, ask how rest and active play work together for a child of your child's age.
• Funding and extras. Funded entitlement does not cover every cost, and lunch has a separate charge. Ask for a written breakdown for your chosen pattern, including the position on nappies, wipes and other consumables.
• Seeing the outdoor provision. Tours require advance booking, last approximately 30 minutes and include the garden in all weather. Dress for the outdoor part and use the visit to discuss how nursery courtyard play differs from the older children's woodland sessions.

Stockton House suits families seeking morning-only nursery attendance or a term-time day continuing through lunch into the afternoon. Its rooms, courtyard access and weekly Muddy Acorns woodland sessions provide concrete reasons to consider it for children who enjoy active exploration. Key-person care, picture phrase books and learning journals add useful detail to the support around that play.

The April 2022 Outstanding judgement gives a strong historical assessment. The present decision rests on matching the term-time timetable, room-based sleep arrangements and separately charged lunch to the child's needs and the family's routine.