Silks Farm Day Nursery and Preschool

Seven acres, a converted farm building and a Forest Trail give Silks Farm Day Nursery and Preschool a clear outdoor identity. This Somersham setting combines bright, open-plan playrooms with grounds that include a paddock, a mini woodland and fruit trees. Nature is part of the learning offer, with planting, den building and seasonal fruit picking giving children concrete things to investigate.

At its March 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective. The learning observations from that visit included children tackling puzzles together, enjoying books and using their interest in dinosaurs to practise counting. There were also improvements to make: staff needed to leave more problem solving to children and organise tasks more effectively so that play received consistent support.

Silks Farm has capacity for 103 children, accepting ages from birth to five. That is the total for the setting, rather than the size of an individual room. Its farm surroundings and outdoor activities make it a useful choice to consider for families who want nature to feature prominently in their child's nursery experience.

Rooms and Ages

Robins accommodates babies and toddlers, with a milk kitchen and a garden reached directly by the older children in that room. These are practical features for a stage that combines feeding routines with increasingly active play.

Hedgehogs serves toddlers: its sensory room, bathroom suited to potty training and access to the Paddock and over-2s garden bring sensory exploration, personal care and outdoor play into the same room's arrangements.

Rabbit is the preschool room and the nursery's largest playroom, with space for exploration and direct access to the over-2s garden. Across the setting, the converted farm building provides bright playrooms with an open-plan layout. Families choosing between stages can therefore consider both the indoor space and the outdoor access attached to their child's room.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the required framework here. In March 2023, its practical expression included conversations about stories, counting and sorting dinosaurs, and children explaining what happened when they poured water in the garden. These examples show how language and mathematical learning were connected to children's interests.

Alongside that framework, Silks Farm combines the Reggio Emilia approach, described here through child-led play and independence, with Forest School sessions that give children opportunities to explore nature. Planting flowers and painting are also part of the activity offer. The Growing Garden lets children tend plants and learn about their environment, giving the outdoor emphasis a hands-on task.

In March 2023, younger children worked together on a challenging puzzle, deciding where pieces belonged and sharing their success. Books attracted children across the age groups: babies and younger children looked at illustrations with staff, while older children anticipated events in a favourite story. The improvement point matters alongside those examples. Adults sometimes supplied answers or solved difficulties themselves, limiting children's opportunity to work things out.

Outdoor and Community Life

The grounds provide several different settings for play. A paddock contains natural play and den-building areas; the over-2s garden has construction materials and opportunities for sand and water play. A mini woodland adds a mud kitchen and growing space, while the Forest Trail includes fruit trees, muddy play and seasonal picking. The variety gives families more to weigh than the overall acreage alone.

Community experiences take place through visitors, including Zoo lab and fire trucks. Silks Farm does not take children on community outings because of its remote setting. That is a stated part of its model: children explore the grounds and meet visitors at the nursery.

Relationships and Communication

Regular updates through the nursery app keep families informed about activities and forthcoming events. Staff work with parents to take children's interests into account, providing a connection between experiences at home and nursery planning. Open mornings include current and new families, and Christmas craft stay and play sessions offer another way to participate.

In March 2023, staff used children's interests when planning activities and assessed what each child needed to learn next. Managers monitored progress and acted when learning needed additional support. These arrangements gave individual observations a role in deciding what staff offered children.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that clear communication from staff supported children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, who made good progress. The current team includes SENCOs, providing a specific role for coordinating support for children with additional needs.

An in-house chef prepares home-cooked meals on site. This makes food preparation part of the nursery's own daily operation.

In March 2023, children shared resources, helped tidy up and showed consideration towards others. Instruments from different countries and conversations about food introduced differences through tangible experiences. Supervision was maintained, although staff sometimes prioritised tasks in ways that reduced the support they gave to children's play. For parents, the distinction is useful: the development point concerned how adults extended learning during the day.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery opens Monday to Friday from 7am to 6pm, throughout the year, closing on bank holidays and between Christmas and New Year. Those closures matter for families planning care across the working year.

Getting There

The address is St. Ives Road, Somersham, Huntingdon, PE28 3ET. Silks Farm sits between Somersham village and St Ives retail park, near Cuckoobridge farm shop, with parking on site and access by car.

Funding and Paid Extras

In March 2023, the nursery provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four. That is a dated part of its offer at the time of the visit.

• Adult support during play. In March 2023, staff sometimes answered questions or resolved problems for children, and task priorities could interrupt learning support. On a visit, ask how practitioners now help children test their own ideas while keeping play supported.
• A rural outdoor model. The seven-acre grounds include woodland play, a paddock and a Forest Trail, while community experiences come through visitors rather than outings. Consider whether that balance suits the experiences you want for your child.
• Attendance and funding. The opening window runs from 7am to 6pm, with bank holiday and Christmas closures. Ask which booking pattern and funded-hours arrangement would fit your family's working week.

Silks Farm suits families drawn to outdoor exploration, planting and a nursery day shaped partly by farm grounds. Robins, Hedgehogs and Rabbit provide different environments as children move through the stages, while the app and family sessions give parents ways to stay involved.

The March 2023 learning examples give the outdoor character substance: children counted, talked, collaborated and explored. The development points deserve equal weight. A family's decision should take account of how practitioners encourage independent thinking and sustain support during play, alongside the appeal of the grounds.