Charlie Bear's Nursery

A forest site in school grounds and a summer beach hut give Charlie Bear's Nursery a recognisably Seaford character. Outdoor learning extends beyond the nursery's own space: children can explore woodland, paint pebbles and help clean the beach. These are concrete additions to a setting based at Mercread Youth Centre, rather than a nature theme confined to indoor activities.

Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding at its 16 May 2024 inspection. That judgement sits alongside a practical arrangement for younger children: a dedicated baby room beside the main room, allowing a separate space within a mixed-age setting. The nursery provides care from birth through to primary-school age and has 32 places in total.

Attendance follows the local school calendar, with morning, afternoon and full-day bookings across a term-time year. The shorter patterns matter as much as the longer one: families can choose a session rather than organising their week around a single full-day model.

Rooms and Ages

Charlie Bear's Baby Room serves children under two and sits just off the main room, giving babies their own space while retaining a connection with the mixed setting. For parents choosing care for a very young child, that physical arrangement is a useful starting point: separation and contact with older children are both part of the design.

Learning through play and exploration is paired with personalised care, recognising that children's development and interests differ.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the educational foundation: children learn through play, conversation, movement, relationships and early experiences of reading and mathematics. It is the common framework for early years provision. Here, the curriculum also emphasises trying things out, persisting with an activity and developing children's own ideas, so the process of learning matters alongside what a child produces.

In May 2024, programmable robots gave children a reason to use mathematical language and work out how to make something move. Counting and recognising numbers also formed part of ordinary routines. This connects early mathematics with actions children can test, rather than leaving it as a separate exercise.

Art offered another route into investigation that month. Children compared marks made with differently sized toy cars, mixed colours and expanded the activity into painting with fingers and hands. Staff used conversation to extend the exploration. The example is useful because it shows an activity developing from children's ideas, with adult input adding language rather than bringing the experiment to an early close.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School adds outdoor play and exploration at Annecy Catholic Primary School's forest area, within its enclosed grounds. Activities draw on the season and children's interests; an outdoor snack is followed by a walk back to the nursery for lunch. The school grounds provide an additional setting for outdoor learning.

Beach School brings a different environment into the summer term. For a week, the nursery hires a beach hut and uses the beach for kite flying, pebble painting and picnics. A beach clean forms part of each morning there, turning care for the local environment into something children do themselves.

These services are for children aged three and above because of the activities involved. Forest School bookings run in six-week blocks, while Beach School dates depend on the beach-hut hiring schedule. The two experiences therefore have different rhythms: a block of forest sessions and a concentrated summer beach week.

In May 2024, the nursery's outdoor area also supported close observation of living things. Children examined snails and moved them carefully to safety. That smaller example complements the organised outings: attention to nature can begin with something found close by, as well as a planned trip elsewhere.

At the May 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and praised support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including closely matched targets and timely referrals for additional help. The support involved the special educational needs coordinator, parents and each child's key person, giving the work a shared direction rather than treating it as an isolated intervention.

During May 2024, staff adapted how they engaged children, using visual cues and straightforward language where these helped. They paid attention to how long a child could stay with an activity and changed their approach accordingly. This is a concrete account of support: the method changed around the child, rather than expecting the child to manage an unchanged task.

A SENCO role remains part of the team structure, alongside daily communication with parents. Tapestry provides access to children's learning logs and nursery newsletter updates, making it possible to follow experiences beyond the conversations that happen in person. It gives families a way to see learning recorded over time, rather than relying entirely on a brief verbal account.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is at Mercread Youth Centre, Mercread Road, Seaford, East Sussex BN25 1AB. It operates Monday to Friday during term time, following the local school calendar for 38 weeks each year. The standard opening window is 9am to 3pm.

Private bookings include an AM session from 8.30am to noon, a PM session from noon to 3pm and a Full Day session from 8.30am to 3pm. An additional early start runs from 8.30am to 9am. This distinguishes the usual opening window from the earlier attendance offered through the private session structure.

Booking enquiries and visit arrangements use the enquiry form or email. Forest and beach bookings have a separate form. Children who do not ordinarily attend Charlie Bear's can join those activities, with an entire-term commitment and advance payment required for those bookings.

Funding and Paid Extras

Both funded childcare and private sessions are offered. The 15-hour EYEE offer covers universal funding for three- and four-year-olds and eligibility-based funding for two- to three-year-olds, delivered through half-day sessions subject to availability. Working families funding is presented as a 30-hour offer from the term after a child reaches nine months, for parents working at least 16 hours a week, with sessions between 9am and 3pm on weekdays and flexibility subject to availability.

The charge structure distinguishes food from non-food consumables. Healthy snacks have a voluntary charge or can come from home; activities and other non-food consumables have a separate voluntary charge, including within the funded offer. Forest School and Summer Beach School also carry activity charges, with different arrangements for standalone private sessions and activities included in regular bookings.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The fees page sets out the session and charge categories, which helps families compare the whole booking rather than looking only at childcare hours.

• A school-term calendar. Attendance runs for 38 weeks alongside local school terms. Families whose work continues through school holidays need to weigh that calendar against their childcare needs.
• Babies within a mixed setting. Charlie Bear's Baby Room is beside the main room. At a visit, ask how settling, rest and movement between the spaces work for the youngest children.
• Outdoor bookings have their own rules. Forest School and Beach School are for children aged three and above; children joining from outside the nursery need an entire-term booking paid in advance. Consider whether that commitment fits the experience you want.
• Separate contributions. Food and non-food consumables have voluntary charges, and outdoor activity sessions have their own charge structure. Request a written quotation covering the intended booking and any activities before deciding.

Charlie Bear's suits families seeking term-time care with a choice of mornings, afternoons or full days, and those who value outdoor experiences with a clear local identity. The baby room broadens its appeal to families starting childcare early, while forest and beach sessions add a different dimension for children aged three and above.

The Outstanding judgement from May 2024 gives an important dated assessment of quality. The current practical choice is more specific: a mixed setting, a separate space for babies, shorter as well as full-day sessions, and outdoor learning that uses both school grounds and the coast. The school-term calendar and separate charge categories deserve as much attention as the activities themselves.