Toddlers Inn Nursery

A preschool yurt, an allotment and animals to care for make outdoor learning the defining choice at Toddlers Inn Nursery. Sharing St Peter’s Primary School’s grounds in North Chailey, the nursery combines classrooms with gardens, animal care and trips beyond the site. For children who enjoy growing, building and exploring, there is plenty here to turn an interest into an activity.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good on 7 April 2022, with Outstanding behaviour and attitudes. That judgement has a clear practical counterpart: in April 2022, children shared equipment willingly, persevered with problems and helped younger children understand how to treat nature carefully. The improvement priorities were more opportunities for early writing and better use of unexpected learning moments during play.

There are 55 places in total, with children accepted from 4 months through to age 5. Little Acorns, Saplings and Mighty Oaks give the nursery a progression from baby care towards preschool outdoor learning. Flexible sessions sit alongside a two-day attendance package, with the details and funding arrangements explored below.

Rooms and Ages

Little Acorns Room combines natural resources with its own garden and a shelter, giving the youngest children an outdoor space attached to their room. Saplings Room has the Oak Garden for play and exploration, while Mighty Oaks Room centres on an outdoor classroom with a yurt as its cosy indoor base. These are different environments, rather than the same room design repeated at each stage.

The room progression matters to families weighing how their child’s surroundings will change as they grow. A sheltered garden is a different proposition from an outdoor preschool classroom. Together, the rooms make outdoor access part of the nursery’s organisation, rather than an occasional change of scene. The yurt is especially relevant for parents considering the balance between open-air learning and an indoor retreat.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for learning, development and care: children build language, physical skills, relationships and early mathematical and literacy understanding through play. Toddlers Inn adds a child-led approach, adapting activities to whatever has caught a child’s attention. Its curriculum uses wooden blocks, real kitchen equipment and access between indoor and outdoor spaces to encourage practical exploration.

Hands-on invitations to learn introduce new interests, while planning responds to children’s play as it unfolds. Water-flow experiments, making kites and listening to birds are examples of how an observation can become something to investigate. These examples describe the approach, rather than a fixed timetable. The attraction is the connection between a child’s question and something they can handle, test or make.

Forest School adds den construction, climbing logs, woodwork and cooking over a fire. Stories in the yurt and harvesting vegetables connect quieter experiences with physical tasks. Natural materials are also used for drawing and making marks, construction and temporary artwork. This gives outdoor learning several purposes: it is a place for storytelling and creative work as well as movement.

Woodwork Club involves creative projects and solving practical problems; Cooking Club connects allotment ingredients with cooking over a fire. Gardening and Forest School experiences happen daily, and termly visitors include Zoolab, dentists and firefighters. Rope bridges and trapeze swings add physical challenges. These concrete experiences give children something real to count, discuss, investigate and attempt, rather than leaving the curriculum as a statement of intentions.

In April 2022, toddlers counted ingredients while making dough, and older children explored measurement by sending eggs along a tube. When an egg became stuck, children tried different ways to release it together. The same period also exposed a weakness: children did not have enough chances to develop writing independently across their surroundings, and adults sometimes missed opportunities to take an idea further.

Outdoor and Community Life

Farm School means daily contact with animals and practical care tasks, including gathering eggs, preparing rabbits’ food and filling water bowls. Pygmy goats, guinea pigs and African Land snails broaden the animals children encounter. Caring for living things gives responsibility a concrete form: there is a task to complete and another creature’s needs to consider.

Beach School takes learning to Seaford, where children build with pebbles and sand, investigate weight and texture with water, and practise looking after the coastal environment. Weekly Minibus Adventures include farms, trails and Ashdown Forest. Other outings reach Chailey Common, local woodlands, a garden centre and a farm shop; the youngest children have local church walks using a six-seater buggy. The nursery’s outdoor identity therefore extends beyond its own gardens.

Relationships and Communication

Key person support is part of the care arrangement, and children’s progress is shared with parents daily. Staff support families during the first weeks, making settling a period of developing relationships as well as learning a new routine. For parents, the useful connection is between the adult who knows their child and the regular exchange about what that child has been doing.

In April 2022, conversations at collection were supplemented by written updates through an online system. Parents contributed to assessments, and updates explained the next learning steps. That dated picture shows communication extending beyond a summary of meals and activities: families could contribute knowledge from home and understand what staff were working towards.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At its April 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described a SENCo-led process in which staff and parents addressed learning delays, bringing in external professionals when progress remained slow. The value of that finding lies in the mechanism: concerns led to joint work and, where necessary, specialist involvement. It is a dated judgement, rather than a promise about every future support arrangement.

In April 2022, babies and younger children practised recognising facial expressions, while staff introduced older children to new vocabulary during activities. This connected communication with everyday play. The current curriculum also emphasises children’s choices and practical independence, using their interests to shape activities rather than expecting everyone to follow an identical route.

Meals are cooked by a chef at the nursery, using local producers and adapting food to individual children’s needs. Food preparation therefore takes place on site, with individual requirements part of the meal arrangement.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, for 51 weeks a year, with Christmas week closed. Attendance is organised through session blocks, with flexible arrangements for funded and self-funding families. That distinction matters: opening hours describe the nursery’s operating day, while the session package determines the pattern a family buys.

A two-day package runs from 8am to 6pm on each day for families using the 30-hour funding option. Its rate includes activities, trips, visitors, celebrations, cooked meals, sunscreen, nappies and wet-weather supplies. It is a specific package with a funding condition, rather than a general promise that every attendance arrangement includes the same extras on the same terms.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by telephone or by email. The nursery also takes requests to arrange a visit. Obtain a current written quotation for your chosen session package, including any additional charges.

Getting There

The address is St Peters Primary School, East Grinstead Road, North Chailey, Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 4DB. The site is on the A275 and can also be approached from the A22 and A272.

Sharing the grounds of St Peter’s Primary School does not guarantee a Reception place; families still apply through the local authority admissions process. In April 2022, the nursery exchanged information with schools and other settings and worked on joint curriculum projects, supporting continuity of care and learning rather than an admissions advantage.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and privately paid childcare are both offered. The 15-hour entitlement for children aged 3 and 4 is stretched to 11.18 hours weekly across the year; the 30-hour entitlement for eligible working families with children aged 9 months to 5 years is stretched to 22.36 hours weekly. Eligibility remains a separate question from the nursery’s participation in funding.

Part-paying session packages include meals and consumables in their fee. Enhanced-provision extras carry additional charges. Meals, nappies and sunscreen are included within the rate for the two-day package described above. Fully funded places are also offered, so the distinction between a funded place and a package containing charged extras is central to comparing attendance options.

The practical decision is which arrangement matches the family’s week and which additions belong to it. A written quotation should identify the chosen package, additional private hours and enhanced-provision charges together, allowing families to compare the complete arrangement rather than funded hours alone.

• Outdoor preschool life. Mighty Oaks uses an outdoor classroom and yurt, alongside Forest School activities and trips. During a visit, explore how rest, indoor time and clothing arrangements work for your child across the seasons.
• Writing and challenge. In April 2022, the improvement priorities concerned independent early writing and missed opportunities to extend learning during play. Ask how drawing, writing and adult questioning now feature across the rooms and gardens.
• Funding package. The two-day option combines 30-hour funding with a rate covering enhanced provision, meals and supplies, while fully funded places are also offered. Compare written quotations for the attendance pattern you intend to use.
• School admissions. The nursery shares St Peter’s Primary School’s grounds, but attendance does not secure a Reception place. Keep the local authority application separate from the nursery booking.

Toddlers Inn suits families seeking flexible sessions or full days through its 2 DAY SPECIAL RATE (30 hours funding), especially where outdoor learning is a priority. The yurt, Farm School animal care, Seaford Beach School and minibus outings give that preference concrete substance. Children have opportunities to make, grow, investigate and care for things.

The April 2022 judgement supports a positive assessment, with behaviour a particular strength, while the writing and challenge priorities remain useful questions for a visit. The choice rests on two practical points: whether this outdoor approach fits the child, and whether the chosen attendance package fits the family’s week and budget.