Forget Me Not Nursery

Mixed-age play gives Forget Me Not Nursery its character. In its open-plan Main Room, younger and older children have their own areas but also spend parts of the day together, with resources within reach so children can choose their play. For parents, the important distinction is between sharing a room and doing everything as one group: children also spend time with their own age groups.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good at its February 2024 inspection and found safeguarding effective. It has capacity for 19 children, with a current age range of 12 to 60 months. The modest whole-setting capacity matters, but it is not a measure of how many children share a particular activity or area.

The address is 177-181 Hornchurch Road, Hornchurch, RM12 4TE, with the entrance on Vicarage Road. Alongside its mixed-age arrangement, the useful details are weekly baking with the cook, online observations that parents can contribute to, and a structured process for additional support.

Rooms and Ages

The Main Room combines separate areas for babies and older children with opportunities to mix, while accessible toys support children’s choices and planned activities take account of their interests and needs. That makes the organisation of the room central to the nursery day: children can choose resources, join planned activities and spend time in their age group.

The Early Years Foundation Stage connects children’s learning with their development and care; here, observations include communication, physical development and personal, social and emotional development. Staff make regular observations, and the online system alerts parents by email when a new observation is added. Parents can comment or contribute something they have seen at home, giving staff another view of a child’s interests and progress.

Learning and Activities

In February 2024, insect hunting became a starting point for conversation about how insects look, what they eat and where they live. The value was in the follow-through: finding an insect led to closer observation and discussion, rather than stopping at the discovery itself.

During that same month, older children practised recognising and forming letters and linking them with sounds. Counting problems introduced simple addition and subtraction. Staff also talked through their thinking and offered alternative vocabulary during play, connecting language with what children were doing.

Weekly baking activities are led by the nursery’s cook. This adds a recurring practical activity to the week, with the person responsible for cooking also sharing that interest with children.

Creative choice needs attention. In February 2024, adults sometimes prescribed the outcome of art activities too closely, reducing older children’s opportunities to develop their own ideas. More freedom to decide what to make was one of the improvement priorities.

Outdoor and Community Life

In February 2024, babies explored the garden, while older babies moved large containers and bounced on inflatable toy animals. These were concrete opportunities to use strength, balance and coordination. Outdoor play therefore offered more than a change of setting: it gave younger children different ways to move and investigate.

Relationships and Communication

The key person remains responsible for a child’s daily support when additional needs are being assessed, with the SENCo helping to plan and implement that support. This keeps a familiar adult involved rather than separating specialist planning from everyday care.

Parents and staff can exchange daily updates through a communication book, alongside the online learning journey. These serve different purposes: everyday messages keep communication moving, while observations give families something specific to discuss about learning.

In February 2024, staff offered reassurance and physical comfort as children settled. Songs helped signal changes in the day, including tidying, eating and resting. Staff also encouraged children to put feelings into words, giving them a way to explain being happy, sad or upset.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the February 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that children with SEND received effective support through individual adult attention, clear learning targets and contributions from external professionals, helping them progress towards their goals. Current support arrangements include an Individual Education Plan, which sets agreed targets and interventions with a review date, and SENCo monitoring of the response to those interventions.

Support can include planned interventions or an additional adult, depending on the child’s needs. Outside services may include speech and language therapy, educational psychology, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. For outings, the key person or SENCo discusses extra planning with parents where needed so a child can participate.

Physical access includes a ramp at the front entrance and a disabled toilet. Main Room staff have training in baby care and safer sleep practice; ongoing medication and personal care are addressed through the nursery’s medicines arrangements.

Independence is the other improvement priority. In February 2024, children managed tasks such as pouring water and putting on outdoor clothing, but adults sometimes took over wiping faces and noses. The issue was giving older children enough opportunity to manage those everyday tasks themselves.

Transition support includes school visits and meeting the new teacher. A person-centred planning meeting can bring parents and the receiving school’s SENCo together to agree an Action Plan, making the support a child needs part of the handover.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates throughout the year and closes on bank holidays. These hours give families the operating window for planning their week.

Showround booking, online registration and an enquiry route are offered. The contact address is Unit 15, 177-181 Hornchurch Road, Hornchurch, RM12 4TE; the entrance is on Vicarage Road.

Getting There

Disabled parking is available, alongside the ramped entrance. For a family using a wheelchair, those physical arrangements are a useful part of assessing access to the setting.

Funding and Paid Extras

In February 2024, the nursery provided funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-olds. That is a dated participation fact rather than a promise about an individual child’s entitlement or booking. Request a written quotation for your proposed attendance pattern.

• Mixed-age organisation. Younger and older children share the Main Room but also have separate areas and age-group time. On a visit, ask how those arrangements work when children choose different activities.
• Creative freedom and self-care. The February 2024 priorities concerned adult direction in art and adults taking over manageable personal-care tasks. Ask for examples of how children now make their own creative decisions and practise those routines.
• Funding and the total arrangement. Funded early education was offered in February 2024. How would funded hours, additional paid time, meals and non-food consumables fit into your proposed attendance pattern?

Forget Me Not suits families who value mixed-age interaction, opportunities for children to choose resources, and communication that lets parents contribute observations from home. Weekly baking adds a practical activity, while the additional-needs process gives parents specific targets and review points to discuss.

Its February 2024 Good judgement provides a positive inspection position, with two concrete improvement priorities to keep in view: greater creative freedom and more responsibility for self-care. The strongest decision is whether the shared-room organisation and year-round weekday operation fit your child and family routine.