Chestnut Nursery School, Earlham Grove

Cooking gives Earlham Grove a recognisable character: children handle tools, investigate ingredients through smell, colour and texture, then share their baking with friends and family. A large garden and natural learning resources add to that practical emphasis. For parents who value children making things as well as listening and talking, these are useful details about the day.

Chestnut Nursery School, Earlham Grove takes children from three months to 60 months at 177 Earlham Grove in Forest Gate. At its October 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged safeguarding effective. Two improvement points deserve attention: allowing children more thinking time when answering questions, and arranging sleep so that children staying awake can continue their activities.

Full-day, morning and afternoon bookings give families different attendance options. The important distinction is between the hours booked and how funded entitlement, meals and additional childcare are charged.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the required framework for learning, development and care: it brings children's communication, physical skills and early learning into the nursery day. Earlham Grove's Core Curriculum includes cooking, with children using tools and exploring ingredients before seeing what they have made. That gives a concrete purpose to handling materials and discussing their differences.

Natural learning resources sit alongside this practical work. Cooking also produces something children can share with other people, connecting the activity with friends and family rather than ending when the baking is finished.

In October 2023, books were accessible both outdoors and inside, and even the youngest children chose to look through them independently. Older children practised writing in the garden, while staff brought stories to life through animated reading. These examples show how reading and writing could extend beyond a single organised activity.

Counting, colours and shapes also featured in everyday routines in October 2023. The limitation was in some adult questioning: questions could invite a brief response rather than give children room to develop an idea. The distinction matters for families interested in language development. A child naming a colour and a child explaining a thought need different kinds of conversation.

Outdoor and Community Life

The large garden provides a physical counterpoint to cooking and books. In October 2023, children used wheeled toys and hoops outdoors, and worked with tools on nuts and bolts. These were opportunities to practise both whole-body movement and smaller hand movements.

One October 2023 example involved a child persisting when a bicycle became stuck, manoeuvring it until it could move again. Staff also reminded children to consider their friends during physical play. The garden therefore supported problem-solving and awareness of other children alongside movement.

Relationships and Communication

In October 2023, families knew their child's key person and had regular contact with them. Parents also valued the gradual changes as children moved through the nursery. For a young child, that makes the relationship with an adult and the move between stages part of the same care picture.

The manager maintains an open-door policy and has experience working with children with special educational needs. Those are practical points about access to the manager and relevant experience, rather than a guarantee about an individual child's support. Parent Zone is used for invoices and funding information, and families need an email address to receive communications.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the October 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that staff quickly learnt about children and planned their next learning steps, including for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This was an inspection-time judgement about how staff responded to different learning needs.

Sleep requires closer attention. In October 2023, space was provided after lunch for children needing rest, but its organisation could make it difficult for awake children to play without disturbing sleepers. For families whose child no longer naps, the practical issue is what their afternoon looks like while others sleep.

Paid sessions include their specified meals and snacks; during funded attendance, lunch and tea are separately charged options, with suitable packed food required when families decline them. Children using a disadvantaged funded place are not required to pay for meals.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday. The booking choices are a full day from 8am to 6.30pm, a morning from 8am to 1pm, or an afternoon from 1pm to 6.30pm. Half-day sessions are also offered. Morning and afternoon attendance can therefore serve families who need a shorter booked period rather than the entire opening day.

The nursery operates for 51 weeks, excluding bank holidays and inset days. Sessions cannot be swapped. That makes choosing a sustainable attendance pattern important: a booking is not interchangeable with another session when family plans change.

Fees are collected monthly in advance by direct debit, and remain payable during closure days and when a child is away through illness or holiday. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees page explains the charging structure.

Getting There

The address is 177 Earlham Grove, Forest Gate, London E7 9AP. Forest Gate is the nearest station, and bus routes serving the nursery include 308, 25, 678, 86, N86 and 508.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 02085 030394 or by email to earlhamgrove@chestnut-nursery.com. A visit-booking form is also provided.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes entitlements for children aged 9–23 months, disadvantaged two-year-olds, working parents of two-year-olds, universal funding for three- and four-year-olds, and extended funding for eligible three- and four-year-olds. Funded entitlement is separated from additional private hours, with no top-up charge to recover the difference between funding and the nursery's hourly rate.

Trips and additional activities are optional, with charges agreed with families beforehand. Funded-only attendance attracts neither a deposit nor a registration charge; a deposit applies when families contract for additional private hours, with its return subject to the relevant payment and contract terms.

• Rest and afternoon play. The October 2023 sleep arrangement could interrupt awake children's activities. During a visit, ask how sleepers and children continuing to play are accommodated now.
• Time to answer. October 2023 questioning sometimes encouraged short replies. Ask how practitioners give children time to think and extend a conversation.
• Funded bookings and notice. Funded sessions have a ten-hour limit alongside the full-day timetable, while general terms specify one month's written notice and funded-contract terms specify four weeks. Have the agreed funded attendance and applicable notice period set out in the written contract.
• The youngest children's day. Babies are accepted from three months. Ask about the baby group size and the space they use during a visit.

Earlham Grove suits families interested in hands-on cooking, natural resources and garden play, with a choice between full days and morning or afternoon attendance. The October 2023 Good judgement provides a dated quality assessment, while the practical curriculum gives parents something concrete to picture.

The two improvement points are specific enough to make a visit purposeful: listen to how adults develop children's answers and discuss how afternoon rest works. Session rules and the distinction between funded hours and paid extras also deserve careful reading before committing to a pattern.