Chestnut Nursery School, Ray Lodge

A sheltered outdoor space for babies and The Zen Zone, a sensory area used for settling and self-regulation, give Ray Lodge a clear character: outdoor choice sits alongside sensory activities in small groups. Three classrooms separate babies, toddlers and preschool children, while two outdoor areas give the youngest children their own space rather than sharing the older children's garden.

Chestnut Nursery School, Ray Lodge occupies 91 Ray Lodge Road in Woodford Green, IG8 7PG, caters for children aged 3–60 months and has 63 places in total. At its 9 February 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good overall and found safeguarding effective. The practical offer includes full-day, morning and afternoon sessions, so families can choose between a complete nursery day and shorter attendance patterns.

Rooms and Ages

The baby room has a dedicated outdoor area with a sheltered section, giving babies somewhere to explore outside in different weather. The toddler room shares a garden with the preschool classroom, while the pre school room uses that same outdoor space alongside its indoor environment. These are separate classrooms, rather than one mixed-age room.

Children can choose between indoor activities and the garden during the day through a free-flow arrangement. That makes outdoor learning part of the daily experience rather than solely a scheduled break. The gardens carry learning opportunities alongside those indoors, giving children a choice of setting as well as activity.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children's learning, development and care: here, play provides opportunities to practise language, explore materials and build independence. Weekly Forest school sessions add learning about the surrounding world through outdoor experiences. Their frequency makes them a recurring part of the nursery week.

In February 2024, children explored paint, sand and water using tools for filling, emptying and scooping materials. Mathematical talk emerged through noticing numerals and discussing size and capacity. Older children explained what their drawings represented. These examples show how practical play can connect physical skills, early number ideas and communication, rather than treating them as separate lessons.

The Zen Zone provides small-group sensory activities. Small groups use its sensory resources during the week, with an emphasis on listening, attention and managing feelings. It also supports settling and children with additional needs. For a child who benefits from sensory activities in a small group, this gives the nursery another way to organise the day beyond the main classrooms and gardens.

Relationships and Communication

The Zen Zone is available to parents at collection and drop-off to help with individual care routines. Its role therefore extends beyond children's activities: it provides a space where the transition between home and nursery can accommodate a child's particular routine.

In February 2024, staff encouraged conversation by taking an interest in children's ideas and choosing questions that invited a response. They also shared developmental information with families and sent resources home for further learning. Practical independence featured in everyday care, with babies handling cutlery and older children serving yoghurt into their own bowls. These small tasks gave children chances to do more for themselves.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the February 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that children, including those with SEND, made good progress, with developmental assessment, referrals to professionals and care plans developed with parents helping children receive specialist support promptly. The current sensory provision adds a concrete mechanism for supporting additional needs and settling, rather than relying on a general promise of individual attention.

There were also clear areas for development in February 2024. Some staff needed a sharper understanding of the learning intended by activities, so that teaching could respond more precisely to individual children. Behaviour explanations were not consistently sufficient, and supervision needed to provide more useful coaching about curriculum knowledge and practice. These concerns matter because the same activity can serve different children well only when staff understand what each child needs from it.

Sessions and Attendance

Full Day runs from 8am to 6pm, Morning Session from 8am to 1pm, and Afternoon Session from 1pm to 6pm. Half-day sessions are also offered. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm on weekdays, and the nursery operates for 51 weeks, excluding bank holidays and inset days.

Sessions cannot be swapped. Private arrangements require one month's written notice to end a place or change the number of sessions; funded childcare terms specify four weeks' written notice to terminate the contract. That distinction matters when planning a change of childcare. Fees remain payable during closure days and when a child is absent through illness or holiday.

Enquiries can be made through raylodge@chestnut-nursery.com, and visits can be booked. Bus services serving the nursery are 275, 549 and W14.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare covers 9–23-month-old funding, disadvantaged two-year-old funding, the working-parent entitlement for two-year-olds, universal funding for three- and four-year-olds, and extended funding for eligible three- and four-year-olds. Private hours can be purchased alongside funded entitlement. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the Ray Lodge fees page explains the charge structure.

Private session fees include the meals assigned to that session: breakfast, snacks, lunch and tea for a full day; breakfast, snacks and lunch in the morning; and a snack with tea in the afternoon. For funded attendance, lunch and tea carry optional separate charges, with suitable packed food required when families decline them; children using disadvantaged funded places are not required to pay for meals.

Additional trips and activities are optional, with charges agreed beforehand. Funded-only attendance carries neither a deposit nor a registration charge; a deposit applies when private hours are taken beyond the funded entitlement, with repayment governed by the contract. Payments are collected monthly in advance by direct debit, and Parent Zone provides invoices detailing funding and additional costs.

• Teaching consistency. February 2024 concerns covered precise learning intentions, behaviour explanations and staff coaching. During a visit, ask how staff now identify an individual child's next steps and explain expectations consistently.
• Sensory support. The Zen Zone supports settling and additional needs, with parents able to use it around individual care routines. Ask how its small-group use would fit your child's day and what settling arrangements would apply.
• Attendance changes. Sessions cannot be exchanged, and private and funded terms express notice differently. Have the applicable notice period included in your written agreement before committing to a pattern.

Ray Lodge suits families choosing full-day attendance or morning and afternoon sessions who value outdoor choice and a sensory area used by small groups within the same nursery. The sheltered baby area and The Zen Zone are the strongest practical reasons to consider it. Its Good judgement provides a positive inspection position, balanced by specific February 2024 concerns about teaching precision, behaviour guidance and coaching. The decision turns on how those everyday staff practices work alongside the attractive physical provision.