Smarties Nursery

A rocking chair for feeding parents, natural play materials for babies and children preparing their own snacks give Smarties Nursery a recognisable character. Care is organised around familiar routines and growing independence, with parents contributing information about life at home. The practical details are small, but meaningful: a baby’s feeding pattern and an older child’s ability to manage their coat both belong in the nursery day.

Smarties accepts children from three months to five years and has 24 places in total. Its Maidstone address is Stagshaw Close, ME15 6TL. At its April 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall and found safeguarding effective. That is a dated judgement, rather than a description of every aspect of the current offer.

The Baby room and Pre-school room have different emphases, while outdoor access connects the day across the nursery. Government-funded childcare is offered for children aged nine months and above, including two-, three- and four-year-olds. Opening extends across 51 weeks, giving families an attendance calendar that reaches beyond school terms.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby room, for children aged three to 18 months, combines sensory exploration with natural resources and classical music in a calm setting. This gives the youngest children materials to investigate through touch and play, rather than expecting them to follow an older child’s activity pattern. Individual milk feeds and sleep arrangements also shape their day.

For children aged three to five years, the Pre-school room connects independence with language, creativity and solving problems, alongside outdoor access during the day. Children practise everyday tasks: serving drinks, helping prepare snacks, cleaning their cutlery and managing shoes and coats. These are useful opportunities to do things for themselves, with practical skills woven into ordinary routines.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework: children learn through play, with experiences planned around their interests and development. It is the foundation of the educational day, rather than an extra programme. Families contribute to planning, so activities can connect what a child does at nursery with what matters to them at home.

In April 2022, staff encouraged babies and toddlers as they pulled themselves upright and practised walking. Older children spent sustained periods working on puzzles, making sandcastles and creating artwork. Those examples show the breadth of the inspection-era day: movement for younger children, alongside opportunities for older children to concentrate and express ideas.

Practical teaching was another part of that April 2022 picture. Children learnt to handle scissors and spread glue, with resources arranged so they could use them independently and time allowed for repeated practice. The useful detail is the combination of adult guidance and a chance to try again. An activity was not simply completed for the child.

Outdoor and Community Life

Every room has access to the outdoor area. Seasonal changes, contact with the natural world and physical movement form part of outdoor learning, giving children experiences that differ from indoor play. The garden therefore has an educational purpose as well as providing space to be active.

The Pre-school room’s access throughout the day is especially relevant for children who enjoy moving between practical indoor tasks and outdoor exploration. It broadens the setting in which they can play, rather than making the room itself the limit of their day.

Relationships and Communication

A key person builds the relationship with each child and their family, exchanging information about home and nursery experiences and planning together. This gives parents a particular practitioner with whom to share changing interests, routines and needs. It also connects family knowledge with the child’s learning.

For feeding parents, the Baby room includes a dedicated corner with a rocking chair and nursing supplies. It is a concrete accommodation for bottle feeding and breastfeeding during visits. Alongside individual feeding and sleeping arrangements, it makes the baby provision more responsive to routines that families already use.

Communication still deserves close attention. In April 2022, some details supplied by parents about ethnicity and languages used at home did not reach staff effectively. The improvement required was about sharing that information more reliably, so practitioners could draw on children’s backgrounds and recognise their full language experience.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The SENCO, or Special Educational Needs Coordinator, works with families and the child’s key person on individual requirements. At its April 2022 inspection, Ofsted found effective support for children with special educational needs or disabilities, including collaboration with other professionals and funding used for individual needs. The current SENCO mechanism and the dated finding are separate pieces of the picture.

In April 2022, staff used picture cards, simple signing and words in different languages to communicate with children learning English. However, they did not consistently know every language children encountered, and support for English as an additional language needed strengthening. Families using more than one language have a specific reason to discuss how that information travels from enrolment to everyday practice.

Quiet spaces within the group rooms allowed children to rest or choose calmer play in April 2022. Current staff arrangements include safeguarding and food-hygiene training, paediatric first-aid qualifications and designated safeguarding lead roles. These describe the arrangements in place; the safeguarding judgement remains the dated one above.

Sessions and Attendance

Smarties opens Monday to Friday, from 8am to 6pm, across 51 weeks of the year. Bank holidays and a week at Christmas are closure periods. Families can contact the nursery by telephone, email or its contact form, and visits can be arranged by telephone.

The fee schedule covering 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026 offered mornings from 8am to 1pm, afternoons from 1pm to 6pm and full days from 8am to 6pm. Those were separate booking patterns, rather than opening hours alone. That schedule has ended, so it should be treated as a dated reference when planning attendance.

Getting There

The contact address is Stagshaw Close, Maidstone, ME15 6TL. Smarties is less than a mile from Maidstone town centre, which helps place it geographically without implying a particular journey time.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government-funded sessions cover children aged nine months and above, including two-, three- and four-year-olds. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation. Funding participation should be kept separate from the total cost of the attendance pattern a family chooses.

Zebedee’s supplies the hot lunch and cold tea, while dietary requirements and food allergies are discussed with families. Babies’ individual milk routines are followed, keeping feeding arrangements connected to their needs.

• Attendance and costs. The 2025–26 schedule offered morning, afternoon and full-day bookings, but its stated period ended on 31 August 2026. Which patterns, funded-hours arrangements, meal charges and consumables terms will apply to your child’s proposed attendance?
• Home languages and family information. In April 2022, information sharing and support for children learning English required improvement. Families should explore how their child’s languages and background now inform everyday activities and communication.
• Baby routines. Individual feeds and sleep arrangements are part of the Baby room offer, alongside space for feeding parents. A visit is an opportunity to discuss how your own routines would fit into the day and how changes would be shared with the key person.

Smarties suits families who value close communication, individual baby routines and practical independence for older children. The feeding corner, everyday self-care tasks and outdoor access give that proposition substance. Its April 2022 Good judgement supports the historical quality picture, with information sharing and additional-language support remaining useful discussion points.

The dated booking model catered for morning sessions, afternoon sessions and full days, so the nursery’s practical appeal extends to different attendance patterns. Families weighing those options should base their decision on the current written arrangements alongside the care approach.