Sunnydale Nursery

A nursery garden, a designated site for digging and planting, and natural materials to investigate give Sunnydale Nursery a clear outdoor identity. This Mansfield Woodhouse setting combines countryside surroundings with an accredited Curiosity Approach, which follows children's interests and extends their play through carefully arranged opportunities to explore. At its July 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found safeguarding effective.

Sunnydale has capacity for 46 children, with a current early-years age range of two months to five years. Its open-plan environment encourages children to choose resources themselves, while separate baby outdoor provision gives the youngest children space to explore. Independence runs through the offer, from choosing equipment to serving food in preschool.

Attendance can combine full days or morning and afternoon half days, with term-time and year-round funded arrangements. That breadth matters: this is a nursery with several ways to fit care around family life, rather than a single attendance pattern.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room plans messy play and outdoor experiences around each child's development and interests; movement into the next room depends on readiness rather than a birthday alone. Toddler Room children are around 24 to 36 months old, with activities shaped by their interests and support for potty training. In the Pre-School Room, self-service meals, labelled equipment, indoor-outdoor choice and activities in smaller groups give children practical opportunities to manage more of their day.

Room changes are prepared gradually. Children make short visits with their existing key person, and friends move together where possible. Information passes between the adults responsible for the child before the permanent move. For families, the useful distinction is between changing rooms administratively and helping a child become comfortable with a new space and familiar faces.

Learning and Activities

EYFS provides the framework for learning through play, covering language, physical development, relationships and early experiences of literacy, mathematics, the world and creative expression. Sunnydale adds the Curiosity Approach through natural materials, loose parts and everyday objects that children can use in different ways. These resources leave room for a child's own ideas rather than prescribing one finished result.

Parents contribute to a baseline assessment during the home visit and share interests that help shape planning. Children also have a say in what they explore. Signs and symbols support communication, and a sign of the month gives families something specific to practise at home. The link between home and nursery therefore reaches beyond receiving updates: information from parents helps determine the experiences offered.

In July 2024, staff extended a toddler snack activity from cutting bananas to peeling oranges, introducing a different hand movement and a new practical challenge. Story sessions invited children to connect events in a book with their own experiences. These examples show how ordinary moments became opportunities to practise coordination and conversation, rather than learning being confined to a scheduled group activity.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School adds hands-on learning in nature, with opportunities to explore, make decisions and consider risks. Sunnydale has a designated site for digging, planting and investigating the natural world, alongside a nursery garden and an outdoor area for non-mobile babies. Rocket and Zoomer, the nursery's pet rabbits, are another concrete part of that environment.

Outdoor access is part of everyday provision, including play in different weather conditions. The nursery also offers a separately charged taught Forest School session each week during term time, and optional weekly outings into the local community. Families can distinguish the everyday outdoor offer from the additional organised experiences when choosing their package.

In July 2024, babies explored low obstacles while crawling, and older children climbed tyres before jumping down. Staff helped children consider what they could manage themselves, with adult support available. Hide-and-seek in long grass added a social dimension: children practised the game's rules and then continued together. The physical surroundings supplied both movement challenges and reasons to cooperate.

Relationships and Communication

A key person is the regular contact for each family. Home visits bring a room leader and manager into the child's familiar surroundings before settling sessions begin, allowing parents to explain routines and contribute to the initial assessment. Settling visits are flexible, with their number discussed around the individual child. Sleep and rest arrangements also take account of routines used at home.

EY Log holds learning journeys and daily diaries, and parents can send messages and upload moments from home. EY Man handles invoices, personal details and booking patterns. The distinction is useful for families managing both their child's development and the administration of childcare: the systems serve different purposes.

Book & Biscuit takes place each term, inviting family members to share a story with their child over refreshments. Parent meetings provide another opportunity to discuss development with the child's key worker. Every July, Pre-School Graduation marks the move towards school with a picnic. These events give families ways to participate beyond the daily exchange of information.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the July 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that children with SEND benefited from individual plans that divided learning aims into achievable steps, with successful support built around practising and extending those skills. A SENCO role remains part of the staff structure, alongside language and Forest School lead roles. These are identifiable responsibilities rather than a general promise of individual attention.

Current safeguarding arrangements include annual staff training, coded door locks and written permission before collection by another adult. Staff have paediatric first aid training. The collection rule gives families a clear procedure for authorising another adult to collect their child.

Home-cooked meals include vegetarian choices, while the allergy procedure uses a medical form to guide menu adaptations and individual weaning menus are developed with parents. Families affected by allergies should discuss current handling arrangements during their visit.

Preparation for school includes familiarisation resources, invitations to school representatives and a transition document covering each child's interests and development. Where appropriate, staff accompany school visits. This is preparation for a change of setting, with information intended to help the receiving teacher understand the child.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 1 Sunnydale, Northfield Lane, Mansfield, NG19 8NX, with access from Cox's Lane or Littlewood Lane. Opening hours are 7am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks of the year. Closures cover bank holidays and one week at Christmas.

Nursery full days run from 8am to 4pm, 8am to 5pm or 8am to 6pm. Half days run from 8am to 1pm or 1pm to 6pm. Choosing between them changes both the length of care and which meals fall within the day; the opening window is broader than the earliest start in those full-day patterns.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by email or by telephone. The admissions process includes a tour of the rooms and outdoor space before registration and settling arrangements. Registrations open and close at set points, with existing families moving through the nursery receiving priority, followed by the stated first-come process or consideration for vulnerable children.

Funding and Paid Extras

Sunnydale offers Government funded hours for families receiving benefits and for working families, including term-time and stretched arrangements. The benefits-based 15-hour offer uses morning or afternoon sessions during term time. For the full-day funded arrangement, the core window is 8am to 3pm, with no more than seven funded hours in a day; using the full 30 hours requires a minimum attendance pattern of 3.5 days a week. Hours outside that window are charged separately.

Meals are charged separately, with packages covering the food appropriate to a full or half day. For funded hours, an optional contribution covers meals, snacks and hygiene supplies; parents choosing to decline it provide their own items instead. Sun cream is brought from home. That choice affects what a family needs to prepare and carry, as well as the written quotation.

Forest School teaching and local outings carry separate charges. A non-refundable registration charge applies where additional services are purchased and is paid before a home visit is booked. Fees are paid monthly in advance; current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, with the structure set out on the nursery fees page.

Ending a place or changing attendance normally requires four weeks' written notice. Ending funded hours requires half a term's notice. Those different periods matter when planning a move or adjusting childcare around work.

• Room limits. Current Baby Room and Toddler Room capacity descriptions conflict. During a visit, ask which room limits apply to the booking being discussed.
• Funded attendance. The full-day funding window is 8am to 3pm, with a seven-hour daily limit and a 3.5-day minimum to use 30 hours. Compare that pattern with the hours your family actually needs and the separately charged time around it.
• Food and supplies. Meals are charged separately; funded families can choose an optional contribution covering meals, snacks and hygiene items or supply their own instead. Full-day and half-day nursery meal packages are charged separately. Discuss the practical requirements and, where relevant, current allergy handling before choosing this option.
• Outdoor extras. Everyday outdoor provision sits alongside charged taught Forest School sessions and optional weekly outings. Use the tour to establish how those additions fit your child's attendance days and what clothing they will need.

Sunnydale suits families who want outdoor exploration to be a substantial part of nursery life, with natural resources, practical independence and home information shaping children's experiences. Its July 2024 Outstanding judgement gives that offer a strong inspection foundation, while home visits, key-person contact and gradual room moves provide concrete support for the changes young children face.

Full days of different lengths and morning or afternoon half days make it relevant to families with different care needs. The decision rests on matching those patterns to the funding window, choosing food and activity extras, and establishing the room size that applies. For a child who enjoys investigating materials, moving outdoors and trying things independently, there is a clear and specific fit.