Phoenix Education Day Nursery

A Phoenix bus in the preschool garden, a dedicated room for messy play and a kitchen for preparing babies’ bottles give Phoenix Education Day Nursery a recognisable character. Its spaces cater for different stages of childhood, from babies finding their feet to preschool children practising the everyday skills they will need at school. Outdoor play has substance here: gardens contain equipment for climbing, imaginative play and exploring textures.

Phoenix cares for children from 3 months to 5 years on Medway City Estate in Rochester. At its January 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good overall. The practical choice includes full-day care and half-day sessions, with funding stretched across the year.

Rooms and Ages

Pufflings, for babies aged 3–18 months, combines accessible toys and sensory experiences with an open-plan sleeping area, a dedicated kitchen for bottles and weaning food, and an emphasis on communication and physical development.

Puffins takes children aged 18–24 months into a room for walkers, where movement, communication and relationships receive attention, the sleeping space can be packed away, and a garden is shared with Pufflings.

Penguins, for children aged 2–3 years, develops independence through creative and imaginative play, with a reading nook, puppet stage and its own garden containing a pirate ship play space and mud kitchen.

Parrots serves preschool children aged 3–4 years, bringing maths, expressive arts and understanding the world into an open-plan room with its own garden, alongside practice with coats, shoes and keeping track of belongings.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for learning and care, with children developing their interests and abilities through play. Activities are matched to their stage of development, and children can choose whether to join in. A keyworker records experiences and milestones in an individual profile, giving parents a way to follow learning over time rather than seeing only the finished artwork.

The Messy play room makes exploration of materials a shared part of nursery life. Children across the age groups use sand, foam, slime and water there; a floor designed to be cleaned easily and a drying area make room for the practical aftermath. It gives messy activities a space of their own, beyond the everyday resources in each room.

In January 2023, books featured throughout the day, including with babies. In preschool, a transport book prompted discussion about vehicles, with adults asking questions and children contributing their ideas. This was learning through conversation as well as listening: a familiar subject became an opportunity to put thoughts into words.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden shared by Pufflings and Puffins includes a jungle gym with two slides, a sand pit and a sensory den fitted with locks, switches and lights. Those details offer different kinds of exploration, from whole-body movement to handling small mechanisms. Outdoor play continues in wet weather, and warmer days can include tea outside.

For Penguins, outdoor reading and messy play sit alongside ride-on toys and the pirate ship play space. Gates connect the Penguins and Parrots gardens for shared activities such as dancing and mud pie competitions. Parrots has a Gruffalo-inspired trim trail, tunnels and slides, plus the Phoenix bus and a mud kitchen equipped with a sink, microwave and hobs. Older children therefore have settings for both physical activity and invented stories.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person. In Pufflings, staff work with parents to follow the child’s routine, which makes the family’s existing pattern part of planning care. The open-plan sleeping area allows staff to supervise resting children; bottle and weaning-food preparation has its own kitchen.

ParentZone is an app through which families can view photographs and descriptions of their child’s experiences and progress, and contribute comments and pictures themselves. Alongside parent consultations, it creates two ways to communicate: ongoing updates and a dedicated discussion about development. The information can also help parents recognise interests that they might continue at home.

The registration charge covers the chosen start date, a settling-in plan and ParentZone enrolment; fully funded-only bookings are exempt.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the January 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described staff and the special educational needs coordinator working with parents and external services on individual support plans, helping children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress. That is a dated assessment of practice, rather than a general promise about every child’s experience today.

Toilet training in Penguins begins at parents’ request, with staff working alongside the family. In Parrots, practising routines includes managing shoes and coats and remembering belongings. These are concrete steps towards independence, with the room’s expectations changing as children grow.

An in-house chef prepares food on site from fresh ingredients, using seasonal menus for Spring & Summer and Autumn & Winter and portion guidance from the First Steps Nutrition Trust. The nursery holds the Platinum Healthy Early Years Award and describes catering for most dietary requirements and allergies; families affected by allergies should confirm the arrangements for their child.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Whitewall Road, Medway City Estate, Rochester, Kent, ME2 4DZ. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks, with closures for Christmas week and Bank Holidays. Full-day care and half-day sessions are offered, and parents can bring or collect their child at any point within the session booked.

An online enquiry form and telephone contact provide routes into the nursery. One month’s written notice is required for session changes, which depend on availability. Sickness and holidays do not attract exchanges, credits or refunds, and normal charges apply on Bank Holidays. Those terms matter when comparing the cost of a regular booking with the days a child will actually attend.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers 15-hour and 30-hour funding, stretched over its 51 opening weeks and applied to monthly invoices. Care beyond the funded allowance is charged privately. Funding starts from the term after the relevant eligibility criteria are met, and parents must reconfirm eligibility every three months or when prompted.

Funding claims have attendance conditions: the 15-hour claim must span two separate days, the 30-hour claim three, and no more than 10 funded hours can be claimed in a day. These are conditions for using funding, rather than a statement that every booking must follow the same pattern. Families comparing full days with shorter sessions need to consider how the funded allowance fits the booking.

Meals, snacks and consumables are covered by a separate Quality Supplement, together with additional voluntary extras. For funded-only sessions, the monthly contribution is requested as voluntary, and sessions can be accessed free of charge. Under the fees and funding arrangements, the supplement is separate from funded childcare and charges for private hours.

A one-off registration charge applies unless the booking is for fully funded-only childcare sessions. Invoices are payable in advance at the start of the month; prices are reviewed each April. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

• Lunchtime routines. In January 2023, children in the toddler and preschool rooms sometimes waited too long for food and became restless. Improving the move between activities, especially at lunch, was the required next step. During a visit, ask how lunch is organised now.
• Funding across the year. Funding is stretched over 51 weeks, with separate-day requirements for claims and a voluntary Quality Supplement for funded-only sessions. Ask for a written breakdown showing funded hours, private care and the supplement for the booking you are considering.
• Seeing the right room. Visits do not require an appointment, although photo identification may be requested. Use the visit to discuss settling and see the room your child would join, including its sleeping arrangements or garden.

Phoenix suits families considering either full-day care or half-day sessions who value age-specific spaces, substantial garden resources and regular information about their child’s development. Pufflings’ bottle kitchen and sleeping area address baby care directly; the Phoenix bus and Gruffalo-inspired trim trail give preschool play a different character. The January 2023 Good judgement sits alongside a finding that lunchtime waits left children restless. Stretched funding, private hours and the separate supplement shape the cost of either attendance pattern.