The Hundred of Hoo Nursery & Kids Club

Baby care, outdoor exploration and a curriculum with clear destinations give The Hundred of Hoo Nursery & Kids Club its character. Sharing a Rochester site with The Hundred of Hoo School, it combines named rooms for different stages with practical preparation for what comes next: communicating needs, managing relationships and becoming more independent. The emphasis is on small steps that children can use.

At its 12 March 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective. The principal improvement concerned uneven staff interaction with children, which reduced opportunities to extend language. That matters alongside the strengths: mathematical exploration, books and outdoor physical activity featured in children's experiences in March 2025.

The nursery accepts children from three months to five years and has 99 places in total. Full-day, morning and afternoon bookings provide different ways to use the setting, while funded hours follow a term-time arrangement.

Rooms and Ages

Bunnies Room serves babies under two, with practical exploration and an environment shaped around their interests. Squirrels Room and Frogs Room cater for children aged two to three: Squirrels includes planting, cooking and jigsaws, while Frogs places emphasis on language, relationships and physical development through play indoors and outside.

Badgers and Foxes are the preschool rooms, where construction, cooking, letter games and growing plants sit alongside preparation for school.

Frogs has a recognisable daily rhythm. Children choose resources before group stories and singing, then combine adult-led activities with their own play; lunch brings them together around a table, and the afternoon allows for sleep where needed. The routine can adapt to the day's circumstances.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the common framework for education and care: children develop communication, social and physical skills through play, exploration and interaction, alongside early literacy, mathematics and creative experiences. The nursery's own End Point Goals make those broad expectations more concrete. These are ambitions for children's learning, rather than promises that every child reaches a fixed outcome at the same time.

Story Tellers is the goal of recalling familiar rhymes and stories; Builders / Creators involves making a model independently and reviewing it; Communicators concerns expressing ideas, observations and needs. The key person plans each child's next challenges.

In March 2025, mathematical experiences included comparing weights with scales and investigating quantities of water using syringes and containers. Books also travelled beyond an indoor story session: children selected favourites in an outdoor reading area and shared reading with older children at the local secondary school.

The curriculum overview explains these goals. Preschool combines child-led exploration with planned tasks; observations guide subsequent learning.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor play accommodates energetic movement as well as exploration. Running, hopping and jumping are part of the current approach; in March 2025, children also practised riding, balancing and climbing, including working out how to get into a hammock. The physical challenge was concrete. Children had opportunities to attempt something difficult and keep trying.

A March 2025 clothes-sharing area gave families somewhere to exchange shoes, clothing and other unwanted items. This made reuse part of everyday nursery life.

Relationships and Communication

A key person is the central contact for a child's care and learning. For babies, settling begins with information about their routines, preferences and family expectations. Parents can spend time alongside their baby during the settling period, and the arrangement is flexible. This makes the child's existing habits part of the starting point for care.

Tapestry, the online learning journal, carries photographs and observations and allows parents to contribute milestones from home. Notifications alert families to new entries, so communication can continue between conversations with staff.

Care information is more immediate. Bunnies uses a diary covering eating, sleep and nappy changes; Squirrels shares these details through an online care diary as well as conversation at collection. Frogs also gives verbal updates about these routines. For families, the useful distinction is between a record of learning and the practical information needed to plan the rest of the day.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that assessment and prompt referrals supported children with SEND to make good progress. Current support arrangements include a SENCo who advises colleagues, involves parents and works with outside professionals. The child's key person is the initial contact for concerns about additional needs.

The admissions policy requires an assessment of additional needs and an application for SEN inclusion funding where the nursery's core budget cannot meet them. For more complex needs, preparation may involve staff training, a health care plan or adjustments to the environment before a start date is agreed. Parents and relevant agencies receive updates during that preparation. This is a practical planning process, with the child's needs determining the work required.

Lunch is a hot, two-course meal prepared by the academy kitchen, while the nursery supplies snacks. Meals and snacks are charged separately under the additional-charges arrangement.

Frogs accommodates an afternoon nap for children who need one and allows a comforter during the early settling period. Baby care diaries also record sleep. These details help keep rest and comfort within the daily conversation between home and nursery.

Sessions and Attendance

The full-day pattern runs from 8am to 5.30pm; morning bookings run from 8am to 1pm, and afternoons from 1pm to 5.30pm. The setting operates Monday to Friday across the year, with bank-holiday closures and a week at Christmas.

Frogs' room routine ends at 4.30pm. Squirrels' routine finishes at 5.30pm.

Admissions enquiries can be made by telephone on 01634 252334 or by email to nursery@hundredofhooacademy.org.uk. The waiting list begins with birth order and can also take account of funded-entitlement eligibility, time waiting, proximity to the nursery, siblings and the setting's ability to meet individual needs. An offered start cannot be deferred: declining it means returning to the waiting list.

Getting There

The address is Main Road, Hoo St Werburgh, Rochester, Kent, ME3 9HH, on the school site. Attending the nursery does not guarantee a Reception place; families still need to use the local authority admissions process for a state-school application.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded provision includes eligible two-year-olds and the 15- and 30-hour arrangements for eligible three- and four-year-olds, delivered over 38 weeks in line with academy terms. The additional-charges schedule also sets out 30 funded hours each week over 38 weeks. Eligibility remains a condition of taking up the relevant entitlement.

Additional private hours are charged separately. For funded hours, meals and snacks carry a separate charge, while consumables are free under the additional-charges schedule. Baby-room instructions ask parents to supply nappies, wipes and creams; Squirrels also asks families to bring sun cream.

The schedule lists additional voluntary services as free and allows families who do not want particular extras to discuss alternatives. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Language interaction. In March 2025, staff did not consistently extend conversation with every child. During a visit, ask how practitioners now ensure quieter children receive sustained exchanges as well as children who readily join in.
• Frogs' finishing time. Its routine ends at 4.30pm, earlier than the main full-day pattern. Ask which attendance arrangement applies to your child's room before planning collection around work.
• Baby supplies and funded extras. Funded consumables are free under the charges schedule, while Bunnies asks parents to bring nappies, wipes and creams. Request a written quotation that makes clear what the nursery supplies and what comes from home.
• Accepting a start date. An offer cannot be held for a later start: declining it returns the child to the waiting list. Consider the proposed start alongside the flexible baby-settling arrangement before accepting.

For families choosing between a full day, a morning or an afternoon, Hundred of Hoo offers useful attendance choices alongside a clearly articulated learning progression. It suits parents who value a key-person relationship, detailed communication through Tapestry and practical learning that includes outdoor movement, construction and stories.

The March 2025 language-interaction concern deserves attention, and Frogs' earlier finish affects the practical fit. The strongest reasons to consider this nursery are specific: flexible baby settling, room-based experiences and goals that translate broad learning intentions into everyday skills.