Millys Day Nursery

Baby-height resources, a separate sleep room and children helping to shape the menu give Millys Day Nursery a practical, child-centred character. In Chawleigh, its day moves from sensory exploration for babies towards short periods of more structured learning for preschool children. The emphasis is on making choices, developing friendships and becoming more independent.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good at its 11 July 2024 inspection. The detail behind that judgement matters: children explored mathematical ideas, extended their vocabulary through play and connected discoveries outdoors with things they had already learnt. There were also two clear priorities for improvement, concerning participation outdoors and the way younger children were guided through changes of activity.

Millys accepts children from 3 months to 5 years and has 27 places in total. Half Day, Core Session and Full Day bookings give families different lengths of attendance, alongside a Breakfast Club and Extended Session. These are set booking patterns rather than an unrestricted choice of hours.

Rooms and Ages

Bumblebees is the baby room, with resources positioned within babies' reach and a separate sleep room, so exploration and rest have their own spaces. This is a useful physical distinction for families weighing how a baby's nap fits around the activity of a nursery day.

Ladybirds, the toddler room, combines child-led activities with an emphasis on expressing feelings and building friendships. Grasshoppers, the preschool room, retains children's choice of resources while introducing brief periods of structured learning and preparation for school. The progression is gradual: choosing what to do remains part of the preschool day alongside short periods of structured learning.

The rooms' stated staffing ratios are ordinary age-based requirements, rather than evidence of smaller groups. They should not be read as room capacities.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for learning and care: children develop language, movement, relationships and independence through play and experiences adapted to their needs. Millys places sensory exploration alongside communication, physical development and emotional development. These are foundations of early education, rather than a separate branded programme.

Each base room has daily play invitations built around children's interests, giving familiar interests another opportunity to develop. Staff adapt experiences to children's ages and needs, with accessible resources for independent exploration. The curriculum page explains the approach and room arrangements.

In July 2024, children combined flat shapes to make other shapes and learnt new vocabulary during farm-set play. Building and imaginative play gave mathematical ideas and unfamiliar words a practical context.

Sensory and physical experiences also featured in July 2024. Babies practised pulling themselves upright and explored bubbles, while older children used balls for catching, rolling and throwing. Finding hawk moths prompted connections with life cycles and earlier learning about plants and bees. The useful thread is the link between an immediate experience and something a child can remember and discuss.

Outdoor and Community Life

In July 2024, children visited the local park daily, using scooters and ride-on toys as well as practising road-crossing routines with adults. The park extended the opportunities for movement beyond the nursery's indoor activities. Children also spent time together across age groups, including with siblings and friends.

Participation was uneven, however. In July 2024, less-confident children needed more support to join outdoor activities, especially in wet weather. For parents of a cautious child, access to outdoor experiences is only part of the decision; the adult help that enables the child to take part matters just as much.

Relationships and Communication

In July 2024, babies received prompt responses and physical reassurance from staff. Toddlers chose activities and initiated singing together, while children helped put resources away. These are concrete examples of care and independence working together: adults responded to immediate needs while giving children manageable responsibilities.

Key persons shared children's next learning steps with colleagues in July 2024. That arrangement helped information travel between the adults working with a child, rather than remaining with one practitioner. It is a useful distinction for families interested in how children's next learning steps are shared with the adults supporting them.

A manager took up the role in August 2025, after the latest inspection.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At its July 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and children making good progress, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The current team includes a SENCo practitioner in Ladybirds, giving families a specific role through which additional needs can be discussed.

In July 2024, staff received targeted training on recognising and supporting additional needs, alongside supervision. The separate sleep room in Bumblebees is another tangible care arrangement, allowing babies to rest in a space intended for naps. Settling support is part of the baby-room approach, with staff helping the youngest children become comfortable with their surroundings.

Food and snacks are freshly prepared on site, with children's meal choices informing a four-week menu and milk supplied by a local dairy farm. Children are encouraged to serve themselves, and preschool children help prepare fruit for younger children, making mealtimes opportunities to practise independence as well as eat.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Church Lane, Chawleigh, Chulmleigh, EX18 7HH. Opening hours are 8am to 5.30pm from Monday to Thursday and 8am to 5pm on Friday. The nursery operates throughout the year, closing for bank holidays and one week at Christmas.

The set patterns are Breakfast Club from 8am to 9am, Core Session from 9am to 3pm, Half Day from 9am to 1pm and Extended Session from 9am to 4pm. Full Day has two listed endings, running from 9am to either 5pm or 5.30pm. These give parents a shorter morning, a core daytime booking and longer attendance options; Friday's earlier closing needs to be considered alongside the later Full Day pattern.

The contact route is the nursery's enquiry form, telephone on 01769 580861 or email at info@millysnursery.co.uk. Invoices are issued in advance, with payment due before the first day of the month. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees page sets out the booking and funding structure.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes 3–4-year-old's Early Years Funding and Working Parents Entitlement, subject to the relevant eligibility conditions. Working Parents Entitlement can be used during term time or spread across the year. The nursery describes patterns of up to 30 funded hours a week during term time, or up to 22 hours a week across 51 weeks, within the annual entitlement of 1140 hours.

Funded days and hours are agreed before attendance begins. For Working Parents Entitlement, the arrangement is agreed before the new term and remains fixed throughout that term, including holidays; parents must also reconfirm eligibility every 3 months. Private hours beyond the funded allocation are charged separately. This makes the agreed weekly pattern an important part of the family's childcare planning.

Meals carry separate charges, with breakfast, hot lunch and tea offered individually or together as a meal deal. Consumables are also invoiced separately: with 4 weeks' notice of a holiday, those charges are deducted for the notified dates.

• Outdoor confidence. July 2024's improvement priority concerned helping less-confident children participate outdoors, especially in wet weather. On a tour, ask how staff now support a child who hangs back from park activities.
• Changes of activity. In July 2024, younger children sometimes lacked clear guidance about what followed an activity, especially around snack time. Ask how the current team signals transitions and helps children understand the next step.
• Friday collection. Friday opening ends at 5pm, while a Full Day pattern also runs to 5.30pm. Agree which Full Day ending applies to the days you intend to book.
• Baby settling. Bumblebees has reachable resources and a separate sleep room. Ask how settling sessions and a baby's home sleep routine are brought together in that room.

Millys suits families looking for child-led play with a gradual move towards more structured preschool learning, whether they need a Half Day morning, a Core Session or a longer Full Day. The baby room's separate sleeping space, interest-led play invitations and involvement in meals give its approach practical substance.

The July 2024 assessment provides a positive basis for considering it, with outdoor participation and clearer routines forming the important qualifications. Families of cautious children or younger toddlers should give those points particular attention when judging the current arrangements.