Toybox Day Nursery

A sleep room for babies, a tree house for older children and weekly friendships with care-home residents give Toybox a character that reaches beyond its playrooms. At Sunnyside Hall in East Grinstead, the nursery takes children from four months to five years, with separate spaces for its youngest children and those preparing for school. The differences between those stages are practical: cots and daily care charts for babies, imaginative play and community visits for older children.

Ofsted rated Toybox Outstanding at its 21 May 2025 inspection, finding that carefully planned learning and skilled staff interaction supported children's development. That judgement has useful detail behind it. In May 2025, children made up stories through dressing up, newcomers were invited into play by older children, and activities were adjusted to children's next steps rather than organised simply to keep everyone occupied.

Morning, afternoon and full-day sessions sit alongside tailored attendance within the weekday opening hours. That gives families several ways to use the nursery, rather than one fixed-length day.

Rooms and Ages

Tigger's Room serves children aged four months to two years, with two airy play spaces divided by a low sliding gate, creative and exploratory play, and access to a secure garden. Painting and mark-making sit alongside singing, building and cooking. British sign language gives children another way to express wants and feelings while spoken language is developing.

Hundred Acre Wood Room covers ages two to five, bringing together naturally lit play spaces, a home corner, a cushioned reading area and opportunities for art, construction and investigation. Its younger group is called Krafty Kittens; children aged three to five are Clever Cats. These names mark different stages within the older children's provision.

The Clever Cat Room is the classroom children use from age three, where letters, numbers, reading and writing are explored alongside questions about the world. This adds a defined space for school preparation while keeping the wider Hundred Acre Wood activities part of the offer.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: here, play, conversation, stories and practical exploration give children opportunities to develop those skills. It is the starting point, rather than an extra programme unique to Toybox. The nursery's concrete additions include Spanish, British sign language, dance and yoga for the older children.

Creative work has several forms. Children can paint, shape clay or play dough, and experiment with water and sand indoors as well as outside. Computers and tablets are used to investigate subjects that interest them. The home corner supports pretend cooking and dressing up, while the quieter reading space offers a different pace. Children have opportunities both to make things and to imagine them.

In May 2025, babies and toddlers chose songs using pictures on wooden spoons, waited for their turn and supplied familiar sounds when adults paused. Storytelling also prompted children to invent and act out their own plots. These examples connect listening, language and participation with activities children can actively shape, rather than treating stories and songs as background entertainment.

Outdoor and Community Life

Older children use the garden daily, including in wet weather. A tree house, mud kitchen and large sandpit offer climbing, pretend cooking and building; bikes, scooters and tunnels provide other ways to move and explore. The Garden of Tranquillity offers a quieter option within that outdoor space. In warmer seasons, indoor resources move outside too, extending what children can do beyond outdoor exercise.

Growing vegetables brings a practical sequence to the day: children garden, harvest and eat what they have grown. Walks along Coombe Hill Road include looking for sheep, deer and horses in neighbouring fields. Visits from the police, fire service and a vet introduce people whose work children may otherwise encounter only in books or role play.

Weekly visits to Mill View Care Home are a substantial part of the older children's community life. Residents sometimes come to the nursery for tea, with children making cake for them. This is a continuing relationship, with opportunities to recognise familiar people and share activities across generations.

Relationships and Communication

For Tigger's Room families, staff give a daily account of what their child has done, supported by a written chart to take home. That makes the day's care and experiences easier to follow, especially before children can explain them themselves. A dedicated sleep room has cots for naps, giving rest its own space rather than placing it within the play area.

In May 2025, children had established relationships with their key persons and understood the nursery's routines. Staff shared information about children's next steps and gave detailed handovers as they moved between stages. That matters at the move out of baby provision: knowledge of a child's interests and care needs can travel with them, rather than the next team starting afresh.

Parent communication also extended to learning at home in May 2025. Staff discussed progress and shared advice that families could use outside nursery. The practical value was continuity: adults at home and at nursery could use the same strategies, instead of giving children conflicting approaches.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the May 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described effective support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), including assessment, specialist involvement and activities adapted to individual needs. The finding concerns how support worked at that inspection, rather than a general promise that one arrangement will suit every child.

Current staff arrangements include first-aid and child-protection training, employment references and DBS checks. These are concrete procedures, separate from the dated safeguarding judgement. For younger children, rest and communication have equally practical expression in the sleep room and use of signs.

Food is served through the day: babies have snack, lunch and tea in their room, while older children have a rolling morning snack, lunch and afternoon tea and sometimes help make food. In May 2025, mealtimes included patient support as children learnt to feed themselves.

Sessions and Attendance

Toybox opens Monday to Friday, from 7.15am to 6pm, throughout the year apart from bank holidays and the Christmas closure. Its set bookings are a morning session from 9am to 1pm, an afternoon session from 1pm to 5pm and a full day from 9am to 5pm.

Tailored hours are another booking option within the opening window, subject to availability. The distinction matters: the full-day session has its own hours, while an earlier start or later finish belongs to a tailored arrangement. Families can therefore match attendance to a shorter part of the day or discuss a different schedule within the longer opening window.

Applications are made by completing a form and returning it by email or post. The nursery then calls to discuss the family's needs. A non-refundable holding deposit is required once a place has been confirmed. General enquiries can also be sent through the contact form or to enquiries@toyboxnursery.co.uk.

Getting There

The address is Sunnyside Hall, Coombe Hill Road, East Grinstead, RH19 4LZ. The premises sit within woodland and have on-site parking, which makes car access a practical part of the setting's layout.

Funding and Paid Extras

Toybox offers 15 hours of funded nursery education each week during term time for three- and four-year-olds; it does not offer this funding for two-year-olds. Paid childcare is also offered, with session charges and additional time charged in half-hour units. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

The fees page separates the standard sessions from time outside them. Families comparing tailored attendance with a set session need to consider the whole booking, including any earlier or later hours, rather than treating the nursery's opening window as one full-day price.

• Younger children's routine. Tigger's Room combines a dedicated sleep room with written daily charts. On a visit, discuss how your child's sleep pattern and communication needs would be carried into that routine.
• The whole childcare bill. Set sessions and tailored hours use different charging arrangements. Request a written quotation covering your intended attendance, funded hours where relevant, meals and non-food consumables, alongside the non-refundable holding deposit.
• Address for a visit. The nursery's contact address uses RH19 4LY, while its inspection address is RH19 4LZ. Confirm the postcode to use when arranging a visit to Sunnyside Hall.

Toybox suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as a full day or tailored hours. Its appeal is concrete: babies have their own sleep space and daily communication charts, while older children combine creative play, outdoor exploration and weekly contact with Mill View Care Home.

The May 2025 Outstanding judgement gives weight to that offer, with examples of thoughtful activity planning and established relationships. The decision for an individual family comes down to how the attendance pattern, daily care routine and complete quotation fit their child and circumstances.