Bear and Bunny Nursery and Pre-school

A Victorian cottage, woodland and a garden open to children's choices give Bear and Bunny Nursery and Pre-school its character. Crangal Cottage, on Horley Road near Charlwood, is the preschool home: craft materials and outdoor exploration sit alongside organised music and movement sessions. This is a setting for families who value muddy play as much as something creative to take home.

The nursery accepts children aged two to five and has capacity for 65 children in total. At its January 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good, with outdoor exploration, language development and children's independence among the strengths. That judgement has a clear qualification: larger group activities needed better planning so that every child could participate fully.

Full days, mornings and afternoons can be booked across the year or during term time. The practical choice extends beyond a single attendance pattern.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning and care, including learning through play and developing communication, physical skills and relationships. Within that framework, activities follow children's interests and are adapted to their abilities. Free-flow play lets children choose between activities rather than keeping them in one room; stocked craft trolleys and shelves give those choices something tangible to work with.

Musical Hands combines signing, music and dance in a weekly session lasting 20-30 minutes. Sports Focus introduces different sports each week, with cricket, football and basketball among the examples. Yoga uses imaginative journeys to introduce movements and poses. These sessions add organised experiences to the child-led day, and the additional lessons are included in regular fees.

In January 2023, children could choose familiar books and have an adult read with them. They also made character props and used them to invent stories together. Staff introduced vocabulary during play and used questions to encourage children to work out answers themselves. For a parent, these examples make the learning approach more concrete: stories were something children could create, and conversation was part of exploring rather than confined to a separate lesson.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School adds exploration of the natural world and active outdoor learning. Enclosed gardens and surrounding woodland provide the physical setting, while access to the garden supports children's choices throughout the day. Waterproof clothing and wellies are part of the outdoor arrangement, making wet-weather play part of the offer.

In January 2023, children explored how far they could safely climb on tyres and paused to assess the risk. Digging also became an opportunity to examine worms, discuss their bodies and learn about their role in helping plants grow. These were practical encounters with nature, with children handling questions that arose from their own discoveries.

The outdoor emphasis therefore has substance beyond fresh air. It gives children opportunities to move, investigate and make decisions. For families whose children enjoy physical exploration, the combination of garden access, woodland and Forest School is a central reason to consider this nursery.

In January 2023, staff took time to learn about individual children, tracked their development and involved parents when difficulties emerged. They sought strategies from external agencies where additional support was needed. At the January 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and judged that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities made progress from their own starting points through this partnership work.

Crangal Cottage has a deputy manager who also holds the designated safeguarding lead role. That provides a specific responsibility within the current leadership structure; the dated inspection judgement remains the assessment of effectiveness.

Communication had a practical everyday channel in January 2023: parents received updates through an online app. Staff also used gentle reminders about manners during children's interactions. These details matter because the relationship between home and nursery includes both information about the day and the small social habits children practise together.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Crangal Cottage, Horley Road, Horley, RH6 0BJ. Opening hours are 7.15am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, for 51 weeks of the year, with a Christmas closure week.

A Full Day runs from 8am to 6pm, Morning from 8am to 1pm and Afternoon from 1pm to 6pm. A full day can also be booked as another ten-hour period within opening hours. Additional time before or after a session is charged separately, allowing a booking to extend beyond its usual window.

Both all-year and term-time-only bookings are offered. Term-time attendance follows Surrey school terms. The enquiry form takes a proposed start date and the days required, so families can set out a specific attendance pattern when contacting the nursery.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes funding for three- and four-year-olds and FEET funding for eligible two-year-olds. Funding can be used during term time or stretched across the year. For all-year attendance, the three-year-old funded allocations are stretched over 51 weeks; term-time bookings can use the funded hours within the hours attended and the applicable entitlement.

Regular fees include food and drinks, with nappies and suncream also included. Musical Hands and Forest School are included in those fees too, so these activities are part of the regular charge structure rather than separate routine purchases.

For funded hours, the nursery requests a voluntary contribution towards consumables and extras, including costs that funding does not cover such as meals. There are no mandatory charges attached to funded hours, and an alternatives policy applies where families opt out or cannot pay the contribution. This distinction matters when comparing a funded booking with additional private childcare.

A registration charge and deposit apply. The deposit is credited against the final month's invoice, but is retained if the family decides not to join. Fees remain payable for booked attendance missed because of illness, holidays or other reasons; current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Participation in larger groups. In January 2023, some children lost concentration during larger group activities. Ask how these sessions are now organised to keep children involved.
• Outdoor play in practice. Garden access and Forest School are central to the offer. During a visit, discuss how outdoor choices work alongside quieter activities for your child.
• Funded-hours contributions. The contribution is voluntary and an alternatives policy applies. Request a written breakdown separating funded hours, private hours and any extras for your intended booking.

Bear and Bunny suits families seeking child-led play with substantial outdoor opportunities, whether they need full days, morning sessions or afternoons, during term time or across the year. Musical Hands and changing sports sessions bring additional structure to that day.

The January 2023 judgement gives a positive assessment with a specific improvement point, rather than an unqualified endorsement. The strongest fit is a child who enjoys choosing activities, exploring outdoors and learning through practical discoveries; participation in larger groups deserves attention when weighing that fit.