Flying Start Day Nursery, Barnesmead and Moorlands

Butterfly vocabulary, bubble experiments and shopping for snack ingredients give Barnesmead a recognisable character: everyday experiences become opportunities to talk, investigate and practise independence. At its February 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found safeguarding effective. The most useful detail lies beneath that judgement, in the activities children could explain and the routines they could manage themselves.

This profile covers the Barnesmead setting on Woodfield Lane in Ashtead, despite the combined name. It caters for children aged 0 to 60 months and has 57 places in total. That is whole-setting capacity, rather than the size of a child's group. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across the year, excluding bank holidays.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care. Here, its practical meaning can be seen in the February 2024 activities: conversation accompanied hands-on investigation, while shopping and preparing snacks connected learning about money with everyday activities.

Younger children used words such as symmetry, cocoon and chrysalis when discussing how caterpillars become butterflies. Older children explored bubble mixture and explained glycerine's part in making bubbles expand. These examples matter because the language was connected to something children were investigating, rather than presented as an isolated vocabulary exercise. There was substance behind the play.

At the February 2024 inspection, children discussed caring for animals after bringing their pets into the setting during an earlier Pet Week. The event connected an experience from home with responsibility towards living things. It also gave children something concrete to describe to one another.

Outdoor and Community Life

February 2024 accounts of outings included buying fruit and vegetables at the greengrocers, then using the purchases to prepare snacks. Children also talked about visits to the library next door. The practical appeal is clear: books, money and ingredients become things children use, rather than ideas confined to nursery activities.

These outings gave the local community a role in the nursery day. Choosing ingredients and making food linked the trip to a later activity, while the library added another setting in which children could engage with books. The examples provide a useful picture of learning extending beyond the nursery itself.

At the February 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities received high-quality support and made excellent progress, while babies' individual needs were met exceptionally well. The practical mechanisms included individual plans for babies with significant medical needs and close information-sharing with their families.

In February 2024, bucket time was used to support listening and attention through targeted sessions. Specialist teachers also provided additional sessions addressing children's needs. For a family weighing support arrangements, these are more informative examples than a general promise of inclusion: they show specific activity and additional input directed towards a child's needs.

Home languages were part of daily life in February 2024. Families contributed recordings of songs and rhymes, and babies heard books read in Spanish. Family books also gave children a way to talk about their own families with friends. These practices brought familiar voices, words and relationships into the setting.

Rest had a recognisable sequence. In February 2024, children joined a rhyme after lunch, collected their comforters and went to the sleep room. That routine gave them an active part in preparing for sleep. Parent communication included regular feedback opportunities and evening and weekend sessions about extending learning at home, offering contact beyond the ordinary nursery day.

Barnesmead's address is Barnes Mead, Woodfield Lane, Ashtead, KT21 2BT. The branch telephone number is 01372 276825. The setting opens Monday to Friday from 8am until 6pm and operates throughout the year, with bank holiday closures. For parents whose work continues outside school terms, that calendar is a significant practical consideration.

In February 2024, the nursery received funding for free early education for children aged three and four. This is a dated account of participation, rather than a promise of a funded place or an entitlement for an individual family. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Individual support. February 2024 examples included medical support plans and targeted listening activities. At a visit, ask how an individual plan would be developed around your child's needs and shared with you.
• Community learning. Shopping for snack ingredients and visiting the neighbouring library featured in February 2024. These experiences will appeal to families who value practical learning connected to everyday life.
• Year-round attendance. The nursery opens throughout the year, excluding bank holidays. Its calendar suits families organising childcare beyond school terms, with those closure days requiring separate planning.

Barnesmead suits families seeking year-round childcare with a strong February 2024 inspection judgement and a day illustrated by purposeful conversation, practical outings and growing independence. The greengrocer visits and bubble investigations make the educational character tangible. Equally useful are the dated examples of individual support and family communication. Parents can judge this setting through what children did, how their needs were addressed and how nursery experiences connected with home.