The Burrow

A private wood, a garden with animals and a house arranged for play give The Burrow its character. This Ashtead nursery and preschool combines outdoor exploration with small-group learning: children can investigate nature, care for ducks and rabbits, build with loose parts and return indoors for stories and creative work. The appeal is practical. There is plenty here for a child who learns by doing.

The Burrow has 35 places in total and welcomes children aged 2 to 5. Ofsted rated it Good at its July 2021 inspection. Its younger and older groups have different attendance expectations, with mornings and full days forming the main booking choices.

Rooms and Ages

Little Bunnies supports children aged 2 and 3 as they become familiar with nursery life; Big Bunnies serves the 3- and 4-year-olds, with an emphasis on preparing for school. These are age groups rather than a promise that children spend their whole session in one room. The January 2026 example day describes children choosing between spaces during their house-and-garden time, giving them scope to follow an activity rather than stay at one table.

The Den is a construction space with boxes, tubes and tins, while The Studio supports painting, sticking and playdough. Those materials offer different ways to explore an idea: a child might build something, then represent it through paint or modelling. The garden extends that choice with a Writing Hut, a Mud Corner, separate wet and dry sandpits and a deck used for tinkering with small loose parts. Outdoor time includes making and experimenting as well as physical play.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the educational framework, with children learning through play, conversation, practical tasks and exploration. Alongside it, The Burrow Curriculum brings together outdoor learning, community experiences, books and everyday skills. Its curriculum overview connects these strands to recognisable activities, rather than leaving parents with a philosophy alone.

Core Books uses repeated stories, familiar language and illustrations to help children begin telling and reading stories for themselves. Key Skills covers practical steps such as handling belongings and putting on shoes, alongside listening, sharing and counting. These are useful connections between nursery learning and family life: independence is practised in ordinary tasks, while books become something children can participate in rather than only listen to.

Burrow Explorer adds woodland experiences, outings, specialist music and other enrichment alongside standard funded provision. Within it, Challenge Time consists of daily activities in small groups that develop skills for the move to school. The January 2026 example gives this substance: children work together on comparisons involving buttons and on finding rhyming words. It combines an adult-set problem with a shared attempt to solve it.

Pat-a-Cakes provides specialist music involving instruments, props and new songs. Afternoon clubs include gardening, pottery and cooking, as well as drama, textiles and construction. For families considering full days, those afternoon activities give the longer session a purpose beyond extending the morning. They are part of the enrichment offer, whose funding arrangements need to be understood separately from the standard provision.

Outdoor and Community Life

Daily woodland learning is a central part of Burrow Explorer. Children investigate pollinators, compost and insect houses, and practise balancing, digging and construction. The private wood supplies changing material for questions about plants and wildlife; the garden offers another setting for outdoor work. This is a nursery where suitable clothing is part of participation, not an occasional extra for a special trip.

Animal care gives children concrete responsibilities. The January 2026 example describes taking turns to feed chickens, rabbits and ducks, with stick insects kept indoors too. Looking after living things brings care into the day through an actual job, rather than an abstract lesson about kindness.

Community experiences connect learning to places beyond the grounds. In May 2025, Little Bunnies visited St. Giles School, where older children organised games for them. That was an experience of a school setting, rather than an admissions advantage. The annual Easter Hat Parade and Egg Hunt also involves families, with children displaying hats made at nursery before the hunt. Making something and sharing it with an audience brings creative work into a wider occasion.

Relationships and Communication

Busy Bunny Book gives parents a weekly update about an aspect of their child's learning and a summary at the end of term. Sunday News covers group activities and general information. The distinction is useful: one channel follows the individual child, while the other helps families understand what the group has been doing.

Assessment reports are shared at the start of Little Bunnies, again on joining Big Bunnies and finally when children move to school. Parent meetings follow a bi-termly pattern, with termly meetings when requested or considered necessary, and private discussions can be arranged. This provides several opportunities to discuss development rather than relying on the final school-transition report alone.

Burrow Explorer also includes parent sessions on subjects such as routines, first aid, positive behaviour and supporting SEND. These offer families a way to discuss practical issues alongside the child's nursery experience. Coffee mornings and stay-and-play occasions add opportunities to meet other parents.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Children can start while still wearing nappies. Staff work with parents on toilet training and ask for plenty of spare trousers and underwear, so joining is not made conditional on completing that stage first.

For additional needs, staff observe and respond to a child's needs, work with parents and involve other professionals when necessary. Support therefore involves both the family and, when needed, professionals beyond the nursery. Children also encounter Makaton hand signs in the example day, using them alongside requests and manners at snack time.

Parents provide lunch when children stay over lunchtime, following the nursery's healthy eating policy; snacks and drinks are provided during the main sessions. Packed lunches therefore remain part of the family's daily preparation.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is North Lodge, Park Drive, Ashtead, KT21 1LE. Main morning sessions run from 8.30am to noon, and full days from 8.30am to 3.30pm. Little Bunnies attend three or four mornings across Monday to Thursday, starting in the term after their second birthday, subject to availability. Big Bunnies start in September after turning three and attend five mornings across Monday to Friday; both groups can take full days if required.

This makes the attendance pattern more structured than choosing unrelated individual mornings. The weekly commitment matters alongside the finishing time: the older group attends mornings on each weekday, while the younger group follows a shorter weekly pattern.

Additional lunchtime and extended-afternoon sessions are offered, with flexible afternoon collection from 4pm. Lunch is already part of a full day. Additional sessions can be arranged for a term or on an ad-hoc basis, subject to availability.

The nursery and preschool operates during term time. Wraparound care and holiday provision for nursery and preschool children were announced for September 2026. Registration enquiries go to info@theburrownursery.co.uk or 01372 277465. There is a car park.

Funding and Paid Extras

The Burrow accepts Universal Funding and Working Parent Entitlement. Funding covers three hours of standard EYFS provision within a session, excluding additional services, resources, specialist provision and events. Private mornings and full days are also offered, with current prices obtained through a written quotation.

Burrow Explorer is the contribution associated with the enriched offer for funded children. A limited allocation of fully funded places is offered each term for vulnerable or disadvantaged children and families experiencing financial difficulty; once those places are filled, parents of other funded children are asked to make the contribution. The admissions and fees page sets out that distinction, which matters when comparing a funded session with the complete programme.

Children need wellies, a waterproof coat and spare clothing in their Bunny Bag. Indoor slippers are brought at the start of term and kept at nursery. These requirements fit the outdoor emphasis and help children manage changes between muddy play and indoor activities.

• A structured weekly commitment. Little Bunnies attend three or four mornings, and Big Bunnies five. Consider whether those patterns fit your child's routine and your own week, rather than judging the offer by session length alone.
• Funding and enrichment. Standard funded provision and Burrow Explorer have different charging arrangements. Obtain a written quotation that identifies the contribution applicable to your circumstances and distinguishes it from additional private hours.
• The September extensions. Wraparound hours of 7.45am to 6pm and holiday provision for younger children were announced for September 2026. Before building a work schedule around them, confirm which extensions are operating and how they can be booked.
• Seeing care in practice. Parent tours can be booked online and are for adults, with a separate opportunity for a child to visit after registration. Use the tour to discuss settling into the younger group and, where relevant, how individual support would work alongside woodland learning.

The Burrow suits families seeking regular mornings or full days with a substantial outdoor element. The private wood, animal care, construction spaces and book-based learning make its character clear, while the weekly individual updates give parents a way to follow their child's experience. Its July 2021 Good judgement supplies the inspection position. The practical decision rests on the weekly attendance commitment, the funded-enrichment contribution and whether the announced extensions meet the family's timetable.