Bognor House Day Nursery

Seven curriculum pets give this Victorian house in Clevedon its educational character: children encounter familiar animal pictures linked to relationships, communication, creativity and other aspects of learning. Bognor House Day Nursery has capacity for 29 children, with an age range of 18 months to five years. The house setting and the nursery's own learning characters give families something concrete to weigh alongside its practical arrangements.

At its June 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good overall and found safeguarding effective. That is a dated assessment, with useful detail beneath it: hands-on play, growing independence and close relationships featured alongside improvements needed in communication about learning and recognition of children's home cultures and languages.

Morning, afternoon and full-day bookings sit alongside flexible finishing times. Those choices matter for families combining shorter nursery sessions with longer days, although Friday closes earlier than the other weekdays.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care, expressed here through play, relationships, language and practical exploration. Bognor House adds its own Bognor House Curriculum Pets, linking each animal to an aspect of learning. Pictures around the nursery connect these ideas to children's observations and achievement certificates. The characters make abstract learning themes easier to recognise.

Dillon the Dog represents connections, including friendships, sharing and familiarity with routines; Bonnie the Bunny represents care, including giving and receiving help and understanding feelings. Together, those themes put relationships and emotional development alongside more visible activities such as painting or construction. Lizzie the Lizard represents culture, introducing differences in beliefs, celebrations and community values.

Language has its own character, Percy the Parrot, whose communication theme brings together activities intended to develop vocabulary and ensure children are heard. Sid the Spider represents creativity through experiences including music, painting, dance and yoga. Cleo the Cat links curiosity to sensory exploration and children's interests, while Heidi the Hen connects critical thinking with tools, problem-solving and independence. These are the nursery's additions to the statutory framework, rather than a replacement for it.

The daily routine allows children to choose activities as well as join an adult-led experience in each session. Morning and afternoon follow similar arrangements, giving children attending either session comparable opportunities. Children staying across the day can return to an activity they passed over earlier. Timing also responds to the weather and children's needs, so the timetable provides structure while allowing plans to change.

In June 2023, sensory play included mixing water with oats to make pretend doughnuts. Older children fashioned dinosaur clothes from dough, using scissors and extending their vocabulary as they worked. Building with large bricks brought mathematical language into play. These examples show the practical connection between an activity and the language, movement or thinking it can involve, rather than treating learning as a separate formal lesson.

Outdoor and Community Life

The beach, woods and pier are destinations for outings, and bus journeys around town form another part of the nursery day. An annual bus trip to Noah's Arch adds a further excursion. These experiences extend children's surroundings beyond the house and give everyday transport a place in their learning.

In June 2023, children also borrowed books from the local library and explored parks, shops and the seafront. Garden discoveries included insects, linking outdoor exploration with attention to nature. A monthly poem and opportunities for older children to tell their own stories added different ways of engaging with words. The combination is useful: listening, inventing and looking closely can happen through ordinary experiences as well as planned activities.

Relationships and Communication

In June 2023, children had close relationships with their key person and other practitioners. Regular observations helped key persons track development, and staff introduced targets and support when they spotted gaps in learning. Discussions and meetings with parents sat alongside an online system showing children's achievements. That gave families several ways to follow nursery life.

The same June 2023 assessment identified a practical weakness: parents could not always readily locate the next learning steps online. The distinction matters. Seeing a photograph or an achievement helps families understand what happened; knowing the next step gives them a clearer way to support learning at home. This remains a useful subject for a visit discussion, rather than something to assume from the presence of an online diary.

Family events take place during the year. The nursery's photography policy limits images containing other children to personal use, with no public posting. Staff also attend continuing training, bringing further ideas into their work. These arrangements support the everyday relationship between families and practitioners, while the dated inspection provides the assessment of practice.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In June 2023, picture cues helped children understand what would happen next, and sand timers supported turn-taking with toys. Practitioners helped children manage frustration and understand boundaries. At mealtimes, even younger children practised serving food and pouring drinks, with children also clearing their plates. Everyday routines provided opportunities to do things independently.

Children's home languages and cultures needed closer attention in June 2023. Seasonal celebrations were part of the programme, but these did not consistently connect with individual children's backgrounds. For a multilingual family, the useful question is how its own language and traditions will enter the child's daily experience, alongside the nursery's culture-themed curriculum character.

Food is cooked from fresh ingredients in the nursery kitchen, with local sourcing where possible and a three-week example menu. The allergy policy warns that food may contain allergens including nuts and milk, and requires dietary confirmation paperwork; allergy-affected families should discuss current handling arrangements before joining.

Sessions and Attendance

Bognor House is at 114 Old Church Road, Clevedon, BS21 7XP. Opening hours run from 8am to 6pm on Monday to Thursday, with Friday ending at 5pm. Nursery provision continues across the year, closing for bank holidays and the Christmas-to-New-Year break. The earlier Friday finish deserves attention when planning a regular working week.

Morning sessions run from 8.30am to noon, and afternoon sessions from 1pm to 4.30pm. The full-day pattern runs from 8.30am to 4.30pm, with an extended full day from 8am to 6pm within the Monday-to-Thursday opening window. Lunch occupies the interval between the two shorter sessions. Flexible finishing arrangements use half-hour steps, with additional early and late care also bookable.

Additional hours require booking at least 24 hours beforehand. Appointments can be arranged by telephone or contact form. A deposit applies when reserving a place more than a month ahead and is credited against the first invoice; a separate induction charge covers settling sessions, administration and the learning diary. Cancelling sessions requires a full month's written notice, and ordinary absence or illness does not remove the obligation to pay fees.

Funding and Paid Extras

Working-parent funding is offered and stretched across 50 weeks, giving eligible children 21 funded hours each week. Although the funding description starts from nine months, this nursery's accepted age range begins at 18 months. The distinction matters when comparing an entitlement with the childcare a particular setting provides.

Funding can cover up to seven hours within the core day or three and a half hours in a morning or afternoon session. The lunch interval uses no funding and is charged separately; families may instead collect after the morning session and return for the afternoon. Additional session charges vary by age band, so a funded entitlement should not be read as covering the entire booked day.

For private bookings, snacks are included in morning and afternoon fees, while full-day fees include lunch and the snacks specified for that pattern; the extended day also includes cooked tea. Parents supply summer sun cream. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, and the fees and funding terms explain the booking structure.

• Learning beyond nursery. The June 2023 improvement points concerned access to children's next steps and closer links with home cultures and languages. On a visit, ask how practitioners now share those next steps and incorporate your family's language or traditions.
• Friday and flexible finishes. Friday ends at 5pm, while the other weekdays run until 6pm. Discuss how the half-hour finishing options would fit your intended weekly pattern, including the advance-booking rule for additional hours.
• Funded sessions and lunch. Funding excludes the noon-to-1pm lunch interval, and the nursery allows collection between morning and afternoon sessions. Consider whether that split or a separately paid lunch suits your day.
• Food allergies. The kitchen's policy warns of allergens including nuts and milk and uses dietary confirmation sheets. Ask how your child's particular allergy would be handled in preparation, serving and shared activities.

Bognor House suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as those combining a full day with early or later care. Its curriculum pets give learning a recognisable identity, and outings to the beach, woods and pier add useful breadth beyond the Victorian house. The June 2023 assessment provides a positive quality judgement, while the communication and cultural inclusion points give parents specific questions to pursue. The practical decision rests on the Friday finish, the funded lunch gap and how the chosen attendance pattern fits family life.