Cub Wetherby

Woodland dens, tree climbing and a café where parents can work give Cub Wetherby a recognisable character: outdoor exploration for children, with practical space for family life alongside it. At its July 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found safeguarding effective. The strongest examples of its nursery day combine conversation, imaginative play and opportunities for children to pursue their own ideas.

At The Croft in Wetherby, the nursery caters for children aged 0 to 60 months and has 101 places in total. Woodland at Cub brings children into contact with trees, insects and wildlife through activities including den building. This is outdoor learning with concrete things to investigate, rather than simply time outside.

Regular attendance follows a set pattern, with a minimum of two days each week. The on-site studio and Cub Hub café extend the setting's usefulness to parents, although studio classes should be considered separately from the nursery day.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care. In daily life, that means play and adult guidance work together: children have room to investigate, while staff help them develop communication, understanding and independence.

In July 2025, stories travelled beyond reading time into children's play. Children imagined themselves as woodland fairies and constructed castles with magnetic tiles. Those examples matter because they connect language with making and pretending, giving children different ways to develop an idea rather than requiring everyone to produce the same result.

Art also gave children different routes into exploration. In July 2025, younger children experimented with colour through messy play, while older children used mirrors to study their faces before creating portraits. The emphasis was on the process of making. For parents who value creativity, the useful detail is the combination of materials, observation and time to work through an idea.

Conversation accompanied these experiences. In July 2025, staff adjusted their questions and vocabulary to children's development, leaving time for an answer instead of filling every pause. Discussions about plants and animals in the woodland gave new words a real subject. Language learning was connected to something children could examine and talk about.

Outdoor and Community Life

Woodland at Cub includes climbing trees, making dens and identifying small creatures and plants. Children can explore through the seasons, work together on constructions and learn about caring for the natural world. These activities give outdoor time a purpose that includes cooperation as well as physical movement.

In July 2025, children began woodland sessions by recalling the rules and then followed them independently. Boundaries were part of the experience, alongside exploration. Older children also read outdoors in hammocks and shaded spaces, providing a quieter outdoor activity alongside active play.

The Wetherby studio provides another strand of family activity. Rhythm Time is a music class for babies and toddlers; Earth Tree Yoga includes postnatal and baby yoga. These are studio offerings for families, rather than evidence that every nursery child receives music or yoga during their booked care.

Home visits and settling sessions are included in the fee, giving families contact with the nursery before their child starts. Termly meetings with a child's key person provide a regular opportunity to discuss development. Together, these arrangements give parent communication a beginning and a continuing rhythm.

In July 2025, staff used information shared by parents to understand individual children and plan what came next. Routines could change in response to the children attending: mealtimes had been separated to allow more conversation. That is a useful example of care being organised around interaction, rather than treating meals simply as a timetable requirement.

At the July 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that targeted support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities was highly effective and that children made rapid developmental progress. This is a dated assessment of practice, with individual intervention behind the judgement.

Reading also had a quieter place in the day. In July 2025, younger children shared books with an adult individually or in small groups in a calm indoor setting. That offered a different pace from woodland exploration and construction play, with close adult attention built into the experience.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery opens Monday to Friday, from 7.45am to 6pm. Regular bookings use set days, with a minimum attendance of two days per week; requests for four- and five-day patterns receive priority. Full-time bookings are offered, while an occasional additional day or half day can be booked subject to availability. A day swap is a request the nursery will consider, rather than an entitlement.

Cub Wetherby opens for 51 weeks each year. Closures include bank holidays, the period from Christmas Eve until the first working day of the New Year, and three half-days annually for team training. Families need to account for those breaks in their childcare arrangements.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered to eligible families. The fee includes milk, snacks and meals, as well as nappies, wipes and creams, including sun cream. That makes the ordinary fee package useful for parents who want these everyday supplies handled together; the funded-hours quotation needs separate consideration.

Once a place is offered, a deposit is requested and is returned at the end of attendance provided at least four weeks' notice is given and all fees are settled. Reducing booked days requires one month's notice, and sickness or holidays do not attract refunds. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Getting There

The address is The Croft, Boroughbridge Road, Wetherby, LS22 5HG. Families can contact the Wetherby team by telephone on 01937413300 or email at frontofhouse@cubwetherby.co.uk.

Cub Hub gives parents an on-site place to work over coffee or refreshments. Its value is practical: family facilities sit alongside childcare, so parents have somewhere to spend time as well as a nursery for their child.

• Set days and changing schedules. Regular attendance starts at two days per week, with priority for four- and five-day requests. Day swaps depend on whether the nursery can accommodate them, so this suits a predictable weekly routine better than frequently changing days.
• Funded-hours budgeting. Funded childcare and an inclusive ordinary fee package are both offered. Ask for a written funded-hours quotation explaining the entitlement, how hours are spread through the year, and the treatment of meals and consumables before comparing costs.
• Woodland learning. Tree climbing, den building and wildlife exploration are part of Woodland at Cub. At a visit, ask how these experiences are adapted for your child's age and confidence.
• Annual closures. Christmas, bank holidays and three training half-days interrupt the usual opening pattern. Families relying on weekday care will need arrangements for those dates.

Cub Wetherby's strongest combination is purposeful outdoor activity and attention to communication, supported by its Outstanding July 2025 judgement. Woodland at Cub gives the offer substance, while key-person meetings and included everyday supplies add practical value for parents.

It suits families seeking regular set-day attendance or full-time bookings, with occasional extra half-days as a conditional addition. The café and studio will appeal to parents who want family facilities alongside childcare. The decision rests on whether that organised weekly pattern, outdoor emphasis and closure calendar fit family life.