Stars Day Nursery Bushfield

An enclosed garden accessible from both age-group rooms, freshly cooked food and a building with natural light and underfloor heating give Stars Day Nursery Bushfield a clear practical character. Babies have their own room; older children share a preschool room that spans toddlerhood to the move towards school. The appeal is a combination of outdoor access and everyday opportunities to become more independent.

Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding on 22 July 2024. Bushfield welcomes children from 3 months to 5 years and has 55 places in total. That is the whole nursery’s capacity, rather than the number of children in either room or attending on a particular day.

Funding can be stretched across the year, and flexible sessions sit alongside a booking policy that favours year-round attendance. The distinction matters for families planning childcare around school terms rather than throughout the year.

Rooms and Ages

The baby room takes children from 3 months to 23 months and has access to the enclosed garden and play area. The pre-school room serves children aged 2 to 5 years, with access to the same outdoor provision. This separates babies from the older age group while keeping outdoor play part of both rooms’ offer.

Natural light and underfloor heating are concrete features of the building. It was originally constructed as part of Ormiston Bushfield Academy. For parents comparing settings, the useful detail is the environment itself: indoor space with daylight, together with an enclosed outdoor area accessible to both age groups.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children’s learning, development and care. In everyday language, that means education and care belong together: play, conversation, movement and growing independence all contribute to learning. Bushfield adds the group-wide Stars Day curriculum, organised around Learn, Achieve, Protect, Develop and Be ready.

Those elements have practical descriptions. Play combines activities with other children and opportunities to explore independently; language development includes extending vocabulary and social communication. Community interaction is another element, while preparation for the next stage emphasises confidence. This is a curriculum approach alongside the statutory framework, rather than a replacement for it.

In July 2024, staff helped children investigate water by demonstrating how a colander could separate bark and sticks from it. The adult contribution was a technique children could use to continue their own experiment. Another activity involved cutting vegetables and comparing how their textures affected the difficulty of the task. Ordinary materials became opportunities to investigate, handle tools and explain an observation.

Language ran through these experiences. In July 2024, practitioners introduced words while children explored textures and repeated children’s speech with clearer pronunciation. Songs, rhymes and stories also supported vocabulary. The practical value is language attached to something a child is doing or feeling, rather than words presented in isolation.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School Experiences and excursions are included in children’s sessions. Forest School is an approach to learning through outdoor exploration; here, the experiences sit alongside access to the enclosed garden. The combination gives families an outdoor element within the nursery day as well as experiences beyond the usual indoor activities.

In July 2024, children spent a substantial part of their day outside, with activities that exercised larger movements and physical skills. Books belonged outdoors too: children shared stories with staff in the garden. This made the outdoor area a place for quieter experiences as well as physical activity.

Relationships and Communication

In July 2024, children took books home to share with their families, then talked about the stories with their key person on returning them. That created a useful connection between home reading and nursery conversation. Children also chose books independently and used familiar stories in their play, retelling events and acting out parts they enjoyed.

Assessments and next learning steps were shared with parents in July 2024, together with suggestions for continuing learning at home. The current parent app provides updates about children’s activities and development. Together, these are useful forms of communication: families can follow what their child has been doing and understand the learning behind it.

Daily routines also offered practice in managing ordinary tasks. In July 2024, children served themselves food and used utensils while preparing snacks. Staff encouraged effort and allowed time for children to reflect on the effect of their behaviour. These examples give parents something more concrete than a broad promise of independence: children were taking responsibility within familiar routines.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the July 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities were thriving and that safeguarding arrangements were effective. Those are dated findings, rather than a prediction about any individual child’s experience.

Current staff training includes support for special educational needs, with an emphasis on speech and language difficulties and regular further training. For a child who needs help communicating, that is a relevant area of staff development. It gives families a specific starting point for discussing support rather than a general statement that every need can be met.

The nursery’s manager also holds the company safeguarding lead role and has paediatric first aid training. These are arrangements within the setting; the judgement about their effectiveness belongs to the dated inspection above.

Sessions and Attendance

Bushfield opens from 8am to 6pm on weekdays and operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and one week at Christmas. Flexible session options support the use of funded hours, and additional paid sessions can be arranged beyond a child’s entitlement. Families therefore need to distinguish the opening window from the attendance package they choose.

Standard year-round bookings receive priority over funded bookings covering 38 weeks. Funding can also be stretched across the year at Bushfield. This is an important planning distinction: the nursery’s operating calendar, a child’s funded allocation and the family’s booked attendance are separate parts of the arrangement.

Enquiries can be made directly to the branch on 01733 306043. Visits can be booked before choosing the nursery, giving families an opportunity to discuss the room their child would join and the attendance pattern they need.

Getting There

The nursery is at Orton Parkway, Orton Centre, Peterborough PE2 5RQ; its postal address is Ortongate, Peterborough PE2 5RQ. Parking is provided.

The building’s connection with Ormiston Bushfield Academy should not be read as an admissions advantage. Attending the nursery does not guarantee a Reception place, and families still use the local authority admissions process for a state-school application.

Funding and Paid Extras

Bushfield offers 30 government-funded hours for eligible working families from the point their child reaches 9 months. It also offers 15 funded hours for families receiving qualifying government support, and the universal entitlement for three- and four-year-olds is 15 hours a week over 38 weeks. Eligibility conditions matter: these are separate routes to funded childcare, rather than an entitlement for every child from the nursery’s youngest starting age.

For the universal three- and four-year-old entitlement, funded attendance starts in the term after the third birthday. Bushfield allows funding to be stretched across the year, which changes how the allocation is distributed. Additional private sessions are a separate purchase beyond funded hours. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

Food is cooked on site, and breakfast and snacks are included at no extra charge. For children using government-funded hours only, hot meals and tea carry optional separate charges, with a healthy packed lunch required if paid meals are declined; when families pay for any sessions, the fees include a hot meal and tea.

Consumables, resources and materials carry no extra charge under the group-wide policy used at Bushfield. Forest School Experiences and excursions are also included in sessions. This makes the meal choice on funded-only attendance the clearest distinction in the charge structure: breakfast, snacks and consumables are treated differently from paid hot food.

• Year-round booking priority. Standard bookings across the year take priority over funded attendance covering 38 weeks. Families seeking a term-time pattern should discuss how their intended schedule fits that rule before committing.
• The move between rooms. The baby room ends at 23 months and the pre-school room starts at age 2. On a visit, ask how the change is managed and how routines are adapted for younger children joining the older group.
• Funded-only meal choices. Hot meals and tea are optional paid additions for children attending on funded hours only, with packed food required when those meals are declined. Allergy-affected families should confirm current food-handling practice before deciding between the options.
• Outdoor experiences. Forest School Experiences and excursions are included in sessions. Ask what these involve for your child’s age group so that the outdoor offer can be assessed alongside the garden provision.

Bushfield suits families wanting flexible sessions or attendance across the year, including those spreading funded hours beyond school terms. Families seeking a 38-week pattern have a different consideration: the booking policy gives year-round attendance priority. That deserves attention before the nursery’s educational appeal settles the decision.

The strongest reasons to consider it are concrete: two age-group rooms with garden access, food prepared on site, an app connecting families with nursery activities, and a curriculum that combines play, language and preparation for the next stage. The July 2024 examples add substance, showing children investigating materials, sharing books with home and taking part in everyday tasks. The balance of practical care and active learning makes this a persuasive option for families whose attendance needs fit its booking approach.