Honeypot Nursery, Highbury College

Beach trips, train journeys and paint experiments give Honeypot Nursery, Highbury College a recognisable character: its June 2024 nursery day connected hands-on exploration with experiences beyond the campus. The setting occupies Highbury Campus in Portsmouth and has capacity for 54 children, with an accepted age range of 2 to 60 months.

At its 3 June 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, while identifying preschool staffing during lunch breaks as an area requiring attention. That combination matters: there were concrete strengths in children's experiences, alongside a specific weakness in how the afternoon was organised.

The college connection also has practical value. Honeypot provides childcare for parents studying at college during timetabled study, with applications made directly to the nursery.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets requirements for children's learning, development and care; in everyday terms, this connects play and exploration with learning to communicate and manage personal routines. In June 2024, paint activities illustrated that connection. Children explored colours with their hands, named what they saw and considered how mixing changed the paint. Exploring colour mixing gave children a chance to describe discoveries and understand cause and effect.

Communication also had a practical purpose. During that month, picture cards helped children with SEND express choices during bubble play, while adults supplied spoken words for those choices. Children could participate through pictures as well as speech. The activity gave language an immediate use rather than treating vocabulary as a separate exercise.

Outdoor and Community Life

In June 2024, outings included the beach and nearby woods, with journeys by nursery minibus and train. The journey itself formed part of the experience, extending children's encounters with transport and the world beyond their usual surroundings. These were experiences beyond the nursery premises, rather than simply outdoor play on site.

Inside, everyday equipment supported independence. A portable basin in the toddler room allowed children to wash paint from their hands in June 2024. Tidying had an audible cue too: a bell prompted children to help put toys away. Both examples linked participation in play with taking responsibility for what happened afterwards.

At the June 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and recognised staff's knowledge of individual children and their work with families and other agencies in supporting children with SEND to progress. Those findings belong to that inspection date.

Relationships were visible in small exchanges that June. Older children welcomed their key person enthusiastically, and adults responded warmly; during nappy changes, staff sought children's permission before proceeding. Familiar adults and explanations gave children a role in their own care, rather than treating personal routines as something simply done to them.

Parent communication included translation services in June 2024, helping families who spoke English as an additional language receive developmental information and ideas for learning at home. Staff also sought feedback from parents, children and colleagues, giving families a route to contribute to nursery life.

Calm corners were present in each room that month, following staff training. These spaces supported emotional wellbeing within the play environment. However, preschool cover after lunch was inconsistent: adults sometimes missed children's need for help with behaviour, and opportunities for purposeful play suffered. The practical concern was continuity of attention during staff breaks.

Honeypot's address is Highbury Campus, Tudor Crescent, Portsmouth, PO6 2SA. It opens Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 6pm, across the year, with a Christmas closure.

For parents studying at college, childcare can cover timetabled study. Parents apply directly to Honeypot; after a childcare place has been agreed, eligible parents studying at college who are under 20 can apply to Care to Learn, a scheme helping with childcare costs. Agreement of a nursery place and financial support are separate steps, so neither should be treated as securing the other.

In June 2024, the nursery received early-education funding for children aged two, three and four. This is a dated account of participation, rather than a promise of a particular funded booking today.

• Preschool afternoons. June 2024 staffing during lunch breaks did not consistently support behaviour and purposeful play. On a visit, ask how cover now works through this part of the day.
• Childcare alongside study. Childcare applications from parents studying at college go directly to Honeypot, with Care to Learn applications following agreement of a place. Families using this route need to plan the childcare arrangement and funding application as separate steps.
• The complete childcare cost. For a baby needing nappies or a child staying through meals, what does the written quotation include, and how would funded hours fit the intended attendance pattern?

Honeypot merits consideration for families seeking a Portsmouth campus setting, especially college students arranging childcare around timetabled study. Its June 2024 experiences combined exploration, outings and practical independence, giving parents concrete examples of what children did. The preschool lunchtime staffing weakness deserves equal weight: continuity of adult attention is the key visit question alongside those strengths.