Wind In The Willows Portsmouth

Wind In The Willows Portsmouth combines a large garden, four age-based rooms and an unusually strong sense of place in Milton. The Hester Road setting takes children from three months to five years and has capacity for 88. Its room sequence moves from babies through toddlers and two-year-olds to preschool, while the surrounding parks, common, harbour and library extend learning beyond the building.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good in June 2023, with Good judgements across education, behaviour, personal development and leadership, and found safeguarding effective. Children were safe, secure and strongly attached to the setting, with a curriculum shaped around individual starting points, with babies exploring sand, toddlers using mud in dinosaur play and older children constructing houses from open-ended materials.

The nursery opens from 7.15am to 6pm on weekdays. It publishes full-time and funded options, although term-time-only places cease from September 2026. Families seeking a community-based nursery with generous outdoor access and a clear progression between rooms will find plenty of substance here.

Rooms and Ages

The baby room is for children from three months to roughly 15 to 18 months, depending on development. Its sensory and messy-play emphasis is paired with an interests-and-routine board and a family-photo wall, useful details for maintaining individual routines and familiarity. The room is also referred to as Tadpoles in the facilities material.

Toddlers from roughly 15 to 18 months until two to two-and-a-half move into the Toddler Room, described elsewhere as Toads. Children self-register with their photograph and choose among role play, construction, books, puzzles, small-world resources and a physical-play gym. That gives toddlers both agency and a more settled routine before the two-year room.

Moles is the two-year room. It has direct garden access and a sensory room that becomes a sleep room for afternoon naps. Most of the day is free play, with key people planning from children's interests and next steps, and these next steps are shared with families each half term.

Badgers, the preschool room, takes children from three until school. Mathematics and mark-making are woven through activities, while self-registration, independent drinks and managing shoes and coats build practical confidence. Children can use the garden, Cosy-Room and Role-Play Room through the day; the latter changes into settings such as a surgery, travel agency or home according to their play.

Learning and Named Experiences

The EYFS provides the educational framework, meaning play and planned experiences build communication, physical development, personal and social growth, literacy, mathematics, understanding of the world and expressive skills. Here, staff plan from children's interests and individual next steps rather than treating those areas as a checklist.

STEM is a named strand in the current offer. The nursery explains it through everyday playdough, role play, science experiments, wooden loose parts, water play and gloop, with curiosity, collaboration, critical thinking, confidence and communication as its five themes. This is concrete enough to be meaningful: children encounter problem-solving through ordinary play rather than a separate lesson.

In June 2023, children took part in daily Happy Mind activities, when children talked about feelings, and morning stretching and breathing that included a warrior pose. These experiences supported emotional vocabulary, listening and a positive start to learning. Children concentrated well and tested ideas, including adjusting water and flower petals while making potions.

Outdoor and Community Life

The large garden wraps around the one-storey building, with grass and patio areas and direct access from almost every room. Children grow fruit, vegetables, plants and flowers, use bikes, slides and scooters, investigate bugs, and explore sand, water and a mud kitchen. Active8 and annual sports day experiences add named physical experiences without displacing daily outdoor play.

Local outings draw on parks, Milton Common, Langstone Harbour, Milton Market and Beddow Library. The nursery also publishes links with nearby schools including Milton Park, Meon, Wimborne and Moorings Way for transition work, but attendance does not secure a school place; families must still apply through the local authority process.

Relationships and Communication

Care is the strongest thread. Babies were content enough to celebrate one another's achievements, while older children encouraged friends who found a new skill difficult. Staff listened closely to children's ideas and reorganise the garden after children wanted a football goal. That responsiveness gives children visible influence over their environment.

Parents receive online updates, daily communication and weekly newsletters. The nursery also arranges settling sessions before a child starts and provides a parent handbook. For babies, staff work from home routines and preferred care techniques; for Moles, next steps are shared half-termly so learning can continue at home.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Safeguarding arrangements were effective in June 2023. Practitioners could recognise welfare concerns and respond appropriately, while children received attentive supervision. All staff had paediatric first-aid training at the inspection date.

The special educational needs coordinator assessed needs, set learning targets and worked with families and outside agencies. However, in June 2023 some children with communication difficulties did not reliably receive their planned support from every practitioner. Families seeking this support need a clear account of how the nursery now keeps practitioners informed and checks that plans are followed.

At the same date, the route from outdoor play to the sleep area created a hygiene concern because footwear could contaminate the prepared nap space. The nursery needed to make that transition more hygienic.

Food is prepared in the nursery's own kitchen, with fruit and vegetables grown in the garden used in cooking. Snacks, milk and water are included, while hot freshly prepared meals are charged separately. The fees page also states that a monthly snack-and-wipe donation is added to invoices, so funded families need a quotation showing the complete structure.

Sessions and Attendance

The setting is at Hester Road, Southsea, PO4 8HB and opens Monday to Friday from 7.15am to 6pm. It closes on bank holidays and for one week at Christmas. The site publishes full-time places and funded attendance, but says term-time-only places will no longer be offered from September 2026. Families should therefore judge the model against the attendance they need after that date.

Enquiries require the child's date of birth, required days and hours, and preferred start date. The next steps are a booking form, deposit and registration fee, followed by settling sessions. This gives families a clear joining sequence without implying that a place is currently free.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery accepts funded childcare for eligible children from nine months, including the 15- and 30-hour entitlements, as well as childcare vouchers. A sibling discount is published, except where one child is fully funded. Eligibility and attendance patterns are assessed individually.

Snacks, milk and water are included, and breakfast is included with some sessions. Hot meals carry a separate charge, but numeric fee amounts are deliberately omitted here because families need the current quotation. The fees page is the best starting point for the present structure.

• Communication support. Some children with communication difficulties did not reliably receive their planned support from every practitioner in June 2023. Ask how the setting now informs the whole team and checks that plans are followed.
• Nap-time hygiene. The route from outdoor play to the nap area created a risk of footwear contaminating the prepared sleep space. Families whose child naps should ask about the current transition and hygiene routine.
• Attendance after September 2026. Term-time-only places end from that date. Confirm how funded hours are stretched and how closure weeks affect the pattern you need.
• Room naming and transitions. Current pages use both generic age-stage names and character names such as Tadpoles, Toads, Moles and Badgers. Ask which room your child would join and what developmental factors trigger a move.

Wind In The Willows Portsmouth has real character: a large garden, age-based rooms, everyday STEM, Happy Mind activities and a long list of nearby green and community places. The Good judgement rests on secure relationships, purposeful play and children influencing their environment, rather than a grade alone.

The two 2023 improvement points matter, especially for a child needing communication support or daytime sleep, and families should test the current response directly. Overall, this setting best suits families wanting full-time care or funded hours across a year-round pattern, with room progression and outdoor learning at the centre of the experience. It is less suitable for those needing a term-time-only place after September 2026.