Dragonflies Community Nursery

A year of woodland adventures before school, weekly shopping trips for fruit and vegetables, and a baby space with a separate sleep room give Dragonflies Community Nursery a recognisable character. This community-run nursery in Sidley, Bexhill-on-Sea, connects children's learning with ordinary life: buying food, exploring outdoors and gradually managing tasks for themselves. Its purpose-built home is shared with a Family Hub. The emphasis is practical.

At its 3 May 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated Dragonflies Outstanding, finding exceptional progress through carefully sequenced learning and effective safeguarding arrangements. That judgement belongs to that visit. The current offer has capacity for 42 children, with an age range from three months to five years, and separate provision for younger and older children.

Morning, afternoon and full-day bookings sit alongside term-time attendance options.

Rooms and Ages

The Under 2’s room, for children from three months to two years, combines exploratory play with direct access to its own garden, a sensory space and a separate sleep room. Rest has its own space, separate from play.

In the Toddler Room, children aged two to five practise independence through finding their belongings, preparing snacks and taking part in everyday jobs. Staff help newcomers locate an apron, wash their hands and choose toys, so independence begins with manageable steps. Table laying, washing dishes and sweeping give children real tasks to attempt rather than keeping all responsibility with adults.

The wider building has natural light and wheelchair access. Outdoors, a large garden and a mud kitchen provide further places to play. Children can choose garden activities through most weather, with severe conditions such as thunderstorms or high winds setting the limit. Outdoor play is therefore part of ordinary nursery life rather than reserved for fine days.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children's learning, development and care; here, learning takes place through play, children's interests and opportunities to practise again. Older children revisit what interests them, testing ideas rather than moving straight on to the next activity. Everyday jobs also put language, physical coordination and problem solving into situations children can understand.

In May 2023, children used pictures to work out the scoops needed for dough, counted ingredients and adjusted their quantities. Others drew ideas from factual books when constructing a tower for dinosaurs, then changed their design when it fell. Both activities gave children problems to solve.

Makaton signs provide visual support for spoken communication, including words, questions and instructions. Demonstration videos on Tapestry extend those signs into words, songs and poems that families can use too. Dragonflies also shares 50 Things to Do Before You're Five, a collection of home activity ideas including drawing, music, book sharing and growing plants. It gives parents concrete starting points for play together rather than requiring elaborate equipment.

Outdoor and Community Life

Dragonflies Outdoor Adventures gives each child a year of outdoor experiences before school, using the nursery's play space in Sidley Woods. A fire circle, craft corner, mud exploration space and area for physical play give the woodland setting several purposes.

The Collective Garden, across the road, adds a community growing setting. A dedicated area for nursery children is planned for allotment-style activities exploring wildlife, seasonal change and care for the environment.

Weekly walks to local grocers make food shopping part of children's learning. Children count and weigh produce, explore unfamiliar fruit and vegetables and talk about cooking plans. The trip connects numbers and conversation with a real purchase. In May 2023, growing activities also included planting seeds and moving pots into a greenhouse, giving children responsibility for something they could watch develop.

Relationships and Communication

Settling for babies begins with learning about the child and the family. Staff gather information about familiar songs, favourite games, routines and preferences, then use that knowledge during the early weeks. Parents are included in the process. For families leaving a baby in childcare for the first time, this gives familiar details a place in the new routine.

For older children, an assigned key person discusses next steps with parents and how home and nursery can work together. Meetings are intended every six weeks, with scheduling adapted around family life. That provides a regular point for talking about development, alongside the everyday work of getting to know what a child enjoys or finds difficult.

In May 2023, family involvement included play afternoons and information sessions about food, dental care and online safety. Children took story packs home with puppets and other materials, while digital demonstrations helped families join in with poems and stories. Bicycles and equipment could also be borrowed for use in local parks.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Families whose first language is not English can access resources to help develop their English. Children are encouraged to explore other languages and cultures too. Combined with the building's wheelchair access, this gives inclusion both a communication dimension and a physical one.

In May 2023, babies responded calmly to adults who knew them well, and children took responsibility for tidying and caring for resources. Stories featured in shared play as well as quieter time with staff. Current safeguarding arrangements include an out-of-hours professional contact route; its purpose is professional safeguarding communication rather than a general parent enquiry service.

Sessions and Attendance

Dragonflies is based at Sidley Children's Centre, Sidley House, 121 Ninfield Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, TN39 5BD. It opens Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, throughout the year, closing on bank holidays. Families can contact the nursery by telephone or email through its enquiry route.

Bookings must use the session options rather than assuming any combination of hourly attendance. The core shorter choices include mornings from 9am to noon and afternoons from 1pm to 4pm; the full-day option runs from 8am to 6pm. Other combinations offer earlier morning starts, attendance through lunchtime and afternoon finishes later in the day. Full-time attendance covers 8am to 6pm every day, and term-time-only attendance is also offered.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible children aged nine months to five years can use Early Years Educational Entitlement. Dragonflies also participates in the Free Childcare for Working Parents scheme, offering eligible working families up to 30 funded hours each week for children aged nine months to four years. Funding can be used within the opening hours, with term-time and stretched arrangements illustrated. Eligibility remains a condition of the entitlement.

Private attendance is offered alongside funded hours, and payment can use childcare vouchers or tax-free childcare. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. Activities within the nursery are included in its costs; additional trips can carry separate charges, with advance notice, and those trips are optional.

Lunch is supplied from home when children attend between noon and 1pm; breakfast and tea are included in designated paid session packages, while meals on funded hours carry separate optional charges. Families may provide their own healthy meals instead, arranging this with management, so the food position depends on both the meal and the booking.

• Woodland participation. Dragonflies Outdoor Adventures gives children a year of outdoor experiences before school. At a visit, discuss when your child would join and how the woodland routine fits their stage of development.
• Session boundaries. Attendance is booked from defined options, including morning, afternoon and full-day patterns. Match the start and finish of the proposed booking to your family's working day rather than relying on the overall opening window.
• Food arrangements. Lunch comes from home, and funded hours exclude meal costs. Factor packed lunches and optional breakfast or tea charges into your attendance plans.

Dragonflies suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as full-day attendance, with practical independence and outdoor learning prominent in the offer. The baby garden, sensory space and separate sleep room give its youngest provision a clear shape. For older children, Sidley Woods and weekly shopping walks broaden the places where learning happens.

Its Outstanding judgement dates to May 2023, while today's session choices and funded arrangements offer several ways to attend. The decision is as much about fit as the grade: a family wanting children to take part in everyday jobs, explore outside and carry learning into home life has concrete reasons to consider Dragonflies.