Chevening School Nursery

A mud kitchen, regular cookery and an annual Godstone Farm outing give Chevening School Nursery a practical, hands-on character. Its own grounds sit within the Chevening CEP School site in Chipstead, combining a nursery setting with a school-site context. For children aged two to four, the emphasis is on learning to communicate, explore and do more for themselves.

At its January 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall, with Outstanding behaviour and attitudes, and found safeguarding effective. The strongest examples concern ordinary moments: sharing a toy, asking for help and managing outdoor clothing. These matter because independence and relationships shape how comfortably a young child takes part in the day.

Opening hours are 8.30am to 3.30pm, Monday to Friday, during term time. That calendar is a central consideration for families organising childcare around work.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS organises learning across language, physical development, relationships, literacy, mathematics, understanding the world and creative expression. In parent terms, play and everyday activities develop several skills together: talking through an idea, handling materials and working alongside another child all contribute to learning.

Communication has a clear place in Chevening's curriculum. The initial emphasis is on language, physical skills and personal, social and emotional development, with other learning built around these foundations. Children have opportunities to explore their interests rather than follow an identical route through every activity. The curriculum information explains this approach alongside the nursery's regular activities.

Cookery, music and yoga sit alongside model-making with reused materials and building activities. Forest School is also regularly enjoyed, adding an outdoor learning approach to the EYFS rather than replacing it. Den building and nature trails give the outdoor offer concrete substance; the mud kitchen adds another place for imaginative play and exploration.

In January 2025, children developed the finger control needed for writing by moving sand into toy diggers. This is a useful example of early preparation through play: handling small amounts of material comes before the expectation of managing a pencil. Staff also used a glove puppet activity to practise putting gloves on, linking an engaging activity to a task children could use themselves.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden supported physical challenges in January 2025. Children balanced along raised beams and climbed low tree branches with staff support. These were manageable opportunities to practise movement and tackle something demanding, rather than simply spend time outside.

Godstone Farm provides a named connection beyond the nursery grounds. An annual trip was recorded in July 2024, followed by another family outing in July 2025. The later visit included meeting animals and exploring the dinosaur trail, giving families a shared experience as well as children something concrete to talk about afterwards.

Theatre outings add another dimension. Some children attended Pirates Love Underpants in May 2025, while theatre visits were also part of the January 2025 account of learning about music and culture. These examples give the nursery's wider-world learning a recognisable shape. They are past outings, rather than a promise of a fixed future programme.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person, and an initial home visit contributes to the relationship with the family. That gives settling a personal starting point: staff can begin learning about a child before nursery routines become part of their week. The curriculum also connects family involvement with children's learning and wellbeing.

Parents have ways to participate beyond their own child's day. Parent representatives organise social gatherings, help with fundraising and contribute to committee meetings. For families who enjoy taking an active role, this creates a practical route into nursery life. It also means the nursery's community includes shared responsibilities as well as shared events.

Communication about learning needs closer attention. In January 2025, parents were sometimes missing updates about the skills their children were working towards next. The improvement action was to make those updates more consistent, so families could support the same learning at home. Warm relationships and useful learning information are separate needs; parents should weigh both.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the January 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that staff worked with external agencies to tailor learning for children with SEND, and used signing and picture cards to support communication, including for children learning English as an additional language. These examples explain the mechanisms of support rather than offering a blanket assurance about every child's experience.

Current staff responsibilities include SEND support and small-group speech and language work. This gives families a specific starting point for discussing their child's communication needs.

In January 2025, children used a sand timer to arrange turns with a toy and passed it on when the time finished. Staff also reminded children to drink water. The detail is small but useful: wellbeing included learning to manage relationships and everyday health habits, not only adult intervention when something went wrong.

Sessions and Attendance

Chevening School Nursery's address is Chevening Road, Chipstead, Sevenoaks, TN13 2SA. It opens on weekdays from 8.30am until 3.30pm in term time, with school holidays outside its operating calendar. Families needing holiday childcare should factor that break into their arrangements.

An application form and term-date information form part of the joining arrangements. Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by telephone on 01732 452342 or by email to nurserychevening@gmail.com.

Funding and Paid Extras

In January 2025, the nursery received funding for free early education for children aged two, three and four. This establishes its participation at that date; it does not guarantee a particular family's entitlement or attendance arrangement. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Moving on to School

The nursery occupies its own grounds on the Chevening CEP School site. Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still need to apply through the local authority's admissions process, so the convenience of a shared site should be considered separately from the school-place decision.

• Learning updates. January 2025's improvement action concerned keeping parents informed about their child's next learning steps. Ask how those updates now reach families and how they connect with activities at home.
• Term-time calendar. Weekday opening runs from 8.30am to 3.30pm, with school holidays outside the nursery calendar. This suits a school-year routine, but families needing holiday cover will need another arrangement.
• School-site expectations. Sharing the Chevening CEP School site does not guarantee Reception admission. Keep the nursery choice and the local authority application as separate decisions.
• Joining and costs. The application route and home visit provide a starting point for settling. At a visit, what attendance pattern, funded-hours arrangement, meal provision and consumables terms would apply to your child?

Chevening suits families seeking term-time childcare for a two- to four-year-old, with practical activities and opportunities to participate in nursery life. Cookery, the mud kitchen and Godstone Farm outings give that offer substance. The January 2025 picture of children managing turns and helping one another is a strong part of its appeal.

The main qualification is communication about children's next learning steps. Families who want to build closely on nursery learning at home should give that point proper attention. The school-site setting is useful context, while Reception admission remains a separate process.