The Learning Tree, Manor Farm

Calves, chickens and tractors give The Learning Tree, Manor Farm a setting that children can explore through everyday experience. This Chilcompton nursery occupies a converted barn on a working farm, with fields beyond its garden and vegetables growing in raised beds. The countryside is part of the children's day.

At its June 2022 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and recognised good progress for children, including those with additional needs. The same visit identified weaknesses in how staff positioned themselves and extended children's learning. Both sides of that judgement matter when choosing care.

There are 50 places in total, and the nursery accepts children from six months to five years. Its strongest practical attraction is the combination of separate age-group spaces, child-led play and access to the farm. Families seeking regular outdoor experiences have concrete reasons to consider it.

Rooms and Ages

The baby room provides a quiet, cosy space from six months, with the move onwards described around eighteen months to two years; the 2-year-old room occupies the calf shed, while Preschool accommodates children aged three to four in the Barn. These are different spaces for different stages, rather than one room serving the whole age range.

Natural light and materials shape the wider environment. Loose parts and real objects give children resources they can combine and use in their own ways. The emphasis is on what children do with materials, rather than a predetermined finished product.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care. For children, this includes developing language, physical skills and relationships through play. June 2022 examples included small-group language activities, experimenting with pipettes and practising sharing with others. Here, Planning in the moment adds a specific way of organising that play: practitioners respond to children's interests as they arise and use those interests to extend an activity. Children lead the starting point; adults contribute the next opportunity.

The branch's play-based approach makes that distinction useful for parents. Activities develop from what interests a child, and staff identify opportunities to join in and build learning. Real objects and loose parts support this approach because their use can change with the child's idea.

In June 2022, children selected their own activities and used resources independently. An outdoor water tray provided one example: children experimented with pipettes before using water to make marks on the building. That illustrates how an ordinary resource can connect physical exploration with early mark-making.

The limitation was adult follow-through. In June 2022, some staff did not choose positions that helped them support learning, and leaders did not consistently redirect them. Coaching also needed to make staff responses more consistent. For a nursery whose approach depends on recognising opportunities in children's play, those were consequential improvement points.

Outdoor and Community Life

Manor Farm supplies experiences beyond the garden: children visit calves and cows, gather eggs from chickens and see tractors. These give conversation and exploration a real subject. The farm also connects with food, with its meat and eggs used in the nursery kitchens.

Children can move freely into the garden, and outdoor play continues in different weather conditions. Wellington boots are part of the equipment families need. Large raised beds allow children to grow vegetables, giving them something to tend as well as somewhere to play.

In June 2022, the rural surroundings also prompted conversation about cows in a neighbouring field, and babies went to the village church for an event serving tea and toast. These were inspection-time examples of children encountering the community beyond nursery. They should be read as dated experiences, rather than a timetable of current outings.

Relationships and Communication

Key persons provide the relationship around which care is organised. Online learning journals give parents a way to follow their child's learning and participate in it, linking nursery experiences with family life.

In June 2022, each child had a review week every six weeks. Parents contributed information about interests, preferences and home life, which staff used when choosing learning experiences. This made communication useful to planning, rather than simply a retrospective account of what a child had done.

Regular discussions and online updates were also part of communication in June 2022, alongside a nursery magazine and invitations to social gatherings such as a picnic. Families had several ways to exchange information. Staff also worked with outside agencies when children needed additional support.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In June 2022, practitioners used small-group language programmes in response to communication difficulties they had identified following the pandemic. Books and dolls presented positive images of different people and backgrounds. These examples show the kinds of resources and adjustments used at that time, rather than establishing a current programme for every child.

Staff wellbeing received attention too. In June 2022, the team included a trained wellbeing adviser, and leaders arranged activities intended to support staff and their working relationships. The nursery employed 14 staff at that visit; this was a whole-setting staffing count, not the number working with one group.

Food has a direct connection to this branch's surroundings. The Chilcompton cook prepares seasonal dishes, while the kitchens use eggs and meat from the farm. That gives the food offer a tangible connection with the place children explore.

The address is The Barn, Manor Farm, Church Lane, Chilcompton, Radstock, BA3 4HP. The Chilcompton contact number is 01761 322011, providing a direct enquiry route for this setting.

In June 2022, opening hours were 7.30am to 6pm on weekdays, with operation throughout the year. Those hours describe the nursery at that time. They should be distinguished from the sessions a family books.

The nursery received funding for education sessions for two-, three- and four-year-olds in June 2022. For budgeting, families should obtain a current written quotation that separates childcare from any additional charges.

• Adult involvement in play. June 2022 improvement points concerned staff positioning and inconsistent extension of learning. On a visit, ask how leaders now support practitioners to recognise and develop children's ideas.
• Outdoor expectations. Garden access continues across weather conditions, and children explore a working farm. Wellington boots and a willingness to embrace outdoor play fit this nursery's daily character.
• Attendance and total cost. The June 2022 operating day ran from 7.30am to 6pm. Before committing, ask which booking patterns suit your routine and request written terms covering funded hours, meals and non-food consumables.

The Learning Tree, Manor Farm suits families who value child-led play, real materials and a countryside setting children can actively explore. The calf shed, raised beds in the garden and working farm make that offer concrete.

Its June 2022 Good judgement provides a dated quality benchmark, balanced by meaningful concerns about staff deployment and the consistency of learning support. The most useful visit would test how adults extend children's play today, alongside whether the attendance arrangements fit family life.