Foxes Bridge Farm Day Nursery & Pre-School

Daily farm visits give Foxes Bridge Farm Day Nursery & Pre-School its character: chickens to feed, seasonal changes to follow and gardens that extend the nursery day outdoors. In Comberton, this is childcare built around a working farm rather than a countryside backdrop. The practical attraction is the connection between what children handle, what they eat and what they see growing around them.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good on 29 August 2024 and judged its safeguarding arrangements effective. There were clear strengths in relationships and learning through farm experiences, alongside two teaching priorities: reducing background noise around young children and giving children more room to work out answers themselves.

There are 40 places in total, with an accepted age range of 2 to 60 months. Babies, Toddlers and Mini Farmers have different emphases, from familiar home routines to growing independence. Full-day, morning and afternoon bookings serve different family schedules, all within an across-the-year offer.

Rooms and Ages

Babies caters up to 24 months, combining experiences involving the senses with a baby garden and buggy outings onto the farm. For a younger child, the outdoors is therefore part of the routine rather than something reserved for later stages. Familiar feeding and sleeping patterns also help connect home life with nursery care.

Toddlers, for children from 24 to 36 months, combines vocabulary, early mathematical ideas and creative play with a Toddler garden and supervised farm outings each day. This stage brings more opportunities to communicate and try things independently. Potty-training routines remain connected with those used at home, rather than being treated as a separate nursery exercise.

Mini Farmers (Pre-School), for ages 3 to 5 years, adds seed planting and animal feeding to garden access and daily supervised farm visits. Its name has a practical meaning: preschool learning uses living things and outdoor exploration. Children can connect an activity such as planting with the wider farm environment, giving an everyday task a context they can see.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides learning and development, with play supporting communication, physical skills and preparation for school. Alongside that framework, planning in the moment means practitioners use a child's existing interests to develop a play experience into a learning opportunity. The starting point is what holds the child's attention, rather than treating every activity as a separate lesson.

That approach makes the adult response important. A child's question or discovery needs enough space to become their own investigation. In August 2024, staff sometimes supplied solutions too quickly or answered on children's behalf, reducing opportunities for independent thinking. This is a meaningful qualification to the interest-led approach: the environment supplies plenty to explore, but the teaching needs to leave children time to explore it.

Farm materials also reach indoor play. In August 2024, younger children worked flour and water into dough, then explored herbs and leaves collected earlier that day. Handling the mixture exercised small hand movements, while the natural materials gave children something concrete to describe. The connection between outdoor collecting and indoor making was useful, bringing the same experience into different kinds of play.

Outdoor and Community Life

At Foxes Bridge Farm, children can feed chickens, make bread, see spring lambs and watch harvesting machinery at work. These are different experiences with different rhythms: animal care is an ongoing responsibility, while lambs and harvesting connect learning with the seasons. Daily farm visits provide the continuity between them.

In August 2024, children cared for nursery pets and watched farm activity, including lambing and a combine harvester in a neighbouring field. Older children also moved heavy equipment around the garden. Those experiences brought physical effort, care for living things and observation into the same nursery day. The attraction for families is straightforward: children have real things to investigate, alongside the resources inside the building.

Relationships and Communication

For babies, a keyworker works with parents to keep sleeping, feeding and nappy routines close to those at home. Attention to individual cues matters here: the arrangement is about understanding a particular child, rather than expecting every baby to follow one timetable. Toddlers' potty training is similarly coordinated with parents, connecting a significant change in care across both settings.

In August 2024, staff knew children well and responded warmly to their experiences. They also helped children consider feelings and the effect of their actions on others. During block play, adults sought children's permission before adding to what they had built. That small example matters: respectful behaviour was demonstrated through an ordinary interaction, giving children a model they could use themselves.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the August 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that collaboration with other professionals supported individual learning plans for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and that staff worked with schools to support transitions. The useful detail is the mechanism: support involved shared work and tailored plans, while moving on to school involved contact between practitioners and school staff.

Independence also developed through everyday care in August 2024: babies practised spoon use, toddlers managed handwashing and toileting, and older children tackled coats and meal serving. These were manageable steps towards doing more for themselves. Children were supported through familiar tasks, rather than independence being confined to a special activity.

Cooks prepare food in the nursery's own kitchen, using a menu that changes on a three-week cycle. Special dietary requirements can be accommodated, and children are encouraged to serve themselves with adult help when needed.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Foxes Bridge Farm, Royston Lane, Comberton, Cambridge, CB23 7EE. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01223 609574 or by email at enquiries@foxesbridgefarmdaynursery.co.uk. The setting's farm location is central to its daily offer, rather than an occasional trip destination.

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Full Day runs from 7.30am to 6pm; Morning Session finishes at 1pm after a 7.30am start, and Afternoon Session runs from 1pm to 6pm. Those choices allow a family to book either a whole day or a shorter part of it, without treating the opening window as the only attendance pattern.

The nursery recommends two sessions each week to support settling; this is a recommendation rather than a stated compulsory minimum. Once booked, sessions cannot be swapped. Permanent changes can be requested, and ad hoc attendance depends on room space. Families whose working days change frequently should weigh that restriction against the choice of morning, afternoon and full-day patterns.

The nursery operates for 52 weeks, with closures on public bank holidays, and does not offer term-time-only attendance. A deposit is required after a place is offered and is credited against the first month's fees. These terms make the offer most relevant to families planning a regular pattern across the year.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered from nine months, subject to eligibility. The entitlements include Universal 15 hours for children aged three and over, Funded Twos and 30 hours for Working Parents. Funding is spread across 50 weeks: the first two entitlements become 11.4 hours each week, while the working-parent entitlement becomes 22.8 hours.

The first week of April and one week in December sit outside that funded allocation. Families using funded-only hours can omit those weeks, with at least four weeks' notice requested; attendance during them is privately charged. This distinction matters when planning the year: the nursery's operating calendar and its funded calendar are different.

For privately paid care, meals are included, and nappies, nappy cream and milk are supplied without an additional charge; babies' wipes and formula are also supplied free. For funded sessions, a contribution is requested towards meals, snacks, nappies, wipes and enrichment activities, but under-twos have no Enrichment Fee.

The Enrichment Fee covers food, consumables, activities and additional learning experiences. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, with the fees and funding information setting out the attendance and charging structure. Families should distinguish the funded allocation from privately paid attendance and the contribution attached to funded sessions, rather than treating them as one fee category.

• Teaching around babies and young children. In August 2024, loud background music interfered with babies hearing speech, and adults sometimes resolved problems too quickly. During a visit, ask how quieter communication and time for children to find their own answers are now built into practice.
• An across-the-year commitment. Term-time-only sessions are not offered, and booked sessions cannot be swapped. Morning and afternoon choices provide shorter days, but families need a pattern that works beyond the school terms.
• The funded calendar. Funding spans 50 weeks within a 52-week operation. Attendance in the two non-funded weeks is privately charged; funded-only families wishing to omit them are asked to give at least four weeks' notice.
• Baby routines on a farm. The baby offer combines home-linked care, a baby garden and buggy outings. Weekday showrounds run at 10am; use the visit to discuss how your child's sleep and feeding routines fit around outdoor time.

Foxes Bridge suits families who want farm experiences woven into ordinary childcare, whether they need full days or shorter morning and afternoon sessions. Animal care, planting and seasonal farm activity give its outdoor offer substance. The baby provision also has a clear practical thread: home routines remain relevant while children begin exploring beyond the nursery building.

The balance is between that appealing environment and the details of delivery. The August 2024 teaching priorities deserve attention, while year-round attendance and session-swap restrictions require a workable family schedule. For families comfortable with those terms, the strongest reason to choose it is the daily connection between play, nature and real farm life.