Dragonflies Nursery

A private wood opposite the nursery, a garden mud kitchen and a stage for small performers give Dragonflies Nursery a clear outdoor character. Based at Badminton Memorial Hall, it combines village surroundings with two playrooms and care for children aged one to five. There are 34 places in total. The garden is only part of the story: older children have weekly Forest School sessions, while physical activity also takes place in the hall.

At its December 2024 inspection, Ofsted judged Dragonflies Good overall and found safeguarding effective. Two teaching improvements matter when comparing care for younger and older children.

Families can choose full days, a shorter School Day or half days, with term-time or year-round contracts.

Rooms and Ages

Two playrooms divide the day by developmental stage: the younger room serves toddlers up to two and a half, and the pre-school room takes children from two and a half to five. Within the younger provision, the Caterpillar group cares for children aged one to two.

For children under three, the learning emphasis is on movement, language and personal, social and emotional development. In the pre-school room, this extends into number work, literacy, understanding the world and imaginative expression.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for learning, development and care: children build communication, physical and social skills through play, with broader learning as they grow. Forest School adds a concrete outdoor programme alongside it. Children aged three and over spend a whole morning or afternoon session in the private wood opposite the nursery, with weekly opportunities for activities such as den building, storytelling and searching for small creatures.

Waterproof dungarees are supplied for these sessions. Parents provide suitable coats, hats and gloves, so outdoor learning carries a practical clothing requirement rather than depending on fair weather. The programme leaves room for children's interests to shape the activity; its examples include investigating, sorting collected objects and making marks.

In December 2024, children experimented with paint, making handprints while staff introduced words for colour and temperature. Older children used reference books while investigating mushrooms on woodland outings. Hands-on play supports language and enquiry.

Outdoor and Community Life

The dedicated garden has a mud kitchen, a decked stage and a wooden digging planter. Those spaces allow different kinds of play: cooking with outdoor materials, performing and digging can happen within the nursery grounds. Trips to the neighbouring farm and village walks extend children's experience beyond that garden, while Wednesday mornings bring physical activity in the main Hall.

In December 2024, woodland outings also involved learning road safety and following rules about handling or tasting things found outdoors. A visiting mobile farm gave children opportunities to handle young animals carefully. The current enrichment list names Cheery and chipper mobile farm, but access to these experiences depends on the funded-place extras arrangement described below.

Relationships and Communication

A key person links each child's nursery care with home. The role includes watching development, planning the next learning steps and sharing information with parents through assessments and daily conversations. Settling is part of this relationship-building process, so the familiar adult has a role in both emotional security and learning.

Parents can spend time helping their child settle at the beginning of the day and speak with staff afterwards. They are also welcome to contribute skills, read stories or take part in activity mornings held through the year. This gives family involvement a practical form beyond receiving updates.

In December 2024, communication included photographs added to online learning records as well as everyday discussion. Staff and parents worked together to assess children's skills before planning what came next. That collaboration is useful, although the precision of the resulting learning targets was one of the teaching issues identified at that time.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

SEND support has a defined sequence. A key person can raise concerns with the SENCo; parents then meet with the nursery, and a SEN plan sets targets and activities. Plans are reviewed each term, alongside tracking of children's development. The SENCo can adapt experiences, seek resources and access support through South Gloucestershire Council, including speech and language or other professional involvement where needed.

Every Child a Talker (ECAT) is used each term to observe and assess language and communication. The Leuven assessment scale provides a separate way to assess emotional wellbeing and involvement in learning. Both assessments help staff identify support needs.

All staff have paediatric first aid training. In December 2024, younger children slept after lunch with their own bedding and an adult remaining nearby to supervise them. Staff also sought children's permission before personal-care tasks and reminded older children about handwashing. Transition support includes sharing information with parents, staff and involved professionals as children move towards school.

Sessions and Attendance

Dragonflies is at Badminton Memorial Hall, Hayes Lane, Badminton, GL9 1DD. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by telephone on 01454 219 400 or by email at info@dragonflieslimited.co.uk; a separate online form is used to register a child.

Full Day options run from 8am to 6pm, 8am to 5pm, 8am to 4pm, 9am to 5pm or 9am to 6pm. The School Day runs from 9am to 4pm. Half Day choices are 8am to 1pm and 1pm to 6pm.

The minimum booking is two sessions on two days each week. A full day counts as a session, as does a morning or afternoon half day. Term-time contracts broadly follow South Gloucestershire's term dates, excluding inset days; contracts across the year are also offered. Additional hours can be booked on an ad hoc basis under the session charging terms.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes the working-family entitlement of up to 30 hours for eligible children, the 15-hour offer for eligible disadvantaged two-year-olds and the universal 15 hours for three- and four-year-olds. Funding normally covers 38 term-time weeks, with a stretched arrangement for children attending across the year. The working-family offer starts from nine months, but Dragonflies accepts children from one year. Funding can be used from the term after a child reaches the eligible age, subject to the relevant eligibility conditions.

For privately paid sessions, meals and snacks, including a cooked lunch, are included in the fee; funded attendance has a separate additional-charge arrangement for food, non-food consumables and activities, with an option to provide meals and snacks from home. Under the option without that additional charge, families also supply a sheet and blanket, and children do not take part in the listed enrichment activities or receive the listed consumable resources.

Food brought from home must meet the nursery's strict allergy list, and lunch or dinner boxes cannot be refrigerated or reheated. The enrichment exclusions include Forest School, cooking activities and the named mobile farm.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The funding arrangements explain the additional-charge choices, while the sessions and fees set out attendance patterns and what private session fees include.

• Teaching for the youngest children. In December 2024, learning targets in the baby and toddler room needed sharper definition, and interruptions to song time disrupted engagement. Ask how staff now make targets specific and protect activities from unnecessary breaks.
• Funded extras and outdoor learning. Choosing funded attendance without the additional charge excludes the listed enrichment, including Forest School. Before accepting a contract, discuss how that choice would shape your child's sessions and confirm current allergy practice if bringing food.
• The annual calendar. The home page gives 50 weeks of opening, while the session terms describe 51-week contracts. This conflict matters when planning holiday cover: settle the exact calendar and closures during the visit.

Dragonflies suits families who want outdoor learning to be a substantial part of nursery life, with a garden for everyday play and weekly woodland sessions for children aged three and over. Its attendance options serve both families needing full days and those choosing half days or the shorter School Day, across term-time and year-round contracts.

The key-person system and structured SEND processes add practical substance to the care arrangements. The December 2024 teaching improvements deserve attention, especially for parents of younger children. For funded attendance, the decisive detail is the extras choice: it changes participation in some of the experiences that give Dragonflies its character.