Kings Farm Day Nursery & Kids Club

A converted farmhouse, sensory play and gradual settling give Kings Farm Day Nursery & Kids Club its character. Based in Long Bennington, the setting combines nursery rooms with a school-age club. Its farmhouse building provides a concrete sense of place, while Buglins and Squirrels shape activities around children's interests, knowledge and abilities.

At its 2 November 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged its safeguarding arrangements effective. The practical examples are more revealing than the grade alone: children explored insects outdoors, toddlers prepared fruit and vegetables, and preschool children worked with initial sounds. Two improvement points temper that picture: less experienced practitioners needed help to make their interactions consistently useful, and learning-at-home information did not reach every parent.

The nursery has 56 places in total for children aged 6 to 60 months. Flexible hours and wraparound care sit alongside full-time and part-time attendance, giving families different ways to use the setting.

Rooms and Ages

Hedgehogs emphasises sensory exploration through paint, dough, water and sand, with a transition form helping staff understand a child's routines. Those familiar routines matter during the move from home to nursery: staff aim to maintain them as far as possible, while introducing materials as children become more mobile.

Buglins and Squirrels use the EYFS, the framework for children's learning, development and care, with activities shaped by what children enjoy, understand and can already do. Their more structured approach gives older children opportunities to extend their learning from those starting points. For two-year-olds, the stated staffing arrangement is one adult to four children, better than the legal minimum of one to five; that is a staffing measure, not a promise about group size.

Badgers serves children from starting school through the end of primary education. Children choose between construction, small-world play, crafts, outdoor activities and games consoles. Holiday plans also include cooking, competitions and outings, making this a different offer from the nursery rooms rather than simply an older version of preschool.

Learning and Activities

In November 2023, learning took different forms across the age groups. Babies practised standing by reaching towards objects on tables, with adults encouraging their attempts. Toddlers used safety knives to prepare produce, linking hand control with a practical task. Preschool children explored the sounds at the beginning of words as part of preparation for school.

Language also ran through ordinary play. During that November 2023 visit, adults named animals in a miniature farm activity with babies, while older children used conversation to explain their ideas. Stories, rhymes and songs gave children further opportunities to listen and speak. Mathematics appeared in group discussion through estimating and counting.

Outdoor and Community Life

In November 2023, children used the garden and walked through the village to a nearby nature reserve. Tree climbing and balancing gave them opportunities to judge manageable physical challenges. Conversations about worms and hibernating insects connected outdoor exploration with understanding living things.

Kings Farm Friends Society gives parents another route into nursery life. Parents and practitioners meet two or three times annually to organise fetes and discuss policies, events and improvements. Fundraising supports equipment and additional activities, so participation can influence practical aspects of the children's experience.

Relationships and Communication

Settling is planned as a gradual process. The guide proposes at least five sessions as a starting point, adjustable to the child, moving from getting acquainted with a Key Practitioner towards brief separation. Families can have as many settling visits as they need, and a familiar toy or blanket can come along.

Children are encouraged to develop a relationship with a Key Practitioner, who supports settling, shares concerns and successes, and explains the day to parents. Families may telephone as often as they wish, and the nursery will call if a child is distressed. These arrangements give parents a clear contact during a potentially difficult transition.

Parents can access their child's learning journey through their key worker. In November 2023, handovers gave families detailed accounts of the day, but some parents were missing guidance on continuing learning at home. Everyday communication and help with home learning are separate needs; the latter deserves attention alongside settling.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A designated SENCo provides a route for discussing changes that could help a child participate in activities. Parents can raise concerns directly or through another team member. This is a practical support mechanism, rather than a general promise about what every child will receive.

Collection arrangements use either a photograph of an authorised adult or an agreed password. Medication requires a completed form, and families are contacted to collect children who become unwell. After sickness or diarrhoea, the nursery requires a 48-hour interval following the final episode before a child returns.

In November 2023, adults ate alongside children, helping them handle cutlery, take responsibility for their meal and clear up afterwards. Mealtimes therefore provided practice in independence as well as an opportunity to talk.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks, with closures for Bank Holidays and Christmas. Full-time and part-time attendance, flexible hours and wraparound care form the booking offer; the opening window should be understood separately from those attendance patterns.

Enquiries can be made by telephone or email. Families using school collection must tell the school their child's attendance days in writing and notify the nursery by 2.30pm if collection is unnecessary that day. That coordination matters when plans change.

Getting There

The address is Winter's Lane, Long Bennington, Newark, NG23 5DW. Access to the A1 is close by, making the village location relevant to families whose working journeys use that road.

Funding and Paid Extras

In November 2023, the nursery provided funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-olds. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Parents supply nappies, wipes and any creams their child uses, plus a named bottle of sun cream during summer. Outdoor clothing includes a coat and wellies, and children need spare clothes for water play or toileting accidents. This puts a regular packing responsibility on families.

For the move towards school, preschool children join the local primary school's sports day, nativity and summer picnic.

• Consistency between practitioners. In November 2023, less confident staff sometimes depended on stronger colleagues, leaving some children's play with too little direction. During a visit, ask how mentoring supports purposeful interactions throughout the rooms.
• Learning beyond nursery. The November 2023 improvement point concerned home-learning guidance reaching every parent. Ask how that guidance now accompanies the learning journey and daily handover.
• Settling at your child's pace. The starting guide uses at least five sessions but allows adjustment. Discuss how the stages and Key Practitioner relationship would work for your child.
• The complete childcare cost. Parents provide personal consumables, while funded education was part of the November 2023 offer. Ask for a written breakdown of current funded attendance, additional hours and meal charges.

Kings Farm suits families seeking flexible-hour nursery attendance or wraparound care, with full-time and part-time options also in the mix. The farmhouse setting, sensory play and gradual settling arrangements give it a recognisable character. Its November 2023 assessment supports a positive view, but the two improvement points deserve direct attention: consistency in adult interactions and useful guidance for learning at home. For parents, those details matter more than the grade by itself.