Bouncing Beans Nursery

An indoor crawl-in sand pit for babies, a garden full of materials to build with, and home visits before starting give Bouncing Beans Nursery a recognisable character. This Wymondham setting takes children from nine months to five years, with Ducklings, Goslings and Cygnets providing successive stages of nursery life. The emphasis is on children exploring, choosing and becoming more independent, with practical arrangements that start from their existing routines.

At its July 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) made sustained progress through individually tailored care. The strongest practical detail for parents of babies is the Ducklings room's maximum of six children per session. That is a room limit, rather than a claim about how many children attend the nursery altogether.

Morning, afternoon and full-day bookings give families different ways to use the setting.

Rooms and Ages

Ducklings Room accommodates up to six children aged nine months to two years, combining daily songs, rhymes and books with an indoor crawl-in sand pit and its own garden, giving babies space for sensory exploration and familiar opportunities for interaction.

Goslings Room takes up to nine children aged two to three, with a home corner, large indoor sandpit, freely accessible painting and drawing materials, dance and yoga, and encouragement to manage coats, handwashing and toileting, connecting independence with everyday tasks.

Cygnets Room accommodates up to thirteen children aged three to five, using children's interests to develop play and learning while building independence, relationships and emotional readiness for school. Room placement considers development as well as age.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning, development and care: in everyday terms, play, conversation and practical routines help children develop communication, physical skills and independence. Alongside it, the nursery follows the Curiosity Approach, using real materials, resources with several possible uses and calmer spaces to encourage investigation. It is working towards accreditation for this approach; accreditation is a goal, rather than an award already held.

Guttering, tyres, crates and wooden planks let children construct their own play ideas and investigate water. Materials can change purpose as the game develops.

In July 2024, staff used children's dinosaur interests to explore fossils and volcanoes, building vocabulary through shared play. Books, songs and responses to non-verbal signals also supported communication.

At the July 2024 inspection, the new curriculum was not consistently carried through into mealtimes, leaving some opportunities for conversation and social learning unused, and the nursery was asked to evaluate its implementation and impact. This is a specific limitation. The useful question is how learning intentions reach ordinary routines as well as the more visibly engaging activities.

Outdoor and Community Life

A timber play tower with a slide, mud kitchen, bug hotel and gardening planters support climbing, investigation and growing. The main play area has artificial grass and a cushioned safety surface.

Children play outdoors daily unless extreme weather makes it unsafe. Spare waterproof clothing helps them participate, and they can choose between indoor and outdoor play when circumstances allow.

Cygnets' experiences also include visitors such as Mini Monsters and occasional outings to the police station. Those are additions to the room's play provision, with occasional visits rather than a fixed weekly trip schedule.

Relationships and Communication

A key person meets the family during a home visit to learn about the child's routines and preferences. This gives settling a starting point grounded in home life.

In July 2024, home visits informed individual planning, and staff worked with parents on a shared approach to learning and development.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Additional staff may support children with special educational needs in Goslings and Cygnets. In July 2024, support planning involved families and other agencies, with staff assessing the effect of additional funding.

Healthy Smiles, an oral-health award programme promoting tooth-friendly habits, adds a concrete wellbeing strand. Cygnets take part in toothbrushing during the summer term, with parental consent, while Goslings and Cygnets learn about teeth through books and activities. Advice for families covers oral health too, connecting nursery routines with habits at home.

Nursery Kitchen prepares the cooked meals, delivers them chilled and the nursery heats them in its oven. Dietary requirements are recorded with families before starting through medical information and a care plan, while packed lunches are subject to the nursery's Healthy and Safer Eating policy.

Cygnets practise managing clothing and shoes, and primary teachers visit in summer to meet their future class members. In July 2024, staff also shared information with receiving schools and guided parents through transition.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery opens on weekdays from 8am to 5.30pm. Morning sessions run from 8am to 1pm; afternoon bookings begin at 1pm and finish at either 4.30pm or 5pm. Full days start at 8am and have the same two finishing options. A separate late session covers 5pm to 5.30pm, with light tea included, and is unfunded.

Children must attend at least two sessions each week. The nursery operates across 50 weeks, with closures on bank holidays, a week around the end of August and beginning of September, and a week spanning Christmas and New Year. It also closes on the final Friday of August for the Cygnet children's Graduation party and staff preparation. These closures belong in a family's childcare calendar, even where their usual booking runs throughout the year.

Getting There

Bouncing Beans is at 197 Norwich Road, Wymondham, NR18 0SJ, with a car park behind the premises. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01953 857311, by email at mail@bouncingbeansnursery.co.uk or through the contact form; families can request a prospectus and arrange a look around.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes the universal entitlement for three- and four-year-olds, support for eligible two-year-olds and the working-family entitlement covering children aged nine months to four years. Funding is stretched across the nursery's 50-week operating year. Additional hours are charged where a session is only partly funded or the child's entitlement has been used.

Private fees include snacks, drinks, non-food consumables, enrichment activities and events. For morning-session or full-day attendance, families can provide a packed lunch; children over one year old can instead have a separately charged cooked lunch. Parents supply baby formula powder and sterilised bottles. Funded hours attract separate charges for food, non-food consumables and services or activities.

The extras charge is waived for two-year-olds with a Norfolk Education Online (NEO) eligibility code and for eligible children aged nine months to four years whose families receive qualifying benefits and qualify for the Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP). There is also a fully funded 1pm to 5pm afternoon option for families facing difficulty paying the extras charge, provided they use only their funded hours and need no additional hours. These conditions should be read alongside the family's intended pattern, rather than treating every funded arrangement as identical.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The fees and funding page sets out the relationship between private hours, funding and extras; changes to fees carry at least six weeks' written notice.

• Learning through routines. The July 2024 curriculum improvement point concerned inconsistent implementation, including missed mealtime conversations. During a visit, ask how the curriculum now shapes these ordinary parts of the day.
• The annual calendar. The summer and Christmas shutdowns, bank holidays and final-Friday-of-August closure affect year-round bookings. Match those dates to your family's cover arrangements.
• Funding exemptions. Extras exemptions depend on specified eligibility, and the fully funded afternoon arrangement excludes additional hours. Ask for a quotation matching the entitlement and attendance pattern you intend to use.
• Dietary arrangements. Packed lunches have food restrictions, and dietary needs are incorporated into individual paperwork. Allergy-affected families should confirm current practice and how their child's care plan will be followed.

Bouncing Beans suits families looking for morning sessions, afternoon care or full-day attendance, with a minimum commitment of two weekly sessions. Its strongest practical attractions are the small published baby-room cap, home visits with the key person, and outdoor materials that children can use to shape their own play.

The Curiosity Approach has concrete expression in resources and spaces, while Healthy Smiles and summer teacher visits give wellbeing and transition work identifiable substance. The July 2024 curriculum implementation concern deserves attention alongside those strengths. For parents, the decision rests on the fit between this style of play, their child's routines and the detailed funding and closure arrangements.