Orchard Nursery School

Converted barns, an apple orchard and walks through the Ketteringham Hall grounds give Orchard Nursery School a clear outdoor identity. Its four classrooms each connect with outdoor space, while babies have their own enclosed area. For families who want countryside to be part of ordinary nursery life, the grounds are a substantial part of the offer.

Children attend from three months to five years. At its 10 March 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall. That judgement sits alongside a practical strength: children can progress through age-based rooms while remaining within the same setting, with activities and routines changing as they grow.

Outdoor play happens daily, and Famly gives parents a personal record of their child's experiences through photographs, video and observations. Opening hours are 8am to 5.30pm on weekdays, with a minimum booking of two days.

Rooms and Ages

Four classrooms occupy the converted barn buildings. Each has outdoor access, so outside play is connected to the room arrangement rather than confined to a single shared destination.

Squirrels serves babies aged approximately three to 18 months, combining daily treasure baskets and craft with signing and music, alongside a separate enclosed outdoor play space. Rabbits takes children from 18 months to two years in a larger classroom, with daily craft, stories, signing and movement providing different ways to communicate and explore.

Hedgehogs, for two- to three-year-olds, introduces more structure and independence, with a home corner arranged for familiar domestic role play. Owls caters for 21 children aged three to four, emphasising self-care, early writing, sounds, numbers and shapes as preparation for primary school. That room figure describes Owls, rather than the size of every group across the nursery.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for learning and development: children practise language, physical skills and relationships through play, alongside early mathematics, literacy and exploration. Activities are planned around children's interests. The learning page describes counting and shape exploration, books and mark-making, and creative or imaginative play, giving parents concrete examples of how those areas enter the day.

Each room's planning builds on children's next steps. In March 2023, toddlers revisited animal sounds and names during stories, while older children examined shells through microscopes and used instruction cards with programmable toys.

In March 2023, children also took responsibility for everyday tasks, including reporting the weather and helping prepare the lunch tables. Older children experimented with vinegar, coloured water and bicarbonate of soda, with staff allowing time for answers to questions about the changes. Practical responsibility and conversation were part of these everyday activities.

Outdoor and Community Life

The grounds extend beyond the enclosed play spaces. Children have access to woodland and an apple orchard, and class walks pass through the Ketteringham Hall estate. Within the nursery's outdoor areas, grassed spaces, a planting garden and a playground offer different kinds of activity, from running to growing things and using bikes or trikes.

Daily outdoor play includes climbing, looking for insects and exploring the sand pit. Walks and outside play continue in different weather, so suitable clothing is part of the routine. This suits children who enjoy active exploration and families comfortable with muddy or wet play clothes coming home.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key person within their classroom. That practitioner learns about the child, records observations and is the main contact for questions about development; room leaders oversee planning and children's needs. This gives parents a clear person to speak to while keeping the room's wider team involved.

Settling begins with two introductory visits. A parent joins the child for the first, and the second introduces an hour apart. Babies in the Squirrel room can start with shorter periods during their first week, allowing the move towards their usual attendance to happen gradually. An About Me questionnaire gathers information about the child and family before those first days.

Famly holds each child's learning story, including comments, observations, photographs and videos. Parents can see updates during the week, while the record helps connect activities with development. For babies, staff follow the child's sleep pattern and welcome familiar comfort items from home, making continuity between home and nursery a concrete part of care.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and good care for children with special educational needs or disabilities, including early screening to identify additional needs. Current arrangements include a safeguarding lead and deputy roles, together with special educational needs coordination.

Planning can include suitable individual learning steps and additional help. The nursery works with Portage, Speech and Language Therapists and Physiotherapists, and can seek specialist support or help with access to funding. For a family already working with another professional, those mechanisms provide a useful starting point for discussing how nursery care and existing support fit together.

Health rules affect attendance as well as wellbeing. Following sickness or diarrhoea, children stay home for at least 48 hours after the last episode, extended to 72 hours when illness is widespread; missed sessions remain payable. Medicine administration requires written permission, and prescribed items must carry the child's name and dose.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is at Ketteringham Hall, Church Road, Ketteringham, NR18 9RS. It opens Monday to Friday, 8am to 5.30pm, throughout the year, closing for bank holidays and roughly a week across Christmas and New Year. Occasional staff-training closures may also occur.

Joining requires a minimum booking of two days. Extra sessions can be arranged through the office, but booked sessions cannot be exchanged; withdrawing a child or permanently cancelling a session requires one month's written notice.

Enquiries go by telephone or email, and the office arranges nursery tours. Siblings receive priority, followed by the order in which children are registered; a waiting-list option forms part of the admissions process. A separate administration charge applies when registering. Owls prepares children for primary school through self-care and early learning skills, with work alongside local primary schools supporting that transition.

Funding and Paid Extras

The Universal Entitlement provides three- and four-year-olds with 15 funded hours per week during term time, starting in the term following their third birthday. Eligible families can receive up to 30 hours per week during term time. Both entitlements can be spread across 52 weeks, subject to annual limits of 570 and 1140 hours respectively. Working Parent entitlement funding is also accepted for eligible two-year-olds and children under two; entitlement depends on the relevant eligibility conditions.

Funded hours cover the session charge. Snacks, consumables and additional services fall within a separate optional charge for funded attendance, so the funded session and its extras need to be considered separately. Private attendance is charged by the hour, and current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees page explains the charge structure.

Cooked lunch and optional light tea at 4pm are charged separately; families may instead send a packed lunch. Packed lunches must exclude nuts and nut products under the nursery's lunch guidance.

• Fixed attendance commitment. Two days must be booked, and sessions cannot be swapped. Discuss the proposed weekly pattern during a tour if your working days vary.
• Distractions during group learning. In March 2023, background noise and staff clearing toys interrupted some group singing, and reducing disruption was the improvement priority. Ask how room routines now protect children's concentration.
• Funding and extras. Funded sessions carry a separate optional charge for snacks, consumables and additional services, while meals have their own arrangements. Request a written quotation showing your intended hours and chosen extras together.
• Food allergies. Packed-lunch guidance excludes nuts and nut products. Families managing an allergy should confirm current food-handling practice before attendance begins.

Orchard suits families seeking countryside play, a progression through age-based rooms and attendance across the year, with at least two days booked. The baby outdoor space, daily use of the grounds and personal learning stories give that offer substance. Fixed bookings and separately charged extras need to fit the household's routine and budget; the March 2023 learning-disruption concern gives parents a specific point to explore on a tour.