Highmoor Nursery School

Weekly woodland sessions, cooking and movement give Highmoor Nursery School a recognisable character. Its base is a light, spacious Memorial Hall surrounded by green fields in the village of Highmoor. Outdoor exploration sits alongside practical activities indoors, giving families a choice that is about the nursery day as much as its rural address.

At its February 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good overall and found safeguarding effective, while identifying the need to involve quieter children more consistently in group discussions and activities. That is an important qualification for parents of children who need encouragement to speak up.

Highmoor accepts children aged 18 months to five years and has capacity for 33 children. Attendance is term-time, with morning, morning-and-lunch and all-day patterns. The combination suits families seeking nursery education around the school calendar, with a shorter session as a genuine alternative to staying until late afternoon.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) supplies the framework for learning and care: children develop through play and relationships, with experiences adapted to their interests and stage of development. Highmoor combines activities guided by adults with play that children choose themselves. The framework is the common foundation; the named activities show what this nursery adds to it.

SportyMinis uses imaginative games to practise movement, including hopping through hoops and balancing on beams. Group activities introduce cooperation alongside physical skills, while movement sessions also incorporate language, number work and emotional awareness. For a child who engages readily through action, this gives learning another route beyond sitting together for a discussion.

Music sessions work with rhythm, singing and movement, using a changing weekly theme. Instruments, scarves, ribbons and puppets give children different ways to join in. Preschool French introduces greetings, names and vocabulary about numbers, colours and animals through familiar rhymes translated into French and props that help connect a word with its meaning.

Weekly cooking is hands-on from age two, with children making food to take home for lunch or tea. Hands-on cooking and following instructions give children practical opportunities to explore numbers and develop fine motor skills. Cooking here is an activity children participate in, rather than simply an adult demonstration.

The staff groups include Robins, Woodpecker and Red Kite. Cooking work involves the Woodpecker and Red Kite groups, linking this practical activity to named parts of the nursery rather than leaving it as a general promise for the whole setting.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School takes place weekly, using Highmoor's own site in nearby woods or the Forest School area within the nursery grounds. It adds learning through outdoor play, exploration and direct contact with nature. Having both settings gives this part of the week a physical base, rather than making outdoor learning depend solely on an occasional outing.

In February 2023, woodland walks included looking closely at marks in mud and working out whether they came from tyres, people or animals. Staff prompted children to examine shape and size. The same walks brought practical problems, including boots becoming stuck in mud, so observation and problem-solving happened in a real setting.

Yoga uses Tatty Bumpkin stories to build movement into an imaginative adventure, with a different adventure each week and a calm ending. Children practise movement before slowing down to breathe and relax. Alongside the more active sports sessions, this gives the programme a contrasting pace.

Relationships and independence were visible in February 2023: children formed affectionate connections with staff, and older children included younger children in play. Adults helped children tackle outdoor clothing themselves, encouraging persistence with awkward tasks such as getting gloves on. These are small, useful steps towards managing more of the day independently.

Emotional language also had a concrete tool. In February 2023, children used Colour Monster characters to identify and discuss feelings, including combining words to describe mixed emotions. That gave them something specific to work with when a feeling was harder to explain than simply being happy or sad.

At the February 2023 inspection, Ofsted found children's language developing well and preparation for their next stage effective; however, some quieter children were overlooked when more vocal children repeatedly answered group questions. The concern was about participation, not merely whether an activity was offered. Families with a reserved child should give this point real weight.

Current arrangements include a safeguarding lead and deputy safeguarding lead roles, together with a safer recruitment policy. These are organisational arrangements, separate from the dated safeguarding judgement above. The learning journal includes weekly video updates as part of the additional services associated with funded attendance, giving parents a regular view of activities and experiences.

In February 2023, communication about progress took several forms, and parents contributed to learning by collecting objects linked to a particular sound for children to share. That example shows a manageable connection between home and nursery: a small activity at home could become material for a group conversation.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Highmoor Memorial Hall, Highmoor Cross, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 5DX. Nursery sessions run Monday to Friday during term time. General enquiries and session allocation are handled through the contact form or direct contact with the nursery.

Morning only runs from 8.30am to 12.15pm; Morning & Lunch continues until 1pm. All Day runs from 8.30am to 3.45pm. These different finishing points let families distinguish between a morning of nursery education, a longer stay through lunchtime and the full nursery day.

Early drop-off starts at 8.15am. For the regular early drop-off arrangement, each attended session must be booked for the whole term; ad hoc early sessions are also subject to availability. The term commitment matters if an earlier start is part of the family's recurring routine. It should be considered alongside the main session rather than assumed to come with it.

Funding and Paid Extras

Highmoor accepts funded childcare of up to 15 or 30 hours per week, delivered within its term-time provision. Funded hours may be used across the session timetable without a time restriction, subject to availability. Additional attendance beyond a child's funded hours is charged separately, so a funded entitlement and the total booked pattern remain different things.

Funded attendance has voluntary additional services charges covering the care package, snacks, the learning journal with weekly video updates, activities provided by external practitioners and special events. Snacks are therefore charged separately within that additional services structure. Families need to consider the services attached to their chosen pattern alongside the hours covered by funding.

The dates and fees page explains the charging structure, including private attendance and extra hours. Current prices should come in the nursery's written quotation. Payment arrangements include employer vouchers and Government Tax-free Childcare.

• Participation for quieter children. The February 2023 improvement point concerned children being missed in group conversations and activities. On a visit, ask how staff draw a reserved child into discussion and ensure their contributions are heard.
• Term-time attendance and early starts. Care follows the term-time calendar, and regular 8.15am drop-off carries a whole-term booking commitment for each attended session. Families needing care through school holidays should weigh that calendar against their working arrangements.
• Funded hours and additional services. The funded offer includes voluntary additional services charges for snacks, updates and enrichment. Request a written quotation that separates funded hours, private hours and the services you choose.

Highmoor suits families who want a rural, activity-rich nursery day during term time, whether through morning-only attendance, Morning & Lunch or All Day. Weekly Forest School, cooking and story-based yoga give the choice substance: children have repeated opportunities to explore outdoors, make something practical and move at different speeds.

The February 2023 Good judgement provides a dated quality anchor, with participation for quieter children the clearest point to examine closely. For parents whose calendar fits the term-time model, Highmoor offers a well-defined combination of practical learning and outdoor experiences, with funded attendance requiring a careful look at the separate additional services structure.