Pixies Tree Day Nursery, Woolston

A Victorian house, a working allotment and a room designed for quieter moments give Pixies Tree Day Nursery, Woolston a recognisable character. Outdoor exploration has a practical purpose here: children grow produce, harvest it and use it in cooking. Indoors, babies have a separate sleep room.

At its April 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding, judged safeguarding effective and found an ambitious curriculum shaped around individual children. The nursery has capacity for 60 children and accepts ages from 3 months to 5 years at 63 Portsmouth Road, Southampton.

Morning, afternoon and day bookings sit alongside term-time-only and all-year-round contracts.

Rooms and Ages

Babies combines creative play and soft play spaces with a gated division between younger and older babies, a dedicated part of the garden and a separate sleep room, so movement, exploration and rest have different spaces. The outdoor equipment includes push-alongs and trikes. A vinyl surface indoors accommodates sensory play with jelly, water, shaving foam and sand.

The 2-3 room emphasises friendships, emotions and increasing independence through construction, pretend play, creative activities and a quiet area, with direct access to its own garden and visits to the larger garden at least twice daily. After lunch, sleepers use individual mats with fresh linen; children who stay awake continue with activities. Families receive a copy of the key person's developmental check in the term following the child's second birthday.

Preschool builds everyday independence through serving food, getting dressed, pouring drinks and managing disagreements, alongside daily letter sounds and conversations about weather, the week and children's interests.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS guides learning through play, covering language, relationships, movement and later skills such as literacy and mathematics. It is the shared framework for early years provision, rather than an extra programme unique to Pixies. Here, planning responds to children's interests, while staff observe how they approach activities and decide what to offer next.

In April 2023, books were woven into conversation and pretend play: children retold The Very Hungry Caterpillar together, while construction activities introduced words for more complicated ideas. Older children also discussed possible hazards, including broken glass.

Tapestry, the online Learning Journey, gives parents access to observations and photographs through a secure account. Families can add achievements and experiences from home, helping staff connect nursery learning with a child's wider life. The curriculum information explains how these observations inform next steps.

Outdoor and Community Life

The PiXieS Allotment involves children in sowing, weeding, watering and picking fruit and vegetables, with harvested produce used in cooking activities.

Elsewhere in the garden, hard and soft surfaces support different kinds of play, and natural materials include compost, flowers, mud, water and sand. Exploring insects prompts conversation about habitats, colours and counting. A mud kitchen adds another setting for hands-on experimentation.

The Chill Out Room provides a different pace. Its space theme, bubble tube, fibre-optic lighting and mood-changing cushions give children a place to rest or explore sensory equipment quietly.

Relationships and Communication

In April 2023, babies formed attachments to familiar adults, toddlers chatted with their key person during meals, and older children spent time with theirs in small groups. Everyday information was also shared with parents about their child's nursery day.

Current communication has two routes beyond those conversations. Tapestry lets families follow individual observations and contribute their own, while the Parent Forum gathers roughly quarterly, generally outside working hours, for meetings lasting around an hour. Discussions include nursery changes, fundraising and decisions affecting families, including fee increases.

Settling sessions are booked when families secure their set attendance for the term.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the April 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that the SENCo worked with external professionals, including speech and language therapists, and used their strategies in individual plans that supported progress.

A designated Safeguarding Officer is part of the current management arrangements, and practitioners receive ongoing training on safety and safeguarding responsibilities. The team also supports further professional development. Its first-aid training aim is for each new member of staff to complete training within six months of joining; that is an aim, rather than a claim that everyone already holds it.

Food is cooked from scratch in the Woolston kitchen, with a four-week menu rotation, a separate baby menu and daily monitoring of dietary requirements, including medical, religious, vegetarian and vegan needs.

If a child becomes too unwell to continue their session, parents are contacted for collection. Prescribed medicines must be recorded and signed in; non-prescription medicines require advance written consent, a clear medical reason and instructions. Families managing ongoing treatment have a defined process to follow.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks, with bank-holiday and Christmas closures. Core bookings are more specific: AM runs from 8am to 1pm, PM from 1pm to 6pm, DAY from 8am to 6pm and School DAY from 9am to 3pm. Fulltime attendance is also offered for four or five days a week.

Early Bird extends the start to 7.30am and includes breakfast; Late Rooster extends collection to 6.30pm. Contracts can be term-time-only or all-year-round. These choices distinguish the building's opening window from the attendance a family actually books.

A charge secures set sessions for each term and the booking of settling sessions. Payment is monthly in advance by direct debit, on or shortly after the fifth of the month. Either party must give at least four weeks' written notice for contract changes or cancellation, so adjustments need planning rather than a last-minute request.

PB Club provides after-school collection and care ending at 6pm. Separately, the holiday club accepts children aged 3–8 and offers flexible attendance during school holidays, with activities including dens, themed weeks and park trips. These are additional services for older children, separate from the nursery's baby-to-preschool offer.

Getting There

The address is 63 Portsmouth Road, Southampton, SO19 9BE, on the main Portsmouth Road into the city. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 023 8044 5869 or by email to p3management@pixies.co.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Universal funding is offered from the term after a child's third birthday: up to 15 hours weekly across 38 weeks, or up to 11 hours across 51 weeks when stretched. Eligible working families can use up to 30 hours across 38 weeks or up to 22 hours across 51 weeks, with applications possible from the term after the child reaches 9 months. Families using working-family funding must supply their eligibility code and keep it reconfirmed.

Meals and snacks are charged separately from childcare, including on funded attendance; children over 2 can instead bring a healthy lunchbox, while the nursery's policy excludes lunchboxes from the baby unit because of allergies and intolerances. Funded hours have a separate voluntary consumable charge that families can opt out of, and a toothbrush charge applies each term.

Private childcare is also offered. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees and funding terms explain how attendance, food and other charges fit together. Closed periods attract no childcare charge.

• Rest across the rooms. Babies have a separate sleep room, while toddlers sleep on mats in their activity room. During a visit, discuss how the arrangements would fit your child's sleep pattern and the activities for children who remain awake.
• Food choices depend on age. Over-2s can bring a healthy lunchbox instead of taking cooked meals, but the baby unit excludes lunchboxes. Families affected by allergies should confirm current dietary practice and how their child's requirements would be managed.
• Contract changes need lead time. Four weeks' written notice applies to changes and cancellation. Consider this alongside term-time-only or all-year-round attendance before agreeing a pattern.

Pixies Tree suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as day bookings, with term-time-only and all-year-round contracts giving those choices practical breadth. The allotment, separate baby sleep room and quieter sensory space give the nursery day substance beyond a timetable of activities.

The Outstanding judgement dates to April 2023. For a current decision, the clearest attractions are the room arrangements, parent communication and attendance choices; the main financial consideration is how separately charged food and consumables fit the chosen contract.