Woodberry Day Nursery, Peartree

Woodland behind the building and gardens reached directly from the rooms give Woodberry Day Nursery, Peartree its strongest practical appeal. This purpose-built Southampton nursery makes outdoor play part of the layout: children can move between their room and garden, rather than relying solely on a separate outdoor session.

At its June 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those learning English as an additional language, made good progress. That judgement belongs to that visit. Later regulatory action, with its recorded outcomes, also matters when weighing the setting.

Peartree takes children from three months to five years and has 74 places in total. Its attendance choices include mornings, afternoons and full days, with both all-year and term-time schedules. The combination gives families several ways to use the nursery across the early years.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care, including communication, movement, relationships and early literacy. It is the foundation of the nursery day, rather than an extra programme unique to Woodberry.

In June 2024, learning moved from babies exploring textures to toddlers making patterns with their fingers and older children drawing detailed pictures and attempting their names. These were practical activities with a clear educational purpose: handling materials, controlling movements and connecting marks with meaning. Children had opportunities to revisit learning before tackling the next step.

Books also connected the age groups in June 2024. A book chosen each term supplied familiar words and characters, while songs gave babies opportunities to copy actions and hear rhythm. Staff introduced vocabulary during play, including words connected with measuring and pouring. Language was woven into activity rather than confined to a separate lesson.

Alongside the framework, Family First's group-wide commitments include Critical And Creative Thinkers, which emphasises exploring ideas and solving problems, and Confident Communicators, which concerns helping children express themselves. These describe the group's educational priorities. At Peartree, the concrete offer includes play led by children's interests and curriculum goals developed for the setting.

Outdoor and Community Life

Direct garden access is the main physical advantage. Each room has its own route outside, allowing play to continue across indoor and outdoor spaces. For a child who prefers movement or outdoor exploration, that arrangement gives the environment a useful flexibility.

The gardens contain a mud kitchen and barn hideaway, with bike tracks and a petrol pump extending the opportunities for pretend play. The mud kitchen gives children a place to mix and experiment; the tracks provide a setting for wheeled play. Woodland forms the backdrop to the nursery, but the garden equipment is the more immediate part of the daily offer.

In June 2024, babies settled with adults who knew them, and children sought staff out to join their play or help them. Older children practised familiar routines, including identifying themselves and taking responsibility for their belongings. Those small repeated tasks helped make the day understandable.

Communication support had concrete mechanisms in June 2024. The special educational needs coordinator shared individual targets with practitioners, while signs and visual prompts helped children understand routines and express themselves. Activities also addressed listening and attention. For parents considering additional support, these are more useful details than a broad promise of inclusion.

Independence extended to meals in June 2024: babies practised using spoons, while older children helped themselves to food and poured drinks. The progression gave children manageable responsibilities within ordinary care routines. Staff and parents also worked together on children's learning, with links to other professionals and schools.

There were weaknesses alongside those strengths. In June 2024, explanations of behaviour expectations varied between staff, and changes to routines sometimes left too many adults occupied with other tasks. Children consequently did not always receive the attention they needed during those periods.

Ofsted's later regulatory findings included supervision and staff deployment shortcomings addressed in July 2024, followed by premises security, obstructed fire doors and risk-assessment shortcomings whose actions were met on 18 March 2026; further telephone calls on 10 and 17 April 2026 recorded another compliance shortfall and action taken, including an investigation and revised risk-assessment processes. These are dated outcomes, rather than a new overall inspection grade.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 135 Peartree Avenue, Southampton, SO19 7JJ, between Bitterne and Woolston. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks of the year. There is onsite parking, secure intercom entry and a buggy store.

Booking times sit inside that opening window. Full Day runs from 8am to 5.45pm, PM Session from 1pm to 5.45pm, and School Day from 8.30am to 2.30pm. The shorter School Day is a separate attendance option, useful where a family wants care ending earlier in the afternoon.

Morning timings depend on the schedule. AM Session is 8am to 12.45pm for the private schedule and Funded Only Schedule, while the schedules for children receiving Nursery Education Funding use 8am to 1pm. That difference matters when matching collection arrangements to a particular booking.

All Year Schedule covers 51 weeks; Term Time Only Schedule covers 38 weeks. Funded Only Schedule also runs across 38 weeks and includes morning, afternoon and full-day patterns. Term-time bookings with funding carry a retainer that holds the chosen days through holidays and allows extra holiday sessions to be booked.

Funding and Paid Extras

Nursery Education Funding is offered through schedules for children aged two to five, alongside private childcare. Funded schedules separate additional unfunded hours from meals and daily consumables. Lunch and tea attract separate charges, as do consumables such as wipes, nappies, toiletries and sun cream.

Meals are prepared fresh at the nursery each day using seasonal ingredients; lunch includes a hot meal, fruit and a snack, while tea is served later in the afternoon. The Peartree fees and forms page sets out the schedule structure, and current prices should come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Attention at busy times. June 2024 identified uneven behaviour guidance and staff deployment, followed by supervision action in July 2024. During a visit, ask how adults cover routine changes and give children consistent explanations.
• Premises and risk management. Actions concerning fire doors, security and risk assessments were met in March 2026, with further investigation and risk-assessment changes recorded in April 2026. Ask how those changes work in daily practice.
• The right morning schedule. Morning sessions end at either 12.45pm or 1pm depending on the funding schedule. Match the exact booking to your collection arrangements.
• Term-time costs. The funded term-time schedule carries a holiday retainer, while funded meals and consumables are charged separately. Request an itemised quotation for the chosen pattern so the full cost is clear.

Peartree suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as full days, with a choice between term-time and all-year attendance. Its strongest physical asset is the connection between rooms and gardens, supported by equipment that gives outdoor play several different forms.

The June 2024 judgement provides a positive assessment of education and care at that time. Behaviour guidance, attention during busy routines and the later regulatory findings deserve equal weight in the decision. This is a nursery with useful attendance choices and an appealing outdoor layout, whose day-to-day supervision and risk-management arrangements should be central to a family's visit.