Summerfield House Day Nursery

A smallholding, an incubator and vegetables to take home give Summerfield House Day Nursery a recognisable character. In Chobham, the country-house setting brings growing things and watching animals into children's learning, alongside visiting music and sports teachers. This is a nursery where the outdoor offer extends well beyond play equipment.

At its 13 January 2022 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good overall and found safeguarding effective. That judgement provides a dated assessment of quality; the practical character of the current offer comes from the farm, extensive outdoor spaces and different arrangements for younger and older children.

Babies join from 3 months, with provision continuing through the preschool years. Younger children use the main house, while the older age groups have activities shaped around increasing independence, communication and early reading and number skills. Weekly specialist music reaches every age group; older children also have weekly sports teaching.

Rooms and Ages

Babies & Toddlers, for children from 3 to 24 months, use three playrooms in the main house alongside a bedroom, dining and changing spaces, and a large garden, with individual care routines guiding their day.

For 2 year olds, puzzles and mark making sit alongside stories, songs, creative work and role play, with rain- and UV-protected canopies supporting outdoor activities and a daily farm visit bringing animals into the routine. Outdoor time is woven into the day rather than reserved for a single type of activity. Appropriate clothing matters: children also spend time playing freely in the garden.

Big and Little Pre-School serves 3 and 4 year olds, combining purposeful play and choices within consistent boundaries with group and individual work on early writing, reading and numbers. Turn-taking, manners and doing things independently are part of the emphasis.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS framework shapes the curriculum: children develop language, physical, social and early academic skills through a mixture of play they initiate and activities led by adults. It is the educational foundation here. Summerfield adds concrete experiences to it, including visiting specialists, farm activities and home-linked language games.

Weekly music sessions bring instruments and songs to all age groups. Older children have a weekly sports teacher, with activities including tennis, tag rugby and work on balance and controlling balls or rackets. These are recognisable additions to everyday play: children encounter music through making sounds themselves, and physical skills through organised games.

La Jolie Ronde is optional weekly French for preschool children, introducing the language through puppets, songs, stories, finger rhymes and play. Lessons connect with familiar subjects such as family, colours and the body, so the new language has something concrete attached to it. Parents can purchase a book and CD for practice at home.

The sound table connects nursery learning with family life. Children and their families find objects at home that begin with the week's sound, giving early sound recognition a practical task beyond nursery. Circle time gives children a place to share their own news and ideas. Programmable toys and real-life role-play props provide other ways to investigate, communicate and solve problems.

Outdoor and Community Life

The smallholding is the strongest reason this setting feels different. Children feed animals through openings in their pens and collect eggs while keeping their hands away from the hens and ducks. An incubator lets them observe hatching through a window. These are concrete encounters with living things, with boundaries around animal contact built into the activity.

Growing food adds another strand. In the fenced allotment, children plant manageable seeds and crops with staff and the gardener, then gather vegetables at harvest. Bags of what they have grown go home with families. That links planting and harvesting to something children can recognise on the dinner table.

A lawned garden, an Astro turfed area and climbing and balancing equipment provide space for movement. The outdoor classroom and covered areas extend the places where learning can happen, while access to outdoor play continues for much of the day. Weather-appropriate clothes are therefore part of making full use of the provision.

In January 2022, children were planting and gathering eggs, and a visiting dentist helped them learn about caring for their teeth. Those examples show the practical nature of the nursery day at that time, with learning attached to things children could do and observe.

Relationships and Communication

Each child's key person keeps a developmental record, and parents receive daily spoken and written feedback. Information boards provide another channel. Children's artwork can be displayed or taken home, giving families something tangible to discuss alongside the account of the day.

The Link Parent System adds a route for broader feedback: two volunteer parents act as intermediaries between families and the nursery, meeting regularly with its leadership to discuss preferences, ideas and requirements.

For babies and toddlers, personal care routines shape the day rather than every child following an identical pattern. In January 2022, children sought adults when they needed help and received comfort when upset. Support for toilet training also connected home and nursery practice, while preschool children practised changing into clothing for physical activity as part of preparing for school.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Current planning takes account of children's language, cultural background and developmental needs. Staff observe play and adjust activities, and pictorial timetables and labels help children understand routines and changes between activities. These are practical mechanisms for making the day easier to follow, rather than a general promise about how every child will respond.

Staff receive training in safeguarding, first aid and food hygiene, with continuing practical learning supported by an external training provider. Security arrangements include controlled visitor access, a door-phone system and signing visitors in. Parents or familiar family members are asked to collect children; in rare exceptional circumstances, a senior staff member agrees a password procedure with the parent.

Farm visits have their own hygiene rules. Children must not touch the animals, and handwashing follows their return from the farm. The feeding openings and arrangements for gathering eggs allow participation within those limits. Families choosing the nursery for its animals should understand that observation and carefully managed involvement are central to the experience.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery opens Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, for 51 weeks of the year. It closes on bank holidays and for a week at Christmas. Those hours give the practical opening window; the Christmas closure is a specific consideration for families arranging care across the working year.

Getting There

The address is Chertsey Road, Chobham, Woking, Surrey GU24 8HF, on the A319 in rural surroundings near Chobham village. On-site car parks accompany the country house and additional brick buildings.

Funding and Paid Extras

In January 2022, the nursery received funding for early education for children aged three and four. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Optional La Jolie Ronde French carries an additional charge, with lesson fees paid termly. The accompanying book and CD are purchases parents can make to extend practice at home.

• Clarity of learning. At its January 2022 inspection, Ofsted called for clearer activity objectives and more targeted staff supervision and training because staff did not consistently understand the intended learning. During a visit, ask how practitioners now explain what an activity is designed to help children learn.
• A farm-centred day. Two-year-olds visit the farm daily, and children use outdoor spaces for much of the day. Consider whether that emphasis fits your child, including the need for suitable clothing and the rules against touching animals.
• Your attendance and quotation. The opening window is 8am to 6pm, with bank-holiday and Christmas closures. Which booking arrangement would apply to your child?

Summerfield House suits families seeking weekday childcare with substantial outdoor activity, direct experience of growing food and carefully managed encounters with farm animals. The baby accommodation and preschool learning offer give those experiences different settings as children get older.

Weekly music and sport, optional French and the Link Parent System add substance beyond the grounds. The January 2022 Good judgement is a useful reference point, balanced by specific improvement work around learning intentions and staff supervision. The strongest reasons to choose it are concrete: the farm, the outdoor spaces and the connections between children's activities and home life.