Woodstock House Day Nursery

A 400-year-old farmhouse and a garden used throughout the year give Woodstock House Day Nursery a recognisable character. Set within Kent Science Park in Sittingbourne, it combines outdoor play with practical support for children’s communication, sensory needs and growing independence. The physical setting matters, but the more useful detail is how children are helped to use it.

At its June 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding, finding excellent progress, strong support for children with additional needs and effective safeguarding. That is a dated judgement. The current offer includes care for children from three months to five years, settling sessions and a key-person assessment completed with parents.

Children may be invited to Woodstock Cosy Club, staff-led group sessions supporting social and emotional development. Sensory swings, visual timelines and talking photo albums give the inclusion offer substance: these are specific tools for helping children communicate, manage changes and regulate their senses.

Rooms and Ages

The age-group names are Foxes & Cubs, Bunnies, Squirrels, Bears and Badgers. Across the nursery, care extends from babies aged three months to children aged five years. The farmhouse and garden provide the setting for indoor activity and outdoor exploration, with outdoor learning a clear part of the nursery’s approach.

In June 2022, babies practised climbing carpeted steps leading to a reading nook upstairs. That gave physical exploration a purpose, with the reading nook as their destination. Children used the garden for running and climbing, learning to judge the space around them as they moved.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides the nursery’s planning: children’s play and interests inform activities, while staff assess development and adjust what comes next. Development Matters is also used to guide this work. These frameworks form the foundation of the day rather than an extra programme sold alongside it.

At the first settling session, parents and the proposed key person work through a baseline assessment using the Development Matters Framework/Milestone Toolkit. This creates a shared starting point. Progress can then be discussed through individual achievements, such as beginning to copy words, pointing towards something interesting or sharing a toy.

In June 2022, a weekly science club introduced children to ideas and vocabulary about electricity. Practical learning also included handling hammers and nails, with children learning to judge risk while using real equipment. These examples show the substance behind the nursery’s emphasis on curiosity: children were doing things, testing ideas and learning the language to discuss them.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden is used for learning across the year, extending children’s opportunities beyond the farmhouse. Outdoor picnics and snack times also bring children from different age groups together, including siblings. The garden therefore serves social routines as well as active play.

In June 2022, children playing in an outside cabin used a walkie-talkie to contact staff indoors when they wanted to return. It was a practical exercise in independence, with communication built into the activity. The garden, cabin and upstairs reading nook illustrate different ways the setting was used at that time, rather than simply adding more toys to a room.

Relationships and Communication

Settling sessions are offered across the age groups, with home visits for younger children. The joint assessment with the proposed key person gives parents an active role from the start: home knowledge helps establish the child’s developmental starting point, rather than being treated as an afterthought.

In June 2022, staff used babies’ familiar home routines when helping them fall asleep, including rocking them gently. Daily information was shared through an online app, allowing parents to follow what their child had been doing. Together, those practices connected nursery care with life at home, both through routines and through communication.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The Special Educational Needs/Disabilities Co-ordinator can become involved for a short spell or throughout a child’s attendance. Areas of support include speech development, sensory needs, anxiety, loss, behaviour and language barriers. Woodstock Cosy Club consists of staff-led group sessions supporting particular aspects of children’s social and emotional development, with additional training for the practitioners involved.

Visual timelines help children anticipate changes in routines. The sensory resources include spinning seats, vibrating cushions, weighted blankets and soft play, alongside tools for communication. These are concrete options for adapting the day to an individual child, rather than relying on one activity to suit everyone.

Where further help is needed, the nursery works with families on possible routes including LIFT referrals, Early Help and Portage. Additional support funding through SENIF or DAF may contribute to equipment, intensive interaction with trained staff or staff training. A sensory room is a fundraising project, rather than a completed facility.

In June 2022, children learning English alongside another home language had access to books, rhymes, familiar words and flash cards. That brought home language into everyday communication instead of treating it as separate from nursery learning.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates for 51 weeks each year, closing on bank holidays and over the Christmas-to-New-Year period. This makes it a year-round option, with holiday closures that families need to accommodate in their childcare plans.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01795 608068, by email at office@woodstockhousedaynursery.co.uk or through the contact form. Visits can also be arranged through that route.

Getting There

The address is Woodstock House, Winch Road, Kent Science Park, Sittingbourne, ME9 8EF. The farmhouse sits within the science park grounds, giving the nursery a rural setting and space for garden-based activity.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government-funded childcare is offered for eligible children aged two, three and four. Eligibility remains a condition of that offer; it is not a promise of funding for every child. Families should obtain a current written quotation from the nursery for prices.

Hot meals, snacks and drinks are provided during the day, and garden picnics form part of the mealtime experience.

• The age groups in practice. With named age groups and care spanning babies to five-year-olds, use a visit to discuss which group your child would join and how moves between groups are handled.
• Individual support. Woodstock Cosy Club, sensory resources and a SEND co-ordinator give families several support mechanisms to discuss. Explore how these would be selected for your child and reviewed with you.
• The complete childcare arrangement. Opening runs from 7.30am to 5.30pm across 51 weeks. Ask for a written outline covering booking patterns, funded-hours arrangements and any charges for food or consumables, alongside the holiday closures.

Woodstock House suits families drawn to outdoor learning and a farmhouse setting, especially those who want concrete ways to discuss communication or sensory support. The inclusion offer has useful detail: joint assessment, Woodstock Cosy Club and adaptable resources all give parents something specific to engage with.

The Outstanding judgement belongs to June 2022. For today’s choice, the strongest practical combination is year-round opening, a garden used across the seasons and support planned with families. Those features make this a nursery worth considering for both very young children settling into care and older children developing independence.