Hopscotch Nursery

Pouring drinks, washing up and preparing food give independence a practical meaning at Hopscotch Nursery. Its Montessori ethos centres on children choosing how to learn and working at their own pace, with everyday tasks alongside creative play. This is a setting where learning includes doing useful things for yourself.

Based at Gospel Hall on Beadles Lane in Oxted, RH8 9JJ, Hopscotch has 28 places in total and accepts children aged 24 to 60 months. At its 31 July 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good overall, with Outstanding behaviour and attitudes, and found safeguarding effective. The strongest character comes from practical learning, a garden with a mud kitchen and sandpit, and visiting Sing and Sign sessions combining singing with signing.

Attendance includes full-day sessions and term-time contracts, with a minimum commitment of two days each week. The details matter here: the nursery operates Monday to Thursday, so its working week will suit some family schedules better than others.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for children's learning and development, including communication, physical skills and relationships, developed through play and planned activities. Alongside it, Hopscotch supports the Montessori ethos: children make choices and develop at their own pace. Practical life activities translate that approach into cooking, pouring, laying tables and washing up. These give children purposeful opportunities to practise independence rather than leaving it as an abstract aim.

Sensory exploration, making things and investigating the world sit alongside these everyday tasks. Mathematics includes shape, measurement and numbers through creative activities; cultural learning explores people, science and different communities. Free play alternates with activities planned around children's interests and development. That combination gives children room to choose while retaining adult direction.

Sing and Sign brings a visiting teacher into the nursery on Wednesday afternoons at 3pm for a class using singing and signing. Cooking and baking with the chef also form part of the activity programme. These are concrete additions to the day, rather than simply a list of curriculum headings.

In July 2024, children investigated floating and sinking, compared the weight of objects and experimented with magnets in water. Adults used questions to develop their thinking. Older children also explored Spanish and learned about Pakistan and different head coverings, bringing language and cultural understanding into their experiences.

There was an important limitation in July 2024: adults sometimes missed chances to deepen learning or let children try tasks independently. Strengthening that practice was the required improvement. For a nursery whose approach emphasises choice and independence, the consistency of adult support matters as much as the activities themselves.

Outdoor and Community Life

Daily garden play includes a mud kitchen, sandpit and sensory activities. Summer learning can involve growing plants and studying life cycles with real butterflies, giving children living things to observe as well as materials to handle.

Nature walks and visits to local parks depend on staffing arrangements; library outings may also be organised with parental consent. These are conditional experiences, rather than a fixed timetable of trips. Visiting professionals may include librarians, nurses and people working in emergency services, with families informed beforehand.

Forest School, the offsite woodland programme built around hands-on exploration and child-directed learning, is postponed until further notice. It should therefore be treated separately from the daily garden provision when deciding whether Hopscotch offers the outdoor experience your child needs.

Key-person group activities are part of the morning, with plans shaped by children's interests or special events. After lunch, quieter activities include stories and board games, while younger children can nap. The day therefore makes space for both participation and rest rather than expecting the same energy level throughout.

At the July 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that children with SEND benefited from individual plans and tailored settling arrangements, that children made progress, and that communication with parents was excellent. Those findings give substance to the care judgement: support involved specific adjustments and a relationship with families, rather than a general promise of inclusion.

In July 2024, funding helped create sensory spaces and buy resources for individual developmental needs. Leaders sought external advice, while workshops and groups helped parents support learning at home. These were practical ways of connecting support inside the nursery with family life.

Lunch is prepared by an in-house chef, with parents able to choose a packed lunch instead. Breakfast, fruit or vegetable snacks and a light cold tea also feature in the day.

Sessions and Attendance

Full-day sessions run from 8am to 5.30pm, Monday to Thursday, with attendance required on at least two days each week. Hopscotch operates for 48 weeks annually, closing for two weeks around Christmas and the final two weeks of August. Friday care therefore needs a different arrangement for families who require it.

Term-time contracts also form part of the attendance model. For children attending across the nursery's operating year, term dates identify funding periods rather than the whole attendance calendar. This distinction is essential when comparing a term-time plan with an all-year contract.

Enquiries can be made through the contact or registration form, by email or by telephone. A non-refundable registration charge and a deposit apply when proceeding with registration. If requested days cannot be accommodated, the nursery uses a waiting list for those days.

Funding and Paid Extras

Hopscotch accepts FEET (Free Early Education for eligible 2-year-olds), Universal Funding and the Working Parent Entitlement. Universal Funding provides 15 hours weekly for three- and four-year-olds from the term after their third birthday; eligible families can use up to 30 funded hours through the Working Parent Entitlement. The nursery's accepted age range still governs attendance.

Funding is delivered during term time, covering 38 weeks rather than being stretched across the nursery year. Funded hours can be used from 9am to 4pm, Monday to Thursday, with a maximum of seven funded hours daily. Time outside that window is privately charged, and families attending across all 48 operating weeks pay for the ten weeks outside funding periods.

Funded sessions carry a separate consumables charge covering wipes, creams, activity costs and similar resources. Fees are paid monthly in advance; current prices and the child's individual funding calculation come in the nursery's written quotation. The sessions and fees page explains the charging structure.

• A four-day working week. Sessions run Monday to Thursday with a two-day minimum. Families needing Friday care should weigh that requirement before committing to an attendance pattern.
• Independence in practice. July 2024 brought an improvement requirement about extending learning and letting children attempt tasks themselves. During a viewing, ask how staff now recognise when to help and when to let a child try.
• Forest School is postponed. The woodland programme is suspended until further notice. Base your decision on the garden and conditional outings rather than counting on woodland sessions.
• The individual contract. Funding covers term-time hours, with separate consumables charges and private charges outside the funded window. Ask for a written breakdown covering meals, other consumables, the deposit and the attendance pattern you intend to use.

Hopscotch suits families seeking Montessori-influenced practical learning, daily garden play and a setting with 28 places in total. Its offer works for both families booking full days across the operating year and those using term-time contracts, provided a Monday-to-Thursday schedule fits.

The July 2024 Good judgement, with Outstanding behaviour and attitudes, gives a clear inspection position. The improvement requirement about extending learning deserves equal attention. Practical independence and Sing and Sign give the day character; postponed Forest School and the distinction between funded hours and paid attendance are the decisions to weigh carefully.