Lingfield Nursery School

Fourteen acres of farmland give Lingfield Nursery School its defining character: animals to care for, plants to grow and outdoor learning that continues through wet weather. At Bank Farm in Blindley Heath, this is a nursery for children who enjoy getting involved with the natural world. The farm is part of the day, rather than simply the backdrop.

Children are accepted from four months to five years, with Owls, Robins, Puffins and Kingfishers providing successive stages of care. At its March 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall and found safeguarding effective. That dated judgement sits alongside a current outdoor-led curriculum, age-specific play spaces and a key person for each child.

Attendance is based on full days, with a minimum booking of two days a week and separately charged early-start sessions. This makes the practical fit quite specific: regular daytime care, with an earlier start for families who need it.

Rooms and Ages

Owls caters for babies aged 4 to 19 months, separating sensory play for babies who are not yet mobile, climbing and exploration for active babies, and a temperature-controlled sleeping area with video monitoring, alongside direct access to a soft-surfaced outdoor space. Separating these uses matters: rest and increasingly energetic play have their own areas.

Robins starts at 20 months and introduces a simple routine combining group activities with freely chosen play, with a carpeted section becoming a sleeping space after lunch and outdoor play on the adjoining playground or elsewhere in the grounds. The move towards a routine remains balanced with opportunities to choose what to do.

Puffins places greater emphasis on independence, creativity and confidence, with children choosing between play areas and a room that opens onto an outdoor space containing a large wooden play structure. Kingfishers follows the eldest children's interests when planning activities and gives them access to their own outdoor learning space. Across these stages, the change is in what children can take responsibility for, as well as where they spend their time.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning through play, covering children's communication, physical skills, relationships and other areas of development. Lingfield's addition is an outdoor-led approach that uses the farm and grounds to give those areas concrete meaning. Counting eggs becomes mathematics; conversations about animals and weather build vocabulary; carrying, digging and balancing develop physical skills.

The curriculum connects early literacy with outdoor stories and marks made in soil, chalk or mud. Children can measure sunflowers, sort natural objects and create pictures using leaves and petals. These are useful examples of how the outdoor emphasis reaches beyond running around: language, number and creative work also happen outside.

In March 2023, activities included washing and pairing socks, combining hand movements with counting and matching. Conversations about sea pollution introduced new vocabulary, while younger children used Makaton sign language, a communication approach involving signs. These examples show the inspection-era detail beneath the broader curriculum description; they are not a timetable of today's activities.

Outdoor and Community Life

Three outdoor areas provide different ways to play. The play field contains swings, a climbing area, a music station and a large sandpit; a separate playground has a wet-pour surface. Daily outdoor time continues in different weather conditions, so waterproof clothing and wellies have a practical role in children's participation.

Animal contact comes with adult supervision. Children can help feed the animals, while a trained animal carer looks after their welfare and hand-cleaning routines follow contact. Chickens, guinea pigs and tropical fish bring living things into everyday experience. Looking after an animal gives children something real to notice and care about.

Sustainability also has visible equipment behind it. A greenhouse and planting areas support growing flowers, fruit and vegetables, while water butts collect rainwater for watering plants. Sensor taps in children's bathrooms limit unnecessary water use. These are tangible ways to connect conversations about the environment with what children actually do.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who gets to know them and supports their relationships with others. That gives families a clear adult connection and gives the child someone familiar within the nursery. The two-day minimum booking is intended to help those relationships develop through regular attendance.

Communication includes an online app, while photographs and brief observations are added to children's learning portfolios. Practitioners use observations of play to plan next steps. Together, these arrangements let families see examples of their child's experiences and give staff a way to connect planning with individual development.

A parent webcam service is also offered, with access credentials arranged through the office. Electronic entry points use individual key fobs, and CCTV covers the premises and grounds. These are practical access and monitoring arrangements; the dated safeguarding judgement remains a separate matter.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that staff worked with professional advice to plan additional support, including communication aids that helped children express choices, and that babies received attentive care from adults familiar with them. The useful detail is the mechanism: support was adapted to how a child could communicate, rather than relying solely on spoken answers.

The improvement priority in March 2023 was more coaching for staff, especially those with less experience, because the outdoor and personal-development emphasis was not being applied consistently enough. A strong curriculum idea still depends on everyday delivery. That is a worthwhile subject for a visit conversation.

A dedicated cook plans seasonal menus, shares them ahead of time for parental feedback and accommodates dietary requirements as far as available produce allows. Meals, drinks and snacks are included in private day fees; funded attendance has a separate package covering food and other extras.

School preparation includes building confidence and independence. Kingfishers staff aim to coordinate with other settings a child attends and make contact with the child's primary school to support the move. This is transition work centred on the child, rather than a claim about securing a school place.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Bank Farm, Ray Lane, Blindley Heath, Lingfield, RH7 6LJ. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, and the nursery operates throughout the year apart from bank holidays and Christmas. The distinction between opening and booking times matters: the standard full day runs from 8am to 6pm.

At least two full days must be booked each week. Early sessions run from 7.30am to 8am or from 7.45am to 8am and carry an additional charge. Those options extend the start of a booked day; they are not a separate morning-care offer.

There are two early closures each year for staff training, with dates communicated in advance. Private fees are not refunded for those shortened days, while the funding arrangements allow for affected funded hours to be offered elsewhere where possible and subject to availability. Families whose working day depends on the usual closing time need to plan around those dates.

Enquiries can be made by telephone or email, and visits can be booked by phone. Joining requires a completed registration form, a registration charge and a refundable deposit, subject to availability. Invoices vary with the number of attendance days in each month, rather than remaining identical throughout the year.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered alongside privately paid hours. The funding arrangements include 30 hours stretched to 22 hours for the relevant nine-month-old, two-year-old and three- and four-year-old categories, plus 15 hours stretched to 11 hours for three- and four-year-olds. The examples combine funded time with private hours where funding does not cover the booked attendance.

For privately paid care, formula, nappies, wipes and sun cream from selected brands are included, as are meals, snacks and drinks. For funded sessions, food and consumables are charged separately through the Enhanced Package, a combined package also covering additional activities and access to on-site facilities. Families can opt out through the office's alternatives policy, with a term's notice required to process the request.

The fees page explains the day-based billing and joining charges. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The important comparison is the whole attendance arrangement: funded hours, any private hours needed to complete the day, and the package or its alternative.

• Outdoor learning in practice. Daily outdoor time, animal care and the greenhouse are central to this setting. On a visit, ask how the day is adapted for your child's age and comfort in wet or cold weather.
• Curriculum delivery. More staff coaching was the March 2023 improvement priority. Ask how practitioners are now supported to turn the outdoor curriculum into consistent learning across the rooms.
• Funded attendance and extras. The Enhanced Package combines food, consumables and additional services, with a term's notice for opting out. Review the alternative arrangements before choosing how to use funded hours.
• Working-day coverage. Full-day bookings require two days a week, early starts cost extra, and staff training brings two early closures annually. Match those arrangements against the care your working pattern needs.

Lingfield suits families seeking regular full-day attendance or full days extended by an early-start session, with outdoor experiences woven through learning. The farm, greenhouse and age-specific outdoor spaces give that choice substance. Babies also have a separated sleeping area, while older children gain more control over play and practise independence.

The March 2023 Good judgement provides a dated quality benchmark, with staff coaching the clear improvement point. For parents, the decision rests on whether this outdoor emphasis and full-day booking model suit their child and schedule, and whether the funded-hours charge structure fits the attendance they intend to buy.