Pembury School House Nursery

An all-weather Nursery shack, a kitchen designed for children and free movement between indoor play and the garden give Pembury School House Nursery a recognisable character. Children can invent a game outdoors, help prepare food or pursue an idea in the classrooms. Practical independence runs through the offer.

On Lower Green Road in Pembury, Tunbridge Wells, the nursery has capacity for 22 children aged two to five. At its July 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated it Outstanding and found safeguarding effective. Its small overall capacity matters, although it should not be mistaken for the size of every activity group.

Morning, afternoon and all-day sessions run during term time. The appeal extends beyond the timetable: a key person coordinates each child's learning, outdoor clothing is available to borrow, and families receive updates through Tapestry, the nursery's system for sharing development records and messages.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage sets the learning and care framework: children develop language, movement and social skills through play, alongside early mathematics, literacy, creative work and exploration of their surroundings. That is the shared foundation for early-years provision. Here, children's own interests help shape activities, so their choices influence what practitioners plan next.

Makaton Signing adds a concrete communication practice. Staff use signs during everyday routines, including greetings, choosing milk or water, and saying please and thank you. Rather than sitting apart from the day, signing accompanies familiar exchanges that children can practise repeatedly.

In July 2025, learning included investigating melting ice and exploring Spanish alongside other languages and cultures. Children discussed their constructions and compared heights, giving conversation a practical purpose. Daily Together Time brought children together to talk about what they had done and noticed during the morning. It gave them a regular opportunity to put an experience into words and listen to somebody else's account.

The Nursery Library extends books into family life: children choose a book to borrow and share at home. The Butterly Habitat experience involves caring for living creatures, observing their transformation and releasing them. These additions connect learning to something children can handle, watch or take home, rather than relying solely on adult explanation.

Outdoor and Community Life

A large downstairs classroom and an upstairs classroom provide indoor space, with free-flow access linking play inside and outside. Wet-weather suits and wellington boots are available to borrow. That makes outdoor exploration easier to sustain when clothes and weather might otherwise interrupt it.

The garden's resources include an all-weather Nursery shack for pretend play and a sand pit with a cover and surrounding supports. Children also grow fruit and vegetables in the Outdoor Learning Area. These are useful, different invitations to play: inventing roles, exploring materials and observing how plants change.

In July 2025, children used a secret garden, explored sensory experiences and took part in outdoor safety checks. The safety activity made them participants in thinking about their surroundings, rather than simply recipients of adult instructions.

Celebrations include Eid and Diwali, while World Book Day extends across a week. The Nativity brings families and children together at a local church, and Graduation marks the departure of children moving to school. Fundraising activities take place each term, with a Summer Fete among the examples. Families therefore have opportunities to participate beyond ordinary sessions, with charges for events connected to the consumables arrangements described below.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person allocated before starting. This practitioner acts as the family's main contact, maintains developmental records and works with parents on a plan for care and learning. Other staff still respond to children's immediate needs during sessions. The arrangement combines a consistent point of contact with care across the team.

Settling starts gradually. Shorter sessions increase over the first four weeks, and a home visit can introduce the key person in familiar surroundings. Parents may stay initially while their child becomes accustomed to nursery. This makes the early attendance pattern part of the settling process, rather than expecting a new child to manage a full session immediately.

Tapestry carries ongoing exchanges between nursery and home, as well as twice-yearly reports. There is a separate consultation room for private discussions, termly newsletters and summer consultations for children starting school in September. Families can contribute information about home life alongside the observations practitioners make at nursery, giving conversations about development more substance than a brief collection-time update.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the July 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that staff adapted learning to individual needs, with exceptional progress for children needing additional support or starting from a lower level, and that targeted staff training strengthened help with speech and social interaction. That is the strongest quality evidence for families weighing support needs.

Current SEND arrangements include a SENCO role, involvement of parents throughout planning and review, and cooperation with external agencies. The graduated approach follows an assess, plan, do and review cycle. It gives families a defined process for identifying a need, trying support and considering whether it is working.

Staff development includes in-service training, supervision and appraisals. The team includes a degree-holder and practitioners with early-years qualifications, alongside colleagues studying towards further qualifications. These are details of the team structure, rather than a promise about how many adults will support a particular session.

Physical independence receives practical attention too. Toilets and sinks are at children's height, and toilet doors provide privacy; staff work with parents when children are ready for toilet training. In the child-use kitchen, children can cook, make play dough and prepare fruit and vegetables for snacks. These facilities let children practise everyday tasks at a scale intended for them.

Moving to school includes sharing development records and involving the receiving setting. Summer consultations give families of school starters a further point to discuss that move. Preparation and information sharing support continuity; they do not confer an admissions advantage.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery operates Monday to Friday during term time, across 38 weeks divided into six terms. Morning sessions run from 8.55am to 12.10pm, afternoons from 1pm to 3.30pm, and all-day sessions from 8.55am to 3.30pm. Lunch clubs run from noon to 12.50pm. Families can choose between shorter sessions and an all-day pattern, with the timing discrepancy addressed in Things to Consider.

Younger starters usually attend two afternoon sessions each week, with a maximum group of 16. September starters generally use Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons, while January starters generally use Tuesdays and Thursdays. These are usual settling arrangements, not a universal minimum booking requirement. Activity days also run on many inset days and at the start of the summer holidays.

The address is Lower Green Road, Pembury, Tunbridge Wells, TN2 4EB. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01892 825580 or by email to management@pshn.co.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes Free Early Education funding, which begins in the term after a child's third birthday, Free for Two funding and Working Parent Entitlement Funding for children aged two, three and four. Funding is delivered during term time rather than stretched across the year, and private hours are charged separately. Eligibility conditions apply; families using a working-parent code must keep their eligibility reconfirmed.

Snacks are covered by a separate voluntary opt-in consumables contribution; families opting out provide their child's snacks, and the snack policy excludes nuts and nut products. The contribution also covers items such as wipes, nappy bags and additional suncream; opt-out families provide these supplies themselves, with individual charges applying when nursery items are used instead.

Specialist activities can require an advance contribution for families who opt out and want their child to participate. The nursery also offers consumables support subject to its criteria, with the cost covered automatically for children receiving disadvantaged two-year-old funding. This distinction matters: funded education, private hours and the consumables choice are separate parts of the arrangement.

Invoices cover two terms together, with payment due within 60 days. Leaving, reducing attendance or changing sessions requires 12 weeks' written notice counted during term time; closures outside term do not count towards it. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

The nursery shares its building with Pembury Primary School. Attendance does not guarantee a Reception place, and families still use the local authority admissions process.

• Session timings and autumn afternoons. Morning and all-day start times conflict between the session timetable and the prospectus: the latter gives an 8.45am start and a 12.15pm morning finish, and closes Tuesday and Thursday afternoons during Terms 1&2. Before booking, ask which timetable applies to your child's sessions.
• The consumables choice. Opting out means supplying snacks and care items, with separate contributions possible for specialist activities. Discuss what participation would involve for your child, and confirm current food handling if allergies affect your family.
• Gradual attendance and notice. The first four weeks use shorter settling sessions, while changes later require 12 term-time weeks' notice. At a visit, discuss how the settling pattern would fit your childcare commitments before agreeing sessions.
• School proximity. Sharing a building with Pembury Primary School gives the setting a close physical connection, but nursery attendance does not secure a school place. Plan the Reception application separately.

Pembury School House Nursery suits families seeking morning or afternoon preschool sessions as well as an all-day term-time pattern. Its strongest practical assets are the connection between indoor and outdoor play, child-scale facilities and a clear key-person relationship, supported by the Outstanding judgement from July 2025.

The funding and consumables choices deserve careful reading, as do the differing timetables and term-time notice requirement. For families whose schedules fit those arrangements, the combination of hands-on learning, gradual settling and regular communication makes this a compelling preschool option.