Puddleducks & POSH

A former caretaker’s house, the East Hall of Milverton Primary School and an all-weather outdoor classroom give Puddleducks & POSH a recognisable setting for early childhood. At 20 Rugby Road in Leamington Spa, the nursery takes children from birth to five and has capacity for 90 children. Its accommodation combines a house-based baby room with outdoor areas that include grass and soft surfacing. Different stages have different bases.

At its July 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective. That is a dated judgement, rather than an assessment of today’s daily practice. The current offer includes a shared Sensory room, visiting singing sessions and Super star sports, whose twice-weekly visits bring organised physical activities to Ducklings, Cygnets and Swans.

Full days and age-specific funded sessions provide different attendance options. The distinction matters: funded sessions follow a term-time timetable, while the nursery’s wider childcare offer operates across the year with specified closures.

Rooms and Ages

Nestlings, for children from birth to rising two, occupies the former caretaker’s house, giving babies a house-based room within the wider setting. Ducklings, described as rising two to rising three, has a bright, airy base. Cygnets serves rising threes in a room arranged into separate activity areas, with school readiness as its stated emphasis. Swans covers the preschool year and likewise uses a room divided into activity areas to support preparation for school.

The stages make the nursery’s progression easy to understand, but room labels are not a substitute for considering a child’s development. For families comparing baby and preschool provision, the useful distinction is the accommodation and emphasis attached to each stage: Nestlings has its house-based setting, while Cygnets and Swans emphasise readiness for the next educational step.

The Sensory room is shared by children across the nursery. Light, texture, colour and sound provide different ways to explore, adding another space beyond each child’s usual room. This is a concrete part of the offer, rather than a general promise about stimulating activities.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for learning and development: children build skills across its areas of learning through experiences such as play, communication and making things. It is the common foundation for early-years provision. Here, half-termly themes give activities a changing subject, with examples including Celebrations, Things that grow and People that help us.

Singing visits take place every other Thursday and include all age groups, with language development as their stated purpose. Preschool children also have Bilingua singing every other Tuesday, introducing another language through songs. Super star sports visits Ducklings, Cygnets and Swans twice a week. These are separate additions to the ordinary nursery day, with clear audiences and frequencies; they should not be confused with the underlying learning framework.

In July 2022, children explored textures using oats, coffee beans and cereals, while older children discussed book titles, authors and speech bubbles. Those examples show the learning in ordinary activities: handling materials gives children something to investigate, and talking about books takes story time beyond simply listening. They describe that period of nursery life, rather than a fixed timetable for today.

Outdoor and Community Life

Grassed and soft-surfaced play areas sit at the front and rear of the building, alongside an all-weather outdoor classroom and a forest school area. The combination gives outdoor play more than one type of space. Sheltered accommodation is useful for activities outside, while the grassed areas provide a different surface and setting for exploration.

Forest School adds learning outdoors through exploration of the natural environment. Preschool provision includes tailored lessons in the nursery’s own outdoor area. The important detail is the combination of a place and planned lessons, rather than the approach’s name alone.

In July 2022, children used art materials indoors and outside, explored water and sand, and compared sizes while shaping pretend food from dough. These were practical ways to encounter early mathematics and mark making. Outdoor activity was part of learning, rather than simply a break between indoor sessions.

Free settling sessions are part of the nursery’s terms. They give children time in the setting before their agreed start, while the registration process fixes the days, times and starting date of care. Families should treat those as connected decisions: the settling period introduces the setting, and the contract establishes the attendance pattern that follows.

At the July 2022 inspection, Ofsted found sensitive support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including quieter alternatives when group activities caused distress, but asked the nursery to improve parents’ involvement in the two-year progress check. Both points matter. Adapting an activity to a child’s needs is useful day-to-day practice; involving parents in a developmental check brings their knowledge into a more formal assessment.

In July 2022, information gathered from families was combined with staff observations to plan activities, and progress updates and ideas for learning at home were shared with parents. Children could rest according to their needs and spend quieter periods with books or simply relaxing. That account gives a picture of routines accommodating different energy levels, rather than expecting every child to be busy at once.

During the same month, meals and snacks were freshly prepared and dietary needs were catered for. That is an inspection-time description of food provision. It does not establish the charging arrangements for today’s attendance contracts.

In January 2024, the nursery’s family app allowed parents to update permissions and contact information; families were also asked to email changes so paper records could be amended. The January 2024 newsletter asked families to look at the app daily for important updates. Keeping those records aligned matters when permissions or contact details change.

Sessions and Attendance

The full-day session runs from 8am to 6pm, with early drop-off offered from 7.30am and additional booked hours charged separately. Funded sessions for three- and four-year-olds run from 9am to 3pm during term time; the funded session for two-year-olds is 9am to noon, also during term time. These are different booking arrangements, rather than one opening window applied to every child.

Bank holidays and the period between Christmas and New Year are closure periods. Christmas Eve finishes at 1pm, and there are three 3pm closures each year for staff training, with dates communicated in September. Fees apply for 50 weeks and monthly invoices spread the weekly charge across the year. This helps families understand both the calendar and why invoices remain consistent between months.

Registration requires signed paperwork and a non-refundable registration charge, except for children attending funded sessions only. Reducing attendance or leaving requires one month’s written notice; term-time-only contracts require one half-term’s notice instead. Changes to booked care must be emailed. These terms make the chosen pattern a contractual commitment, not simply a weekly preference.

Getting There

The address is 20 Rugby Road, Milverton, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV32 6DG, with access from Rugby Road. The nursery occupies the house and East Hall of Milverton Primary School; attending the nursery does not guarantee a Reception place, and families still use the local authority admissions process for a state-school place.

Enquiries can be made by telephone or email, with contact hours of 8am to 6pm on weekdays. Those are enquiry hours, separate from the childcare sessions.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, with information covering the 15-hour and 30-hour entitlements subject to their respective eligibility conditions. The nursery’s funded session arrangements are term-time only. General information about stretching entitlement should not be read as an alternative attendance contract here.

Private hours outside funded education are charged at the nursery’s applicable rate. Tax-free childcare payments and childcare vouchers are accepted. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation; the fees page sets out the full-day and funded-session structure.

• Funded timetable and total costs. Two-year-old funded sessions finish at noon, while those for three- and four-year-olds finish at 3pm, and both run during term time. At a visit, ask how your intended pattern handles additional hours, meals and non-food consumables, and which charges apply to funded and private attendance.
• Parents’ part in the progress check. In July 2022, parental contributions to the two-year progress check needed stronger procedures. Ask how your observations are incorporated into the check now, especially if your child is approaching that stage.
• Contract and closure calendar. Notice differs between year-round and term-time-only contracts, and staff-training closures shorten three days each year. These details affect families whose working hours make an early finish difficult.
• Room progression and outdoor use. Nestlings has a house-based room, while Cygnets and Swans emphasise school readiness. A visit is the opportunity to discuss movement between stages and how each room uses the outdoor classroom and forest school area.

Puddleducks & POSH suits families considering either an 8am-to-6pm full day or shorter, term-time funded attendance, with a morning pattern for eligible two-year-olds and a 9am-to-3pm pattern for eligible preschool children. Its strongest practical character comes from the accommodation and activities: a house-based baby room, a shared Sensory room, outdoor learning spaces and recurring music and sports visits.

The July 2022 Good judgement provides a useful dated quality reference. For a present-day decision, the room progression, funded timetable and contractual terms deserve equal attention. This is an offer with several attendance patterns, but the differences between them have real consequences for the family calendar and the final bill.