Ladybird Nursery

A separate sleep room for babies, twice-weekly music and movement visits, and gardens attached to the named rooms give Ladybird Nursery in Farncombe a recognisable character. Its strongest practical detail is the separation of rest from play in Buttercups: children can follow their home sleep routine while others continue exploring. That matters more to a tired baby than a long list of activities.

Ladybird cares for children from 3 months to 5 years, at Fern Road, Godalming, GU7 3ER. The nursery is registered for 47 places. At its March 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good and judged safeguarding effective. The qualification is important: outdoor learning and consistency between practitioners were both areas requiring further work.

Full days and separate morning and afternoon sessions give families different ways to organise attendance. Meals, nappies and wipes are included in the fees, while Forest School carries an additional charge. The balance here is between care routines that accommodate younger children and increasing independence as children approach school.

Rooms and Ages

Buttercups welcomes children from three months to around two years, with two connected play rooms separating younger babies from toddlers, an adjoining sleep room containing cots, and its own garden; learning emphasises movement, communication and social and emotional development. The physical arrangement gives sleep a separate setting rather than making rest compete with active play.

Bluebells serves children around two to three years, with flexible snack access, daily use of its own garden and climbing and balancing equipment supporting exploration, social interaction and independence. Room moves take account of children's development rather than treating a birthday as the sole deciding factor.

Busy Lizzies combines construction, pretend play, creative activities, sand and water with daily garden access for den building and larger construction projects, while encouraging social confidence and practical independence. This is also where preparation for the move to school becomes explicit. Children are encouraged to cut their food and clear their plates, giving independence a practical expression during an ordinary part of the day.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) shapes the educational day through play and activities that develop children's language, movement, relationships and early learning. Children make choices, while adults introduce activities and extend an interest. Messy play, stories, music and nature walks provide concrete ways to do this rather than leaving learning as an abstract promise.

Molly Moo-Cow visits bring stories, movement and music, adding a visiting activity to the nursery's own play. Buttercups and Bluebells each have these sessions twice a week. For younger children, that gives a recurring opportunity to join in with sound and movement alongside their everyday room activities.

In March 2024, examples included babies handling materials with different textures and investigating cake crumbs, toddlers applying paint through straws, and older children exploring letters when they became interested in making words. These examples show how an activity could follow a child's interest rather than requiring everyone to produce the same result. They belong to that inspection period.

Outdoor and Community Life

Each of the named rooms has garden access, so outdoor play can extend what children are doing inside. Bluebells provides climbing and balancing opportunities; Busy Lizzies supports den building and imaginative play on a larger scale. Those are useful differences between the spaces, rather than one generic outdoor description applied to every age.

During the academic year before starting school, children in Busy Lizzies can attend Forest School, an approach centred on learning outdoors, with Surrey hills forest schools. Forest School attendance carries an additional charge. It should also be considered alongside the March 2024 finding that the nursery's outdoor learning needed to engage children more effectively and help them extend their skills.

Relationships and Communication

For babies and toddlers, key carers aim to keep routines close to those followed at home. Buttercups supports different levels of help with feeding, including baby-led weaning, and younger babies can eat when ready. These arrangements make the transition into nursery care a matter of familiar routines as well as new relationships.

Room changes receive support too. Buttercups prepares children to move into Bluebells when developmentally ready, and Bluebells supports the next move into Busy Lizzies. Its shared bathroom has facilities for nappy changing and the different stages of toilet learning, allowing staff to work with families on potty-training strategies.

In March 2024, communication with parents included conversations, email and online updates, while stay-and-play sessions let families see their children's learning. The key-person arrangement helped children build familiar relationships with staff. These are useful examples of how information and relationships worked at that time, rather than a promise about the frequency of today's updates.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that children with emerging special educational needs or disabilities received prompt support through the special educational needs coordinator, working with families and other professionals on individual strategies. The mechanism matters: support involved cooperation around a child's particular needs, rather than a general statement that everyone would settle in the same way.

Staff receive training within the nursery and have access to online professional development; every team member is first aid trained. In March 2024, practice still varied between adults, including how consistently they encouraged older children to help themselves and used signing to support communication. Further monitoring and coaching were required, so consistency deserves attention alongside the positive relationship evidence.

Sessions and Attendance

Full days run from 8am to 6pm. Morning sessions are 8am to 1pm, and afternoons are 1pm to 6pm; an early start from 7.30am requires advance booking. This gives families a meaningful choice between a whole day and attendance covering one part of it.

The minimum booking is two days each week. Ladybird operates across the year, with fees spread over 51 weeks and closure during the Christmas week; bank holidays are also closures and remain chargeable. Holiday and sickness absences do not attract refunds. These terms matter when comparing the total commitment with the sessions a family expects to use.

Enquiries use an interest form, and tours can be arranged through that route. The nursery's telephone number is 01483 426717.

Getting There

The address is Fern Road, Farncombe, Godalming, Surrey GU7 3ER. The nursery describes its position as a 2-minute walk from the train station and a short 10-minute stroll from Godalming town centre, useful reference points for families organising travel around work or errands.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes FEET – Funded Early Education for Eligible 2-Year-Olds, the universal entitlement for three- and four-year-olds, extended funding for eligible working families with children of those ages, and funding for eligible families with children from nine months. Funded hours are spread across 51 weeks; accessing the full 30 hours requires attendance for at least three full days each week. Eligibility remains a condition, not a promise of a funded place.

Meals, drinks and snacks are included in the fees, as are nappies, wipes and toothbrushing for children over two; Forest School has a separate additional charge. Payment is monthly in advance, due on the first day of the month, and current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The fees and registration page provides the route to its fee information.

An on-site cook prepares food daily, with seasonal choices organised into a four-week menu cycle. The nursery's dietary arrangements cover allergies, intolerances and preferences, with individual requirements discussed during settling sessions.

• Outdoor learning. In March 2024, outdoor activities needed to offer more engaging opportunities to explore and develop skills. On a visit, ask how the room gardens now extend children's learning and how Forest School fits into the older children's experience.
• Consistency between adults. March 2024 practice varied in encouraging self-help and using signing. Ask how coaching supports a consistent approach across the practitioners caring for your child.
• Attendance and funded costs. The booking minimum is two days weekly, while accessing the full 30 funded hours requires three full days. Before committing, request a written breakdown distinguishing funded hours, paid hours, meals, consumables and the additional Forest School charge.
• Individual routines and diet. Buttercups has a separate sleep room and supports home routines; dietary needs are discussed during settling. Use those conversations to agree your child's sleep and feeding arrangements and, where relevant, confirm current allergy practice.

Ladybird suits families seeking either full days or morning and afternoon sessions, with baby care that makes room for sleep and familiar routines. Buttercups' separate rest space, recurring Molly Moo-Cow visits and practical independence in the older rooms give the offer substance.

The March 2024 Good judgement supports consideration, while the outdoor-learning and staff-consistency findings keep the assessment balanced. The most useful decision is whether its room arrangements and attendance commitment fit your child and week: the nursery offers different session lengths, but the minimum booking and conditions for the full funded entitlement still shape that choice.