Tenderlinks Day Nursery, Elstead

Natural materials, child-led exploration and a garden with free-flow access for older children give Tenderlinks Day Nursery, Elstead its character. Based at The Pavilion on Beacon View Road, it is working towards Curiosity Approach accreditation, using everyday objects and open-ended materials to encourage children to experiment rather than follow a single prescribed result.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good on 20 March 2024 and found safeguarding effective. The strongest practical thread running through the provision is independence: choosing materials, exploring outdoors and taking an active part in familiar routines. The current age range is six to 60 months.

For parents, the important distinction is between an approach already being used and accreditation still being pursued. The natural resources and child-led activities are part of the present offer; the accreditation is a work in progress.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children's learning, development and care, bringing play, communication and growing independence into the nursery day. Alongside it, the Curiosity Approach emphasises exploration with authentic objects and materials that children can use in different ways. Staff follow children's interests and offer activities that build on what captures their attention.

Loose parts are central to that arrangement. These open-ended resources invite children to decide what to make or investigate, while practitioners respond to their questions as they arise. The practical attraction is the room for individual ideas: a resource can become part of a child's own project rather than an activity with only one correct ending.

In March 2024, children chose to make a flower mixture, cutting flowers with scissors and adding water in small glass bottles. That example connects a child's idea with a useful physical skill. Storytelling also extended beyond listening: puppets helped attract younger children's attention, and activities encouraged children to recall and retell parts of a familiar story.

The day includes cooking, gardening, singing and role play, alongside number work and phonics. Weekly specialist sessions in Dance, Music and Sport form part of Tenderlinks' group-wide offer described for this branch. Pitch Pals adds a named sporting programme, using games and age-appropriate equipment to bring movement together with numbers, colours and letters. Its activities introduce cooperation as well as physical skills.

Outdoor and Community Life

A purpose-built garden gives older children free-flow access between indoor and outdoor activity. The local playing field, park and woodland extend the opportunities for exploration beyond the nursery's own space. This gives families a concrete outdoor offer to weigh alongside the learning approach.

In March 2024, outings to a nature reserve involved discovering animals, making dens from sticks and logs, and splashing in rainwater puddles. Physical play included balancing and handling sand and water. Old tyres became imaginative play spaces, while boxes and crates were used to make beds for friends and staff. These were simple materials with several possible uses, consistent with the present emphasis on open-ended exploration.

Relationships and Communication

In March 2024, staff helped children recognise their emotions and understand expectations for playing together. Explanations about sharing and taking turns gave children a practical way to manage everyday disagreements. Independence was also built into ordinary routines: children cut fruit with safe knives, helped prepare the lunch table and served themselves.

Communication with families had a useful home-learning element at that date. Parents received detailed guidance, including translations into children's home languages, to help them continue learning beyond nursery. Information about the curriculum and learning approach also helped explain the purpose behind activities. For a family, that makes the connection between nursery play and home conversation more concrete.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those learning English as an additional language made good progress, with the special educational needs coordinator working with families, staff and outside agencies and arranging prompt referrals. The important mechanism was coordination around individual needs, rather than a general promise of support.

The daily timetable includes a period for sleep or quieter activity, with other activities for older children. Breakfast, lunch, snacks and tea provide regular breaks in the day. That rhythm gives parents a useful picture of how activity and rest fit together, especially when comparing the needs of a younger child with those of a child approaching school age.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates across the year, with closures for bank holidays and Christmas holidays. The daily rhythm starts with breakfast and circle time, moves into morning activities, then includes lunch, rest or quiet activity, afternoon play and tea before later stories and free play.

The daily timetable includes morning and afternoon activity periods. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Getting There

The address is The Pavilion, Beacon View Road, Elstead, GU8 6DU. Branch enquiries can be made by telephone on 01252 703593 or by email to elstead@tenderlinks.co.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

In March 2024, the nursery received funding for early education for children aged three and four. Families planning to use funded childcare should distinguish the entitlement from the wider attendance and charging agreement when reviewing their quotation.

• Small-group organisation. In March 2024, children became restless while waiting for turns during a cooking activity, and the improvement action concerned organising activities so children could participate together with their own materials. How this works in practice matters for children who find waiting difficult.
• Accreditation in progress. Curiosity Approach accreditation is still being pursued. Choose on the strength of the resources, activities and care arrangements, rather than treating accreditation as already achieved.
• Your attendance agreement. With opening hours spanning 8am to 6pm and funded early education recorded in March 2024, what booking patterns and funded-hours arrangements would your written quotation cover, including responsibility for meals and consumables?

Tenderlinks Elstead suits families drawn to natural materials, child-led learning and outdoor exploration. The garden, nearby woodland and Pitch Pals programme give that preference practical substance. Its weekday opening window also makes it relevant to parents arranging care around work.

The March 2024 Good judgement provides a dated quality benchmark, while small-group organisation remains a useful point to weigh. The clearest reason to choose it is the combination of hands-on exploration and growing independence, with accreditation understood as an ongoing project.