Tenderlinks Day Nursery, Godalming

Forest School and sport with Pitch Pals give Tenderlinks Godalming a clear outdoor thread. Child-led exploration sits alongside organised physical activity, making this a nursery to consider for children who enjoy investigating, moving and making things. Its Petworth Road setting in Milford has capacity for 32 children, with an accepted age range of three months to five years.

At the 13 May 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall and found its safeguarding arrangements effective. The important qualification concerned teaching: staff sometimes missed chances to take children's interests further. That makes the quality of everyday conversations, rather than the activity list alone, an important consideration for families.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: everyday play becomes an opportunity to practise communication, physical skills and relationships. Here, the daily activities include storytelling, cooking, gardening and exploring number and shape. There is scope for children to learn through practical experiences as well as through conversation and books.

Forest School adds a weekly specialist session built around exploration and children's own choices. Children can pursue an idea independently or work together, with opportunities to practise solving problems and listening to one another. The approach gives children a say in how an activity develops, rather than requiring everyone to produce the same result.

The Forest School activities described include building dens from sticks, investigating insects and using leaves for artwork. Clay and natural materials provide further ways to explore texture and represent ideas. These are concrete reasons for an outdoors-minded family to take an interest: the programme connects making, investigating and collaboration.

Pitch Pals brings sport into the offer through games and guided discovery. Its nursery programme uses equipment appropriate to children's ages and incorporates letters, colours and numbers into physical activity. Movement therefore becomes another route into learning, with coordination and working together among the programme's aims.

In May 2025, children used an obstacle course to practise balance, coordination and larger movements. Staff also drew attention to how exercise changed their bodies, including their heartbeat. That example shows the useful connection between doing something physical and finding words to describe the experience.

Outdoor and Daily Life

The garden also supported imaginative play in May 2025. Children developed scenarios involving doctors and hospitals, drawing on familiar experiences to create stories together. Staff helped them build the narrative, giving pretend play a purpose beyond dressing up.

Books were used outdoors as well as indoors that month. Adults exchanged conversational turns with children and read stories expressively, while children practised listening and remembering what happened. Alongside the physical activities, this gave language a place across different parts of the day.

The daily rhythm includes breakfast, group activities and snacks, followed by lunch and a period for naps or quieter activities. Later play and tea lead into stories and free play. For a younger child, that balance between activity and rest is a useful part of the care pattern; older children have a quieter alternative during the nap period.

Relationships were a clear part of daily practice in May 2025. Key persons gathered parents' updates about interests and development at home, then used those details when planning activities for their children. This connects nursery experiences with the child's life beyond the setting, rather than treating the two as separate.

For the youngest children that month, staff used close physical comfort, rocking and gentle reassurance when emotions became difficult. Adults also listened to children's opinions and explained expectations respectfully. These examples give parents something more useful than a general promise of kindness: they show how care was expressed in ordinary interactions.

At its May 2025 inspection, Ofsted found effective support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including early identification of difficulties, professional advice and individual plans developed with parents. The practical value lies in the sequence: noticing a need, seeking help and agreeing targets suited to that child.

The branch works with the Surrey Early Years Advisory Service to review provision, identify needs and develop strategies with the staff team. That is a concrete support connection for families interested in how the nursery reflects on its practice. In May 2025, two-way communication also kept parents informed about learning and care routines, giving them opportunities to contribute information as well as receive it.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery opens Monday to Friday, from 7.30am to 6pm, across the year, with closures for bank holidays and Christmas. Those opening hours give families a clear boundary for planning work and collection arrangements.

Enquiries can be made directly through the Godalming nursery email, godalming@tenderlinks.co.uk. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Getting There

The address is Petworth Road, Milford, Godalming, GU8 5AT, with the nursery situated at Rodborough School. Attending the nursery does not guarantee a Reception place; families still use the local authority admissions process for a state-school place.

Funding and Paid Extras

In May 2025, the nursery provided government-funded early years places. A written quotation is the useful basis for comparing the total cost of a family's intended attendance pattern.

• Extending learning. In May 2025, staff sometimes stopped short of developing children's questions and interests further. On a visit, ask how practitioners now turn an absorbing activity into the next learning opportunity.
• Outdoor participation. Weekly Forest School and sport with Pitch Pals are important parts of the offer. Ask how these experiences are adapted for your child's age and confidence, especially if outdoor exploration is a deciding factor.
• Attendance and total cost. The weekday opening window runs from 7.30am to 6pm, with bank-holiday and Christmas closures. What booking pattern and funded-hours arrangement would apply to your child, and what would the written quotation include for food and consumables?

Tenderlinks Godalming suits families who value outdoor exploration, practical activity and a weekday care routine that includes time for rest. Forest School and Pitch Pals give the offer recognisable substance, while the May 2025 examples of garden role play and parent-informed planning show how children's experiences can shape their day.

The teaching improvement point deserves attention alongside the Good judgement. For parents, the deciding question is how consistently staff build on a child's curiosity: the activities create opportunities, and the interactions determine how far those opportunities go.