The Acorn Nursery School

A pond, a bee hydration station and a yearly sunflower challenge give The Acorn Nursery School a recognisable character: nature is part of the learning, rather than simply the backdrop to play. This independent nursery in Cranleigh combines outdoor exploration with stories, practical projects and support for children's emotions. Its gardens do real work.

At the 22 May 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found effective safeguarding alongside highly responsive support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including targeted help with language development. The detail behind that judgement matters: activities connected children's interests with purposeful learning, while social routines helped them share equipment and consider one another.

Children aged 20 months to 5 years attend during term time, and there are 109 places in total. Attendance can be built around flexible weekly hours, with early starts and after-nursery care extending the options. This is a setting for families who value a play-led nursery day and can work with a term-time calendar.

Rooms and Ages

Acorns, Catkins and Squirrels are the named classes. Acorns serves preschool children. Past activities in Acorns included buttering toast, serving fruit salad and pouring drinks at its self-service Snack Bar, giving independence a practical role. Catkins has its own classroom and outdoor area. Squirrels has a room leader and a Forest School lead within its team.

The 109 places describe the whole nursery, not the size of an individual class.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage shapes learning through communication, movement, relationships, early literacy, mathematics, creativity and exploration of the world. These areas connect in everyday play. Acorn's additional character comes from the outdoor setting, its gardening club and practical activities that give children something tangible to investigate.

The gardening club combines planting and food growing with science experiments. Children can follow a plant's progress rather than encounter growing as a single activity. The yearly sunflower challenge carries that interest beyond nursery: children plant sunflowers here and are encouraged to care for them at home over the summer holidays.

In May 2025, stories led into projects with clear connections between reading and doing. Jasper's Beanstalk prompted vegetable planting, while Handa's Surprise opened up discussion about food. Older children explored abstract art through work inspired by Wassily Kandinsky, using contrasting materials and textures. Books supplied a starting point; children then had something to make, grow or discuss.

Mathematics also had a practical purpose in May 2025. Younger children searched sand for coloured shapes, while older children predicted and measured sunflower growth. Recording those predictions in a shared book linked numbers with observation and early writing. These examples make the nursery's play-led approach easier to understand: learning can happen through an investigation rather than a separate lesson.

PE, yoga, and music and movement add physical and creative experiences. Recent nursery projects have also included making butter and baking dough after a visit to Bocketts Farm. Following a recipe introduces children to weighing, sequences and changing ingredients, with the finished food giving the activity an immediate purpose.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School gives preschool children opportunities to learn through outdoor exploration. Past activities include den building, knots, woodwork and cooking. A small pond, bird feeders and shelters for small creatures bring wildlife within reach.

The Climate Action Plan connects sustainability with daily routines: collecting rainwater for play, considering water waste and taking lunch packaging home for recycling. Reusable lunch containers and water bottles involve families too.

Families join the annual summer outing to Bocketts Farm. World Book Day brings favourite-book sharing and book-character costumes, extending the nursery's interest in stories.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person attending to their learning, development and wellbeing, with the wider team also involved. Tapestry, the online learning journal, combines nursery experiences with parents' contributions, helping staff understand interests beyond nursery.

Between 24 and 36 months, the key person prepares a written progress summary covering communication, physical development and social and emotional development, drawing on observations and family and professional contributions.

Termly Saturday Family Drop-in lets relatives share nursery play. Parent workshops have covered early mathematics and skills before phonics, connecting nursery learning with home activities.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Thrive supports emotional and social development through assessments, individual action plans and practical activities. Its practitioner works across the nursery; individual or small-group sessions use storytelling, puppet play, music or relaxation to help children manage feelings.

SENCO roles, referrals, work with other agencies and Education Health Care Needs Assessments provide routes for organising additional support.

The team includes early years teachers. The first-aid policy requires new employees to complete paediatric training within three months. Minor accident records reach families that day; head injuries prompt a telephone call and written advice.

School preparation emphasises dressing, toileting, asking for help and taking turns, giving everyday independence weight alongside early reading and writing.

Sessions and Attendance

Acorn operates Monday to Friday during term time. Nursery begins at 9am, with bookings lasting 3, 4, 5 or 6 hours and weekly attendance ranging from 6 to 30 flexible hours. This accommodates both shorter nursery sessions and a longer nursery day, rather than requiring one fixed pattern.

Breakfast Club starts at 8am when take-up is sufficient. Early Bird drop-off offers 8.30am and 8.45am starts each day, with a separate charge. After School Club adds another attendance option.

The autumn 2026 half-term break runs from 19 to 30 October. Families need care arrangements that account for that break as well as the wider term-time calendar.

Getting There

The nursery is based at Cranleigh Infant School, Church Lane, Cranleigh, GU6 8AR, with its entrance on Church Lane rather than through the school's vehicle gates. A pay-and-display car park is at the top of Church Lane, and free residential-street parking includes Parsonage Road.

Contact is through the nursery's form or by telephone; the form is the preferred route for a response after nursery hours. Its school-site address does not confer a Reception place: families apply through the local authority for state schools or through an independent school's own admissions process.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered through Funded Early Education for Two-year olds (FEET), working parent entitlement and universal entitlement for three and four year olds. Delivery follows the nursery's term-time operation, and self-funded attendance is also offered. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Snacks carry a separate charge, with an alternative of sending a healthy snack in a labelled container; families provide packed lunches. For funded children, parents are requested to contribute separately towards Forest School, PE, music and movement, and yoga, while self-funded children do not pay that additional activity charge.

Activity charges may be waived for families in need at the nursery's discretion. Early Bird attendance and late collection have their own charges, so the useful cost comparison is the complete attendance pattern and its extras. The chargeable extras page sets out that structure.

• Term-time coverage. The autumn half-term break spans 19 to 30 October 2026. Families needing continuous weekday care must plan around nursery holidays.
• After School Club schedule. The home information gives Tuesdays and Thursdays, while the chargeable-extras information includes Wednesdays and a 4.30pm finish. Confirm the days and collection time before committing to an attendance pattern.
• Funding and supplies. Funded attendance has requested activity contributions, and snacks are charged separately unless brought from home. What non-food supplies should your family provide, and how would the complete charge structure apply to your booking?
• Outdoor fit. Gardening, Forest School and daily outdoor learning shape the experience. On a visit, explore how your child's class uses the gardens and how staff support younger children during outdoor play.

Acorn suits families seeking flexible-hour sessions or longer term-time nursery days, with Early Bird starts adding flexibility. Gardening, Forest School and story-led projects give learning practical substance; Thrive and key-person care support emotions and communication with home.

The term-time calendar, additional charges and After School Club schedule are the practical trade-offs to weigh against that outdoor emphasis.