Acres of Fun Day Nursery

Two acres of grounds, a former family house and a separate preschool building give Acres of Fun Day Nursery its character. In Hermitage, near Newbury, outdoor space shapes the offer from the youngest babies onwards: a garden beside the baby room, woodland to explore and vegetables grown for the kitchen. This is a setting where the grounds have a practical role in children's day.

At its February 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found exceptionally effective teaching, with children making excellent progress, including those needing additional support.

Children are accepted from three months to five years. Year-round attendance includes full-time and part-time patterns, with an early-start option. The important practical constraint is the minimum commitment of three days each week.

Rooms and Ages

The younger children use the original house, while preschool occupies a purpose-built building across the patio. Moving between the two is therefore a change of surroundings as well as a change of stage. Children generally make that move at three, or shortly before their third birthday.

The Baby Room combines a garden of its own with indoor spaces for eating and changing, while stories, songs and musical play give the youngest children ways to join in.

Toddler Rooms connect a carpeted space for rest and play with a conservatory for eating and messy activities, opening into the Toddler Garden for movement between indoors and outdoors.

Explorers/Adventurers use a whole floor of the house, with bathrooms supporting toilet training and activities including construction, creative work and music as children prepare for preschool.

Lower Pre-School takes children aged three or rising three, beginning the next stage in the separate preschool building.

Upper Pre-School follows in September of the year before children start primary school, making the final nursery year a defined stage.

The Garden Room, upstairs in preschool, has a large picture window and accommodates dance, music, movement and indoor soft play.

Elsewhere in preschool, decking provides outdoor access, and a role-play space extends over two levels. These are useful differences between spaces: children can move, pretend and make things, rather than relying on one room for every kind of activity.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage Framework guides the nursery's work, with children learning through play and activities adapted to their individual needs. Alongside that framework, preschool offers French, dance, sport, gardening and music, with visiting specialist teachers contributing to the programme. The additional sessions broaden what children encounter during an ordinary nursery week.

In February 2024, staff brought babies' stories to life through gestures, objects and animated expressions. Planned activities across the nursery also supported early language, helping children participate as their communication developed.

In February 2024, preschool children used mathematics to calculate lunchtime tableware and share mirrors between tables. Maths Champions supported staff training in bringing mathematics into everyday activities, giving counting a practical purpose.

Outdoor and Community Life

An outside classroom supports outdoor activities, while the paved area accommodates wheeled play and outdoor art. Beyond it are woodland, lawns, climbing equipment and a ropes course. The grounds give children different ways to be active, from riding and balancing to exploring quieter wooded areas.

A full-time Forest School Educator leads outdoor activities, adding organised experiences to the opportunities for free play. The vegetable garden also connects outdoor work with food: children help sow, grow and harvest produce that can then be used in the kitchen. This gives gardening a visible destination.

In February 2024, covered play spaces supported outdoor learning throughout the year. Children also met people from different occupations, including the fire brigade, doctors and teachers. Those encounters brought work and community roles into experiences young children could understand.

Relationships and Communication

A member of staff is allocated to each family to support children and parents and maintain a connection with nursery experiences. The enrolment team also helps families through settling in. That gives the relationship a starting point before the regular attendance pattern becomes familiar.

In February 2024, children showed close bonds with staff, who knew them well. Parents took part in special events, and a book lending library allowed stories to continue at home. Children's experiences outside nursery also informed the activities planned for them, giving home life a place in their learning.

The teaching team numbered 43 in February 2024. Staff supported one another through training and observations of colleagues' practice. These are dated details about how the team worked at that point, rather than a promise about who will be caring for a particular child now.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the February 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and praised the SENCo's work with families, key persons and other agencies, including targeted help for children awaiting diagnosis. The practical strength was coordinated support around individual children, with the adults involved working together on their developmental needs.

In February 2024, older children used colours and the colour monster story to recognise and discuss emotions. The story gave staff and children a shared way to talk about feelings. Emotional learning sat alongside the daily work of playing with friends and taking part in group activities.

Babies sleep outdoors in Silver Cross style prams, with staff closely supervising them. This is a significant part of the baby-room routine and deserves careful consideration by families choosing care for a very young child.

Meals are cooked on site, using local ingredients and garden produce where possible; meat comes from Vicars Game Ltd (Casey Fields Farm) at Ashampstead. Staff eat alongside children, making mealtimes opportunities to practise conversation, manners and eating together.

Sessions and Attendance

Full day sessions run from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Families can choose five-day attendance or part-time attendance on three or four days, and early starts are offered at 7.45am. The three-day weekly minimum is intended to help children become familiar with the nursery's routines.

Places run across the year. Bank holidays are closures, and the annual maintenance break falls in the week before the August Bank Holiday; families are not charged for that maintenance week. Those closures need to fit alongside work and other childcare arrangements, even for families choosing year-round attendance.

Getting There

The nursery is on Priors Court Road in Hermitage, near Newbury, one mile from junction 13 of the M4. Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by email to info@acresoffun.co.uk or by telephone on 01635 203300.

Funding and Paid Extras

Acres of Fun accepts early years 15/30 hours government funding, alongside payment through childcare vouchers and the government's tax-free childcare scheme. Funded entitlement and privately paid care are separate parts of the financial decision, so the attendance pattern matters as much as the headline hours.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation for the chosen attendance pattern.

• Three-day commitment. Part-time attendance means three or four days each week, with a three-day minimum. Families wanting a shorter weekly pattern need to weigh that commitment before choosing this setting.
• Outdoor baby sleep. Babies sleep in supervised prams outside. At a show-round, discuss how this routine would work for your child, including weather arrangements and their familiar sleep habits.
• Annual maintenance closure. The nursery closes in the week before the August Bank Holiday and does not charge for that week. Families using year-round care will still need to plan cover for the break.
• The whole quotation. Funding is accepted alongside paid care. Ask for the funded-hours arrangement and the treatment of meals and consumables to be set out with your chosen attendance pattern, so the financial commitment is clear.

Acres of Fun suits families who want outdoor experiences to be a substantial part of nursery life, with different spaces for babies, toddlers and preschool children. The garden beside the Baby Room, the preschool decking and the growing areas make that emphasis concrete.

It serves both three- or four-day part-time attendance and five-day full-time attendance, with standard full days and an early-start option. The decision turns on whether that weekly commitment, the outdoor sleep routine and the annual closure fit family life. For parents comfortable with those arrangements, the combination of practical learning, generous outdoor space and the February 2024 Outstanding judgement makes a compelling case.