Orchard Day Nursery

A walled garden, an on-site Forest School and rooms shaped around children’s ideas give Orchard Day Nursery its character. Based within Hinton Manor in Woodford Halse, it combines outdoor exploration with a Reggio approach: children’s interests help determine what they investigate, make and discuss. Babies can join from three months old. The physical setting matters here, with space for outdoor learning alongside quieter areas for sensory play and sleep.

At its July 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated Orchard Day Nursery Outstanding, finding strong learning and care for children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). That judgement provides a dated assessment of practice, while the current room arrangements explain the everyday offer: individual routines for babies, interest-led planning for older children and weekly Forest School sessions in the older rooms.

Rooms and Ages

Baby Room takes children from three months old and brings activities down to babies’ eye level, with contrasting black-and-white materials, light-based sensory exploration, a snuggle corner, messy and sand play, and areas for sleep. This gives the youngest children several ways to explore while retaining somewhere to rest. Key workers shape learning around the individual baby and work with families on familiar routines.

In the 2-3 Room, children’s interests guide activities, home sleep and toilet-training routines inform care, and time alongside preschool children supports the move between stages. The emphasis is on developing an idea rather than handing every child the same task. A discovery or conversation can become the starting point for further exploration across the areas of learning.

Preschool emphasises investigation and creative thinking, with learning journals recording children’s words and actions as well as their work. The process matters alongside the finished picture or model. For families, those annotations offer a more useful account of learning than a display alone: they explain what the child was considering and how an activity developed.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage (EYFS) provides the framework for children’s learning, development and care, bringing play, communication and growing independence into the nursery day. Orchard adds its Reggio approach through planning that begins with children’s conversations, discoveries and observed interests. Staff then develop activities that let children examine the same idea further, rather than treating the first attempt as the end of the experience.

Weekly Forest School sessions give children in the 2-3 Room and Preschool opportunities to explore the natural environment through practical, child-led activity. This sits alongside the EYFS rather than replacing it. The on-site space also makes outdoor learning part of the setting itself, with the nursery garden used whenever possible.

In July 2023, language teaching was visible in ordinary activities. Staff responded to babies’ lunchtime sounds with words, introduced vocabulary about filling and pouring during water play, and used questions to extend preschool children’s thinking while they handled flowers and dough. Conversation was woven into play. The examples show how an everyday activity could become an opportunity to develop language, rather than requiring a separate lesson.

Outdoor and Community Life

The secure walled garden and on-site Forest School provide two outdoor settings with different uses. Forest School involves exploration and practical challenges, and its clothing guidance calls for children to be equipped for changing weather. Outdoor participation therefore has a practical consequence for families: suitable layers and clothes that can get dirty are part of the routine.

In July 2023, children explored plants and small creatures in the garden and forest-school area, while older children practised climbing and using tools with guidance about safety. Learning to recognise a risk was part of the activity. The emphasis was on helping children understand how to act safely while attempting something challenging.

Community experiences also featured in July 2023. Children bought cooking ingredients in shops, watched tadpoles develop during walks beside the brook and gave flowers to people around the village. A camping day brought stories in tents, a campervan to explore and a visit from an ice-cream van. These were concrete experiences to talk about afterwards, connecting nursery activities with the wider world.

Relationships and Communication

Care begins with knowledge of the individual child. In Baby Room, key workers work with families and aim to follow routines from home; in the 2-3 Room, that includes sleep and toilet training. For a child moving between home and nursery, familiar patterns can make the day more predictable. The arrangement also gives parents specific information to share, rather than reducing the conversation to a general account of likes and dislikes.

In July 2023, children formed close relationships with staff, especially their key person. Staff also discussed family experiences when planning activities, connecting learning with what children already knew. This gives the key-person relationship a practical role in the day: knowledge of a child’s home life can influence the opportunities offered next.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In July 2023, staff knew how to recognise child-protection concerns, report them and handle allegations against colleagues. Recruitment procedures included checks on staff suitability.

During July 2023, practitioners received coaching and mentoring, and the team had completed training in baby-room practice, safer sleep and teaching children with SEND. That combination addressed everyday care as well as learning. It is useful context for understanding the inspection judgement, while remaining a description of the team at that time.

School preparation forms part of Preschool’s work, including links with local primary schools and opportunities for children from the younger room to spend time alongside preschool children. These arrangements support familiarity with the next stage. Attending nursery does not guarantee a state-school place; families still apply through the local authority admissions process.

Sessions and Attendance

Orchard Day Nursery is at Hinton Manor, 18 Hinton Road, Woodford Halse, Daventry, NN11 3TR. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, with bank holidays excluded. It operates across the year, closing from Christmas Eve until the first working day in January, so the festive closure needs to be included in family childcare planning.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form or by telephone on 01327 260098. The opening window gives parents a clear starting point for planning the working day; the attendance arrangement itself belongs in the conversation about joining.

Funding and Paid Extras

Private childcare and funded early education are offered. Orchard participates in the 2 Year Old Funding scheme and accepts government-funded places for three- and four-year-olds. Families should obtain a current written quotation for their proposed arrangement, including any private hours alongside funding.

Breakfast, lunch and tea are prepared on site, with a professional cook present each day during term time; winter and summer menus include vegetarian alternatives. Older children can choose snacks during free-flow periods, while fruit and water remain accessible throughout the day, making food provision an opportunity to practise choice and self-help as well as eat.

• Outdoor clothing. Forest School involves outdoor activity in changing weather, and the clothing guidance includes waterproofs, long trousers and spare layers. Families choosing Orchard should be comfortable with muddy clothes and practical preparation for outdoor play.
• Your child’s daily arrangement. The nursery opens from 8am to 6pm and closes over Christmas. At a visit, ask how the proposed attendance pattern would fit your child’s sleep routine and the weekly Forest School sessions.
• The complete quotation. Funded provision covers the stated two-year-old scheme and places for three- and four-year-olds, while meals are prepared on site. Ask for one written breakdown covering funded hours, private hours, food and consumables for your proposed booking.

Orchard suits families seeking childcare that takes children’s ideas seriously and gives outdoor exploration a regular place in the older rooms. The walled garden and on-site Forest School are useful physical assets, while Baby Room’s sensory and sleep areas give the youngest children a different kind of space.

The July 2023 Outstanding judgement supports that picture, but the practical appeal lies in the detail: home routines informing care, learning journals explaining children’s thinking, and investigations extending from conversation into activity. Parents who value these features, and can accommodate the Christmas closure and outdoor clothing requirements, have clear reasons to consider Orchard.