Kingsmead Day Nursery

A pirate ship, a growing garden and outings to Winchester City Museum give Kingsmead a clear sense of place. Outdoor play has substance here: children can ride, plant, build and make up stories in different parts of the garden, while community trips extend their experiences beyond Gordon Road.

At its 4 April 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated Kingsmead Good overall. The practical offer combines care for children aged 3 to 60 months with year-round attendance and a choice between standard bookings and entitlement-only arrangements.

Kingsmead has 59 places in total. Its layout separates younger children's upstairs space from the downstairs provision for older toddlers and preschool children, who have direct access to the garden. That makes outdoor independence a more immediate part of the older children's day.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: play, conversation, movement and growing independence all belong within the nursery day. Kingsmead's curriculum takes its lead from children's interests, with inspiration from Montessori, Reggio Emilia and play-based approaches. Here, those influences sit alongside experiences in art, literacy, drama, maths, movement and music, rather than replacing the required framework.

The physical arrangement changes with age. Babies and younger toddlers use an upstairs environment with sensory activities; older toddlers and preschool children have a downstairs space arranged around social interaction, independence and preparation for school. Free-flow garden access gives the older children scope to move between indoor and outdoor learning.

In April 2023, sensory exploration included dough, paint and rice, alongside imaginative play with water and vegetables. Babies practised standing and climbing with scarves and foam blocks, while older children used bicycles and low gym equipment. These were practical experiences of texture, balance and movement, rather than learning confined to a table.

Challenge was less consistent. In April 2023, staff sometimes moved conversation forward before children had enough thinking time, and learning was not always extended sufficiently. The improvement priorities were to develop practitioners' ability to stretch children's learning and to make their support for language more effective. For parents, the useful distinction is between keeping a child occupied and helping them take the next step.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden earns its place in the account. A bike track supports active play, while the children's vegetable garden brings planting and growing into everyday experience. A mud kitchen and wooden playhouse offer materials and settings for imaginative play; the pirate ship adds another starting point for shared stories. There is also a baby zone, giving the youngest children their own outdoor area.

Other spaces include an outdoor classroom, a theatre zone and areas for construction and mark-making. These give children different reasons to spend time outside, from building something together to experimenting with marks or performing.

Zoo Lab brings animals into the nursery for hands-on encounters with the natural world. Tennis, dance, drama and yoga add other forms of movement and expression. Regular outings include riverside walks, market trips, library visits and Winchester City Museum, connecting children's learning with familiar places in the city.

A sensory room provides a calmer setting for exploring light, sound and texture, and the nursery's library gives books and storytelling a dedicated place. These offer different kinds of space within a busy childcare day. Settling-in sessions allow children and families to become familiar with the nursery before attendance begins, while the nursery app provides updates during the day and information about children's progress.

At the April 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and identified successful SEND support through work with families and visiting agencies, including a daily communication and language group. The current support structure includes a SENCo role, and staff undertake continuing training in special educational needs, safeguarding and paediatric first aid.

In April 2023, staff used patience and reassurance to help children settle, and children practised independence through snack preparation and lunch routines. Washing and cutting fruit, helping with tables and carrying food gave everyday care an educational purpose. Preparation for school included doing manageable tasks for themselves.

Communication across settings needed attention. In April 2023, information about individual needs was shared with another early years provider with parental consent, but the exchange did not work in both directions. That matters for children whose week is divided between settings: continuity requires adults to exchange information, rather than simply send it out.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Gordon House, Gordon Road, Winchester, SO23 7DD. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks of the year, with closures on bank holidays and for one week at Christmas. These closures need to fit the family's wider childcare arrangements.

Standard attendance uses full-day sessions lasting 10 hours, with a minimum booking of two full days each week. Ad hoc days can supplement a regular arrangement, subject to availability. Places are allocated at application, with priority for full-time working families; this determines application priority.

Entitlement-only bookings follow a separate pattern and have no minimum booking requirement. Working Parents Entitlement arrangements offer one or two 10-hour sessions weekly across 51 weeks; Universal Funding for 3–4-year-olds or Early Learning for 2s Funding arrangements offer one 10-hour session weekly across the same period. These patterns do not use the whole entitlement, and the unclaimed remainder can be used with another provider.

Enquiries can go to the Parent Engagement team, and personal tours can be booked through the nursery's visit form. The nursery telephone number is 01962 862266. Standard fees are annualised into equal monthly invoices, which helps families plan regular payments; current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Funding and Paid Extras

Kingsmead accepts funded childcare for eligible two-year-olds, the universal entitlement for three- and four-year-olds, and eligible working parents with children aged nine months to four years. Funding is stretched across 51 weeks, rather than delivered only during term time. The entitlement amounts are 15 hours for the supported two-year-old and universal schemes, and 30 hours for eligible working parents, before stretching.

Private childcare hours and funded education and care are separate from Everyday Essentials, the package covering catering, care products and enrichment experiences. Meals and non-food consumables are charged separately from core provision, including during funded hours; the total childcare charge incorporates those elements. Fully funded sessions can be taken without additional charges, with families who do not want to pay for Everyday Essentials discussing the arrangement with the manager.

Catering covers breakfast, cooked lunch, tea and snacks, with vegan and vegetarian choices. Care products cover nappies, wipes, suncream and hand sanitiser, so these sit within the charge structure rather than being treated as automatically included in funded care.

A non-refundable administration charge applies to standard joining arrangements and covers enrolment, settling-in sessions and a settling-in pack. For funded-hours-only attendance, an administration charge does not apply. Families accessing funding must complete the separate local authority Parent/Carer Agreement Form within the relevant deadlines.

• Two different booking routes. Standard attendance requires two full days weekly, while entitlement-only patterns allow a single weekly session for the relevant schemes. Choose the route around the attendance your child needs, and have the funded hours, private hours and Everyday Essentials separated in the written quotation.
• Thinking time and challenge. The April 2023 improvement priorities included extending learning and giving children more time to respond. During a visit, ask for an example of how practitioners adapt an activity once a child has mastered it.
• Care shared with another setting. Two-way communication was an April 2023 improvement priority. If your child attends elsewhere too, ask how both teams now exchange information about language, routines and individual needs.
• Food and care products. Catering and consumables have separate charges, alongside a route to sessions without additional charges. Allergy-affected families should discuss current meal arrangements and how their child's needs will be handled.

Kingsmead suits families wanting either a standard multi-day arrangement or an entitlement-only weekly pattern, with outdoor play and city outings forming a substantial part of the offer. The garden's different spaces, animal visits and Winchester City Museum trips give parents concrete reasons to consider it.

The learning questions are equally concrete: how staff extend an activity, how much thinking time children receive, and how communication works across settings. Weigh those alongside the separate charge structure and the attendance route that fits your family.