Wonderbloom Nature Nursery, Sheerwater

An allotment, weekly park outings for each class and clubs spanning cooking and sensory play give Wonderbloom Nature Nursery, Sheerwater its character. This Woking setting connects practical experiences with communication and independence.

At its December 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found effective safeguarding, helpful individual learning plans for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and good support for language development. That judgement needs reading alongside subsequent safety findings. In regulatory outcomes dated 22 October 2025 and 25 June 2026, Ofsted recorded failures to meet some requirements and action already taken to correct them, including stronger checks when children move through the building and improved procedures for entering and leaving the premises.

There are 40 places in total, with a current age range of 6 to 59 months. The day-nursery offer starts at nine months, while the term-time preschool model is for children aged two to four and is accepting applications for January 2027. Families have a choice between attendance across the year and a shorter preschool day during term time.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage frames learning, development and care through play, communication, movement and independence. Wonderbloom adds Be Kinder, connecting kindness, choices, everyday mathematics, communication, creativity and persistence. Children explore numbers through play and practise making decisions and tackling difficulties.

Be Kinder supports expression through speech, gestures, Makaton, PECS and AAC, adapting communication to the child. That matters for families whose children communicate differently.

Montessori principles guide exploration and independent choices. Staff support child-led play by adding language and helping children develop their ideas.

Wonder Clubs are included in the nursery day and rotate through the week, with no separate booking needed. Sporty Minis combines movement games and obstacle courses with balance and coordination practice. Tiny Tastes introduces food preparation through mixing, pouring and safely cutting soft ingredients. These are practical ways to practise physical control and independence.

Glow & Grow brings sensory exploration through lights, sounds and textured materials, offering a quieter pace alongside movement sessions.

Outdoor and Community Life

Mud Club is inspired by Forest School and uses natural materials and nearby green spaces for activities such as den building, nature art and learning about wildlife. Wonder Park takes each class to a local park every week, combining physical play with road-safety learning. The frequency is useful: outings are a recurring part of the programme.

Green Fingers uses the on-site allotments for planting, watering and growing flowers and vegetables. Eating their produce connects children's gardening with food.

In December 2023, garden activities included balancing on low stepping stones and imaginative cooking in a mud kitchen. Adults introduced positional language during movement, linking physical play with mathematics. These examples show how outdoor resources were used for learning at that time.

Each room has a cap of 15 children, separate from whole-setting capacity and daily attendance. It gives families a concrete maximum when weighing group size.

Relationships and Communication

Settling has a clear structure. Children have two or three introductory sessions in the week before starting, adjusted to their booked attendance, and meet their key person. An All About Me form gathers information about routines and interests. The Family Book keeps photographs from home at nursery, while the Nursery Book goes home to help children become familiar with people and spaces. The link works both ways.

Optional extra paid settling sessions allow a slower start for children who need one.

Tapestry carries photographs, observations and updates. The Wonderbloom nursery app handles messages, absence reports, holiday bookings and requests for extra sessions; daily care updates also cover food, sleep, milk feeds and nappy changes. Parents can therefore follow both learning and care routines, rather than receiving photographs alone.

Meetings with a child's key worker take place twice a term, with discussion of interests, developing skills and next steps. Monthly family events and stay-and-play sessions create further opportunities for contact, and a free parent first-aid class runs once a year. These give parent communication a rhythm beyond everyday messages.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Support includes individual plans, one-to-one sessions, visual aids, speech-and-language strategies and help with referrals. Staff training covers safeguarding, SEND, communication, behaviour and sensory needs. These provide practical routes for adapting support to individual children.

School preparation centres on everyday capabilities. Children practise turn-taking through games and cooking, develop hand control with threading and playdough, and receive support to express feelings. Dressing, tidying and asking for help belong in this picture too. The emphasis is on managing the practical and social demands of a new setting.

Fresh home-cooked food is offered, with vegetable starters replacing puddings and milk accompanying snacks. The nursery's dietary arrangements cover many allergies, intolerances and preferences, with families also able to send their own food.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Foodwise T L C, Blackmore Crescent, Woking, GU21 5NZ. Day-nursery opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, with attendance across 50 weeks. Closures include bank holidays, Christmas and the final week of August.

The core day runs from 8am to 5.30pm, with an early or late addition if required. Full-day sessions are also offered from 7.30am to 6pm. Keeping the core day and extended attendance separate helps families see where additional time fits.

The preschool model offers a single 9am to 2pm session, Monday to Friday, over 38 term-time weeks, for children aged two to four. Applications are being accepted for January 2027. It is a different attendance pattern from the all-year nursery day, so the start date matters when comparing the two.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is accepted through Working Parent Entitlement, Early Learning for 2 year olds and Funding for all 3 and 4 year olds. The offer includes 30 hours for eligible working families from nine months and 15 hours for eligible two-, three- and four-year-olds. Funding can be stretched across the year or used during term time, with eligibility remaining a condition of the entitlement.

For the day nursery, funding applies to the core day: the usual arrangement is one funded day with a 15-hour entitlement or two with a 30-hour entitlement. The preschool model typically uses 15 hours across three days or 30 hours across five. Additional private attendance can be added, so funded entitlement and paid hours remain separate choices.

On funded places, meals, snacks and milk are charged separately through an optional all-inclusive package, alongside nappies, wipes and sun cream; families can instead supply these items themselves without an opt-out charge. The package is separate from attendance fees, and invoices itemise the costs. Wonder Clubs are included in the day. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Repeated safety findings. The October 2025 and June 2026 outcomes each recorded non-compliance and corrective action, concerning movement through the building and procedures for entering and leaving. Ask how those procedures operate now, including during free-flow play.
• Challenge within play. In December 2023, some children's play was repetitive and insufficiently challenging; all staff needed support to understand and deliver the intended curriculum fully. Ask how staff extend a child's interests and assess whether planned learning is happening.
• Two attendance models. The all-year core day and the shorter term-time preschool session serve different routines, with preschool applications for January 2027. Discuss the intended start date and attendance pattern during the tour; registration puts a child on the waiting list, with a place confirmed in the term before starting.
• Food and the settling plan. The optional package and bring-from-home alternative affect daily packing, while additional settling sessions are paid. Families managing allergies should confirm current food-handling arrangements and agree the settling timetable before the start.

Wonderbloom suits families looking for an all-year nursery day or a shorter, term-time preschool pattern, with practical learning running through both. Green Fingers, Tiny Tastes and the weekly Wonder Park outings give the offer substance, while the books used for settling and scheduled parent meetings provide concrete ways to connect home and nursery.

The Good judgement from December 2023 is encouraging, but the later, repeated safety findings deserve direct discussion. Curriculum challenge also remains a useful question from that visit. The strongest case for choosing Wonderbloom lies in its hands-on programme and clear attendance choices, alongside a satisfactory explanation of how the corrective safety procedures work today.