Cedar Park Day Nursery, Twyford

Two and a half acres of gardens give Cedar Park Day Nursery, Twyford its clearest character: children grow vegetables, taste the harvest and spend time in woodland as part of their nursery day. This is outdoor space with a purpose. The combination of gardening, regular woodland sessions and a preschool Eco-Committee gives families more to weigh than the size of the grounds alone.

On Bridge Farm Road in Twyford, the nursery has capacity for 129 children and accepts babies from two months old. At its December 2021 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Good overall, with Outstanding judgements for behaviour and attitudes and personal development. The strongest practical attraction is the daily access to gardens for every age group; the educational question is how consistently activities translate into clear learning.

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, across the year apart from public holidays and inset days. For parents comparing care for a baby with provision for an older sibling, the room progression is useful: the youngest children receive care built around familiar routines, while preschool introduces phonics and structured learning in small groups.

Rooms and Ages

Caterpillars serves the youngest children, with a key person aiming to continue home routines as far as possible while supporting early communication and relationships. Ladybirds emphasises language, movement and social development, alongside making choices and becoming more independent. In Bumblebees, exploration and observation support vocabulary, thinking and practical independence. Butterflies likewise combines communication and physical development with self-help skills and close relationships with a key person. Preschool extends self-care and communication, adding school preparation and small-group learning.

All children use the gardens daily, with outdoor areas suited to different ages and opportunities to plant, grow and harvest produce.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children’s learning, development and care: play and everyday experiences support communication, movement and growing independence. Cedar Park’s preschool offer adds Ready, Steady, Grow for school preparation and Read, Write, Inc for phonics. Small-group learning gives these activities a different format from the exploratory play elsewhere in the day.

In December 2021, children explored mathematical comparisons while choosing materials for a dinosaur swamp. Younger children used familiar stories, repetition and props to build understanding, while older children encountered non-fiction books and questions that encouraged them to explain their ideas. These examples show learning threaded through play: comparing materials is an opportunity to use mathematical language, and discussing a book is an opportunity to extend vocabulary.

The same December 2021 account included sensory exploration for babies and toddlers and imaginative food preparation for older children. Preschool children used herbs and vegetables in an exploratory kitchen, combining conversation with collaborative play. There was also a clear improvement point: staff sometimes needed to identify more precisely what an activity was intended to teach. Enthusiasm and interesting resources were established strengths; sharper learning intentions were the next step.

Outdoor and Community Life

Childbase Specialised Woodland Play provides regular sessions led by a Forest School Leader, taking learning into the woodland. A past charity art project drew on woodland activities including den building, animal observations and collecting autumn materials. The practical value is the continuity between the grounds and the activities: children can use the setting itself as material for exploration, construction and creative work.

Cedar Park participates in the group-wide Eco-Schools programme, which teaches environmental responsibility through practical projects. Its own Eco-Committee involves preschool children in reducing wasted paper and water and sharing environmental messages with others. A branch environmental project earned Green Flag with Distinction, with activities including wildlife habitats, growing produce, using recycled materials and community litter picking.

Past projects make that approach tangible. Butterflies children decorated an Eco-Tree with natural materials and bird feeders, then checked whether wildlife had eaten the food. Children have also followed eggs in an incubator through hatching and helped replenish the chicks’ food and water. These are concrete encounters with living things, giving care and observation a purpose beyond an adult explanation.

Community learning has included a visit from Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, with children examining protective clothing and a fire engine before discussing hazards and fire drills. Families and staff have also contributed essentials to First Days and food and household supplies to Woodley Foodbank.

Relationships and Communication

Settling starts with time together in the child’s room. Before the start date, families meet the key person and share information about their child during settling sessions. For the youngest children, the intention is to preserve home routines as far as possible, with a familiar practitioner involved in the main care tasks. That is a useful starting point for parents whose baby’s feeds, comfort and daily rhythm need careful discussion.

The group-wide Parentzone app carries updates from nursery and allows parents to contribute information from home. Conversations about progress also include changes in routines, interests and development. This gives communication a practical purpose: what happens at home can inform the nursery day, rather than updates travelling in only one direction.

In December 2021, communication also included newsletters, discussions, parent events and workshops.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the December 2021 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and the special educational needs coordinator’s work effective, with staff collaborating with other professionals and children needing additional support achieving good outcomes. Those are dated judgements. Their practical substance was staff knowing how to raise safeguarding concerns and specialist support being coordinated with the professionals involved in a child’s care.

Food also connects care with the outdoor offer: children taste produce they have grown, served by the nursery chef. Meals and snacks are included in the nursery fee, as are formula milk, nappies, wipes, nappy cream and sun cream, reducing the everyday supplies families need to organise separately.

Sessions and Attendance

Cedar Park’s address is Bridge Farm Road, Twyford, RG10 9PP. It opens from 7.30am until 6.30pm on weekdays, for 52 weeks of the year excluding public holidays and inset days.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 0118 934 0118 or by email to cedar.park@childbase.com. The nursery also offers a form for enquiries and tour bookings. Registration is followed by written confirmation when a booking can be offered; otherwise, the child is added to the waiting list. Settling sessions are organised as the start date approaches, giving families time with their key person before care begins.

Funding and Paid Extras

The fully inclusive fee covers activities as well as food and everyday care consumables. Formula, nappies, wipes, nappy cream and sun cream are included alongside meals and snacks. Parents also receive access to the group-wide Childbase@Home service, which provides books, online experiences and parent workshops and masterclasses. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

Cedar Park offers funded childcare, with funding factsheets for two-year-olds and children aged three to four.

• Learning intentions. In December 2021, staff were asked to be more precise about what activities should teach. On a visit, ask how practitioners now identify the learning behind woodland play, phonics and small-group activities.
• A baby’s daily rhythm. Caterpillars uses a key person and aims to maintain familiar home routines. Use the settling discussion to work through feeds, rest and comfort, and how that continuity will work for your child.
• The complete funded booking. The nursery’s inclusive fee covers food and care supplies, while funded early education was provided in December 2021. Ask for the funded attendance pattern and its treatment of meals, consumables and additional paid hours together in writing.
• Year-round care with closures. Public holidays and inset days sit outside the opening calendar. Include those days when planning work cover, and use a tour to see how your child’s room accesses the gardens and woodland.

Cedar Park suits families who value daily outdoor activity, practical environmental learning and a progression from familiar baby care to preschool phonics and school preparation. Its grounds support that offer with gardening, woodland exploration and real encounters with wildlife. The December 2021 assessment gives a positive, dated quality picture, balanced by a specific question about the precision of teaching.