Woodstock Day Nursery

A converted whitewashed house, a garden with climbing trees and a beach nearby give Woodstock Day Nursery a recognisable Worthing character. Creative work extends beyond the usual painting table: visiting specialists bring street dance, drumming and large art projects into the nursery day. For families who want outdoor play and creative experiences woven into childcare, there is plenty here to weigh up.

Woodstock occupies 1 Farncombe Road, Worthing, BN11 2BE, and has capacity for 52 children, from one month to five years old. At its February 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good, finding that teaching supported children's progress and that safeguarding arrangements were effective. That is a dated judgement.

Children have age-group bases but use other rooms too. The result is a day organised around different spaces for play, meals and rest, rather than one room doing every job. Attendance runs across the year; term-time-only bookings are not accepted.

Rooms and Ages

Poppy Room gives the under-twos a ground-floor base, combining language and pretend play with sensory resources, books and a comfortable corner, while a darkened area supports naps according to each child's routine.

Daisy Room accommodates messy exploration with jelly, paint and water, cooking beside the kitchen and quieter activities for children who are awake after lunch.

Buttercup Room, upstairs, is the base for the two-year-old Cats, with construction and pretend-play resources, a comfortable quiet area and a later change of use for daytime sleep.

Lavender Room serves the three- and four-year-old Tigers, bringing together books, mathematics and creative resources with practical independence, including helping with snacks, pouring drinks and clearing tables.

These are bases rather than fixed boundaries: children spend time elsewhere in the house as the day unfolds. Child-sized bathroom fittings upstairs and downstairs make everyday tasks more manageable. The emphasis on helping themselves in Lavender also gives older children small, repeated opportunities to practise the skills they will use beyond nursery.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS guides learning and development through play, with younger children's activities emphasising movement, communication and relationships, alongside growing opportunities for mathematics, literacy and creative expression. Individual planning draws on observations from the preceding month, so a child's interests help shape what comes next. The curriculum approach also emphasises exploring, listening to others, communicating ideas and persevering with challenges.

Creative Waves spends one week each month at Woodstock, supporting large art projects and making props for the children's nativity and leavers' play. Wannado Street Dance brings movement to music and practice in following instructions. Drumming sessions with Good Vibrations explore musical styles while giving children opportunities to work on rhythm, listening and coordination. These additions have a clear place in the day: children make, move and listen, rather than simply watch a visiting adult.

Practitioners trained through Mini-Me Yoga lead 15-minute sessions for children aged two, three and four, who choose poses and join in with an adult. Cooking and woodwork provide further ways to create. The daily timetable mixes freely chosen play with shorter periods for stories, music and early phonics, leaving room for both children's own interests and adult-led activity.

The February 2022 inspection identified two areas for improvement: incorporating home languages and cultures more fully, and allowing children's ideas and spontaneous learning to develop before adults ended activities. In February 2022, occasional changes of activity interrupted children's exploration, and languages spoken at home were not being used enough within learning. These are useful points against which to assess the present curriculum.

Outdoor and Community Life

A mud kitchen, rope swing and wobbly bridge give the garden different kinds of play, alongside a sand pit, growing areas and a large play house. All age groups use it during the day, and siblings can spend time together outdoors. Artificial grass supports use across the seasons; planting, tending and tasting the harvest give children a practical connection between growing food and eating it.

Regular beach walks extend exploration beyond the garden. Other short outings can include the park or library, with participation tracked so children can be included over time; outings depend on having enough accompanying adults. An annual whole-day outing invites families to join, with younger children requiring a parent or another responsible adult to accompany them.

Family Days take place on Saturdays several times a year. Past themes have included growing vegetables and making smoothies, and games on Beach Green. These occasions give parents a way to meet their child's friends and other families beyond the brief daily exchange.

Relationships and Communication

Settling starts before the first booked day. Children make at least three preparatory visits, with more arranged according to individual need, and have an allocated key person. Staff gather information about diet, sleep, communication and medical needs, so familiar routines can inform care from the start. As children change age groups, relationships with the next practitioners are built in advance.

Daily handovers cover activities, meals, sleep and toileting. Parents can also access their child's online information, while eyLog shares observations, photographs and examples of creative work. This gives families something concrete to discuss with the key person, rather than relying only on a brief account at collection.

Parents' Evenings allow time to review development in detail. At least two Parent Focus evenings each year address questions raised by families, including sleep, potty training, behaviour and choosing a first school. The value is practical: conversations about nursery learning can connect with what is happening at home.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Support for additional needs follows a defined process. A key person discusses concerns with the family and SENCO, and planning based on the child's interests is shared with the practitioners involved. Two practitioners have completed SENCO training. Outside help, including speech and language therapy or Portage, is considered in consultation with parents, keeping families involved in decisions about support.

The building matters here. Internal steps and the staircase mean the house is not wheelchair accessible, although a side gate can provide wheelchair access to much of the garden for family events. Adaptations have included markings on steps for children with visual impairments, and a practitioner uses British Sign Language. Suitability for an individual child's needs is considered with the family rather than assumed from a general inclusion statement.

Rest has its own arrangements. In Buttercup, blinds darken the room, children use low beds and practitioners settle them with quiet music and familiar comforters; a staff member remains until the sleepers have woken. Poppy's nap area allows babies' routines to be followed separately. Children who are awake can continue with quieter play elsewhere.

Cooks prepare lunches and teas in the nursery kitchen using a five-week menu cycle, and babies' weaning is planned with parents. Dietary arrangements accommodate allergies and personal or religious preferences, while formula is supplied to match the milk a baby uses.

When a school place has been confirmed, transition support can involve the receiving school's SENCO, information sharing and agreed visits. Woodstock's SENCO remains available to the school during the first term, giving the next team a route back to practitioners who know the child.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Morning and afternoon sessions both combine outdoor and indoor play with short structured activities. Bookings run across the year, rather than term time alone; closures include bank holidays and a week between Christmas and New Year, with a 1pm finish on Christmas Eve.

Joining begins with an enquiry form, followed by an invitation to arrange a showaround. The application then records preferred sessions and a start date. A waiting list operates when a requested place cannot be offered, and an offer remains open for two weeks. Acceptance involves signing the agreement and paying a deposit plus a non-refundable registration charge; the deposit is credited against the first invoice.

Getting There

The address is 1 Farncombe Road, Worthing, BN11 2BE, on a residential street. The nursery is 200 metres from Worthing beach, giving its regular coastal outings a useful local setting.

Funding and Paid Extras

Woodstock offers Free Entitlement and accepts Tax Free Childcare. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The deposit and registration charge are separate parts of joining, so they belong alongside the ongoing childcare cost when planning the initial commitment.

• Access through the house. Playrooms occupy different floors and there are steps between spaces. Families needing accessible care should discuss their child's daily route, equipment and support during the visit.
• Child-led learning and home languages. The February 2022 improvement points concerned interrupted exploration and fuller use of children's languages and cultures. Ask how today's activities allow ideas to develop and how your family's language will be represented.
• Year-round commitment. Term-time-only bookings are not accepted, and Christmas closures affect the annual pattern. Match the proposed attendance arrangement to your work calendar and the nursery's closure dates.
• The full quotation. A deposit and non-refundable registration charge accompany acceptance. Ask for a written breakdown covering your chosen sessions, funded hours, meals, formula, nappies and other consumables, and whether visiting activities carry an additional charge.

Woodstock suits families seeking year-round attendance with morning or afternoon sessions, creative specialists and outdoor play as part of the nursery day. Its converted-house layout and garden give children different spaces for active exploration, quieter play and rest, while key-person planning and online observations connect nursery life with home.

Creative Waves, dance and drumming supply concrete additions to everyday play. The main decisions are equally concrete: whether the stepped building works for your child, whether the year-round booking commitment fits your calendar, and how the curriculum now addresses the February 2022 improvement points.