Chessgrove Park Day Nursery

Two converted barns and a rural farm setting give Chessgrove Park Day Nursery its character. The Baby Barn serves babies and young toddlers, while the School Barn caters for children aged three to five. For families drawn to outdoor learning, the farm setting is more than a backdrop: in May 2025, even the youngest children explored its grounds with staff.

At its 8 May 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and judged safeguarding effective. The detail behind that judgement matters: sensory exploration, animated storytelling and conversations about the natural world gave children concrete experiences to think and talk about.

Chessgrove Park has capacity for 100 children, accepting ages from three months to five years. Its Hanbury setting combines separate environments for younger and older children with opening hours extending from early morning into the evening.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Barn gives babies and young toddlers their own building within the farm courtyard. The School Barn is the setting for three- to five-year-olds, so the move towards school takes place in an environment intended for older children rather than in the same space as the youngest babies.

Within the Baby Barn, room names include Bluebell Wood and Eades Meadow; Clover Field and School Room belong to the School Barn. These names give parents useful reference points when discussing their child's room and later moves between groups. Activities are planned around children's developmental stages, and the layout is designed to support those transitions.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care, with play and everyday experiences supplying opportunities to practise language, explore materials and build relationships. Weekly activity planning takes account of children's ages, the season and celebrations. Easter, Diwali and Christmas are included in activities across the year.

At the May 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that carefully planned learning and questions encouraging children to consider possibilities helped them make rapid progress across their learning. Babies searched through soil for dinosaurs and watched melting ice reveal them. The dinosaurs gave babies a reason to explore textures and observe change.

In May 2025, stories received sustained attention, with staff using expressive voices and teaching children to handle books carefully. Songs combined with signs and gestures gave children further ways to join in. Learning was conversational, with adults making room for children's ideas rather than simply supplying answers.

Outdoor and Community Life

The rural surroundings are used for exercise, fresh air and play. In May 2025, children could choose to take their learning outside, and the youngest explored the farm grounds. Staff used dandelions to prompt discussion, blowing the seeds while children watched what happened. Watching the seeds move gave children something concrete to discuss.

Swimming lessons and learning about water safety also formed part of children's experiences in May 2025. This added a different physical activity to outdoor exploration, with safety itself included in the learning rather than treated solely as an adult responsibility.

Relationships and Communication

In May 2025, staff knew children closely and had built relationships with families from the youngest age. Parents contributed their views, and communication went in both directions, with regular feedback between home and nursery. For families, the practical value is a relationship in which their knowledge of their child can inform the nursery day.

Support for friendships was also visible that month. Adults modelled respectful behaviour and encouraged children to work through small disagreements with one another. Rather than resolving every difficulty for them, staff helped children practise managing relationships, an everyday part of preparation for their next stage.

Regular meetings, induction and training supported the staff team in May 2025. Leaders also used check-ins and flexible working arrangements to attend to staff wellbeing. These arrangements provided opportunities for staff to discuss their work and receive support, including those who had joined more recently.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Day packages include snacks, drinks and a hot lunch with two courses; caterers prepare the food and work with the nursery on religious and special dietary requirements. Children staying beyond 4pm also receive afternoon tea.

In May 2025, staff used head counts and planned their positions as children moved around the nursery. That practical supervision detail is especially relevant in a setting where children use outdoor spaces and take part in swimming activities.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Chessgrove Park operates for 51 weeks each year, excluding bank holidays, with a Christmas closure. This is an across-the-year setting, so its calendar is relevant to parents arranging care during school holidays as well as ordinary working weeks.

Getting There

The address is Ditchford Bank Road, Hanbury, near Bromsgrove, B60 4HS. The nursery occupies converted barns in a farm courtyard along country lanes, a setting whose everyday journey deserves as much consideration as its outdoor appeal.

Enquiries can be made on 01527 821975 or by email to chessgrove@woodlandhousegroup.co.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered for three- and four-year-olds, with up to 30 hours, and for eligible two-year-olds, with up to 15 hours. Eligibility still matters: the offer should not be read as an entitlement to the maximum hours for every child.

Hot lunch, snacks and drinks are included in day packages.

• The move between barns. Babies and young toddlers use the Baby Barn, while three- to five-year-olds use the School Barn. During a visit, discuss how a move between buildings is introduced and how familiar relationships are maintained.
• The youngest children's routine. Farm exploration involved even the youngest children in May 2025. Ask how outdoor time fits around your baby's sleep, feeding and settling routine.
• The funded booking. Funded hours and inclusive day packages are both part of the offer. Request one written explanation of your intended attendance pattern, funded-hours delivery and any meal or consumables charges.

Chessgrove Park suits families seeking care across the year who value a rural setting, separate buildings for younger and older children, and learning built around practical exploration. The May 2025 findings give substance to that appeal: babies investigated changing materials, children joined in stories and songs, and adults made everyday discoveries into conversations.

The barns and farm grounds are the strongest reasons to consider it. For a family with a young baby, the deciding conversation should centre on the Baby Barn's daily routine and the eventual move into the older children's setting.