Farnborough Grange Nursery Review

Weather watching, sound games and exploration walks to the school forest area give Farnborough Grange’s nursery a practical starting point: learning through things children can hear, handle and notice. This is the school’s own provision for children aged two to four, on Moor Road in Farnborough. Its nursery day has separate morning and afternoon sessions.

Ofsted judged early years provision Requires improvement at the inspection on 28 and 29 January 2025. That judgement covers the school’s early years provision, rather than a separately inspected nursery.

Learning starts with familiar experiences. Within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), nursery children explore mathematical ideas through play: matching objects, sorting, counting and investigating patterns and shapes. White Rose is the school’s maths scheme. Practical activities give young children something concrete to work with before they explain their thinking.

Creative work gives children choices. In art, they learn to select materials safely and turn their ideas into designs; design and technology also asks them to imagine possible uses for materials. Music brings nursery rhymes, instruments and experiments with vocal sounds. These are opportunities to make decisions, try something out and express an idea.

Little Wandle supports the nursery’s early phonics work. Children explore rhyme, distinguish sounds around them and use body percussion; they also practise joining spoken sounds into words and separating words into sounds. The emphasis here is on listening as a foundation for reading. Computing begins just as practically, with toys that demonstrate cause and effect and simple sequences of instructions, such as the steps involved in toothbrushing.

Outside, children observe the weather each day and explore their immediate surroundings. EYFS exploration walks include the school forest area, while Forest School runs for one half term each year across the school. Physical learning includes wheeled toys, independent climbing and early practice in catching and throwing. Movement is part of the learning itself.

Teaching consistency. In January 2025, curriculum delivery, including early reading, was uneven in early years, and some activities failed to extend children’s knowledge sufficiently. Some children also needed greater challenge. Families should weigh the specific learning activities against these concerns about how consistently they were taught.

The nursery team includes teachers, a deputy manager and keyworkers, alongside teaching assistants and learning support. An extended-care responsibility also sits within the nursery keyworker team.

For additional needs, the school’s approach allows teaching to be adapted to the individual child. Its special educational needs coordinator provides advice and support for parents, with appointments arranged through the office. This gives families a direct route to discuss learning needs.

Child protection concerns can be sent to safeguarding@farnboroughgrange.hants.sch.uk. CPOMS is used to log concerns and follow them through, providing a shared system for staff handling child protection information.

Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions route; here, that means applying to Hampshire County Council. Treat the nursery choice and the later school application as two separate decisions.

Morning nursery runs from 8.40am to 11.40am, with the afternoon session from 12.10pm to 3.10pm. These timings are the practical starting point for matching a session to family routines.

To arrange a nursery tour, call 01252 541879 and book an appointment with the headteacher. General enquiries go to adminoffice@farnboroughgrange.hants.sch.uk. The nursery is at Moor Road, Farnborough, GU14 8HW.