Opening Hours:

We are open Monday-Friday 8:15am-4:15pm, 50 weeks of the year, with a week off in August and a week off during Christmas. We offer breakfast which starts at 7:30am and tea which finishes at 6:00pm at our other setting: The Farmyard Nursery. 

~We have limited spaces from September 2026~

General Information:

We are a children’s nursery for 3-5 year olds that uses forest school principles in our learning ethos. We are located on the same site as our other setting: The Farmyard Nursery. This enables us to:

  • Have a homecooked hot lunch provided by The Farmyard Nursery’s chef
  • Provide breakfast and tea sessions at The Farmyard Nursery for children attending The Woodyard Forest School.
  • We share resources with The Farmyard Nursery and often spend time with The Farmyard Nursery’s children, such as going on walks or doing activities together.

We have a yurt for the children to play inside with a cosy log fire, but most children prefer to spend their time playing outside all day, so warm and waterproof clothing is essential.

Our Outdoor Space

We provide plenty of outside space for the children to explore. They have a fire circle where the children sit on logs and sometimes have their snack on the fire. The children are very aware of the fire safety rules at The Woodyard Forest School. We also have a mud kitchen, decking, sandpit, climbing frame, slide and tyres to climb into. We have many different ‘secret’ paths for the children to explore between the trees and hidden in the long grass, all while being under the supervision of our forest school practitioners.

We have many acres of land for the children to explore on walks, such as woods, ponds and fields.

Online Learning Journal

We have an online learning journal called Tapestry where we publish videos, photos and observations of your child for you to view at any time. This can give some parents peace of mind when their child is first settling into nursery. Parents can add their own posts from home to share with us as well.

Sessions and Funding

Fees:

All children are eligible for 15 hours per week term time after the term they 3 years old. We do a ‘stretched offer’ which stretches the 15 hours per week to 11 hours per week over the whole year. Some children are eligible for 30 hours per week, which we stretch to 24 hours. If your session falls on a bank holiday, you will not be charged.

Early Years Educational Entitlement funding does not cover the enhanced experiences or consumables that we feel our settings provide and below are some of the ways we go above and beyond basic EYFS provision.

  • Most days we are overstaffed. 

  • Our meals are cooked on site everyday using fresh ingredients. Louise our cook has many nutritional qualifications and is able to provide a balanced diet for your child.

  • The children have access to woodland and fields and many experiences that this farm offers. 

  • The Farmyard Nursery Partnership and The Woodyard Forest School have had five consecutive Outstanding Ofsted ratings together.  

We appreciate that we are asking parents for an additional fee charge but for the above reasons we hope that you feel it is worth it. If your child is with us for four years, then the additional fee charge will mean that the costs will be spread out evenly over the four years.

Our additional fee includes breakfast, lunch with a pudding, snacks, wipes, suncream. It also includes extra resources provided that enhance delivery of the Early Years Foundation Stage. 

As the additional fees are non-mandatory, we are having to review our fees and funding each term to ensure we are sustainable. If you wish to discuss the additional fees, then please contact sara@thefarmyardnursery.co.uk for further information.

Prices are from September 2025:

The additional charge will be:

  • £16.00 per day (8:15-16:15)

Any hours that go beyond what you are eligible to claim will be at our private rate which is as follows from September 2025:

 

  • £8.00 per hour