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Finkley Down Farm Nursery and Pre-School

Ofsted: Outstanding
(Oct 2023)
·
4.8(47 parent reviews) ·Finkley Down Nursery, Coppin, Andover, SP11 6NF · Hampshire
Number of places
56 places
Age range
2–4 yrs
Last inspected
Oct 2023
Local authority
Hampshire

About this day nursery

Finkley Nurseries, established in 2017 by early years expert Alison Dennis, provides exceptional childcare and education for children from three months to five years old. The nursery group is dedicated to fostering warm, stimulating environments where children can flourish through play-based learning and exploration.

Starting from its original setting at Finkley Down Farm in Andover, the group has expanded to several locations, including East Anton, Weeke (Winchester), Hudson's Field (Salisbury), and Amesbury, with another opening in Overton in autumn 2026. A distinctive aspect of Finkley Nurseries is its commitment to outdoor experiences, offering frequent excursions to local libraries, woodlands, and community attractions, including daily visits to the award-winning Finkley Down Farm for many of its branches.

This approach emphasises real-world learning to cultivate curiosity, self-assurance, and social connections. Each nursery is thoughtfully designed to promote free-flow play, incorporating extensive gardens, mud kitchens, vegetable patches, bike tracks, and calming sensory areas to encourage independence, creativity, and happiness.

As part of Attraction Nurseries, Finkley Nurseries shares a common vision for providing meaningful and inspiring early years education.

Our ethos

Finkley Nurseries is dedicated to fostering warm, stimulating environments that encourage children to flourish through play-based learning and exploration. The nursery emphasises real-world learning through frequent outdoor excursions and thoughtfully designed spaces to cultivate curiosity, self-assurance, independence, creativity, and happiness.

What it's like

Leaders have created an extremely unique, child-centred learning environment where children are eager to start their adventure each day. Staff know their families well and accurately plan to support any identified gaps in learning from the earliest opportunity. The highly ambitious curriculum, enriched around prime areas of learning, builds children's resilience and teaches them to manage safety and assess risks.

Nature-based learningPlay-based curriculumFarm visitsCommunity engagement

Pricing & funding

Pricing on request

This nursery doesn't publish its fees online. Contact them directly for an up-to-date price list and availability.

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Key facts

Opening hours

7.30am to 6pm, all year round.

Age range

3 months to 5 years

Term time / All Year

All Year

Ofsted Inspection

Ofsted rating for Finkley Down Farm Nursery and Pre-School

Last inspected 19 October 2023

Safeguarding effective
Overall effectiveness
Outstanding
Quality of education
Outstanding
Behaviour and attitudes
Outstanding
Personal development
Outstanding
Leadership and management
Outstanding

What it's like to attend

Leaders have created an extremely unique, child-centred learning environment where children are eager to start their adventure each day. Staff know their families well and accurately plan to support any identified gaps in learning from the earliest opportunity. The highly ambitious curriculum, enriched around prime areas of learning, builds children's resilience and teaches them to manage safety and assess risks.

Inspector highlights

  • Leaders have created an extremely unique, child-centred learning environment.
  • The ambitious curriculum is expertly enriched to extend, challenge and stretch children's knowledge and understanding.
  • Staff provide children with an abundance of opportunities to be physically active, using rolling tyres in the garden and planting and digging for vegetables.
  • Children benefit from additional experiences daily, with the farm and yurt used effectively for experimenting with natural resources.
  • Staff have established clear strategies to support children to learn about rules, boundaries, and expected levels of behaviour.
Inspection #10285867 · Source: OfstedView full Ofsted report

What parents say

Verbatim quotes recorded in the Ofsted inspection

excellent' and 'experienced' staff, particularly their children's key person, are at keeping them informed about their child's progress.

Inclusion & environment

How they support every child

SEND provision

Staff consistently support children's communication and language using Makaton. This not only supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, but it also promotes understanding for children who speak English as an additional language.

Outdoor space

Children explore gravity and force as they enjoy rolling tyres down the mound in the garden. They plant and dig for vegetables. The farm and yurt are used effectively to provide children with unique opportunities to experiment with natural resources; for example, exploring blacksmith tools and learning about conditions for rare reptiles.

Parent Reviews of Finkley Down Farm Nursery and Pre-School

4.8
(47)
Kirsty Galbraith
7 months ago

If I could give 6 stars, I would. The team are phenomenal and we wouldn’t want our child to go anywhere else. The support we have received as parents as well as the support our child has received is beyond anything we could ask for and far beyond expectation. Our daughter started at Finkley Down Farm Nursery when she was just 2 and non-verbal. In only six months, she came on leaps and bounds and she’s now more or less on track for her age — and that’s entirely thanks to the incredible team. Every single member of the team is caring, professional, and truly gets to know all the children, creating a safe and nurturing environment where they can thrive (particularly embracing and encouraging our child’s wild personality). Our daughter has challenges with food, and the nursery have gone above and beyond to support her. They keep us updated constantly, worked closely with us, and made sure she always felt comfortable and included. Not a day goes by without engaging activities and fun themes — they’re always coming up with creative ideas to keep the children excited about learning. A special mention goes to Jodi, her key worker, who is so engaging and clearly loves what she does. You can see how much she genuinely cares about each child. We honestly couldn’t ask for more from Finkley Down Farm Nursery. It’s a truly positive, inclusive, and inspiring place for little ones to grow.

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C H
5 months ago

Absolutely brilliant Environment for our daughter in the Baby Room. Alex and the team are extremely caring, energetic, considerate and phenomenal in creating a nurturing setting. The activities and setup of the baby room are second to none and each member of staff are exceptional in the caring manner that they provide each baby. Our daughter has thrived in her development at the Baby Room, and loves going to the farm, which they provide frequent trips to for the babies to see and engage with the animals. An absolutely brilliant Baby Room/PreSchool!

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Chloe Wood
11 months ago

My little boy has recently started at Finkley, in the baby room. We've had nothing but a positive experience with the team and the setting. The building is built with the babies in mind; they even have their own soft play and crawl safe garden! The farm is such an added bonus; being able to explore it anytime of the day, doing the usual daily activities, such as pony grooming and so much more! Even the short time my son has attended, his development has come on leaps and bounds! The setting work brilliantly alongside myself and my husband, making sure that my son is happy and gets the most out of his time at nursery. The communication between the setting and myself is amazing; I get frequent updates on my son and how he's doing. My son absolutely adores his key worker and she goes above and beyond for him! Any question I have as a parent is never too much trouble and she'll do everything she can to answer it there and then. The whole team is wonderful, even down to the kitchen staff and house, Nanny! The management team are amazing! They are very much present within the day to day running of the nursery and know my son very well, already! Again, nothing is too much trouble, they go above and beyond for every family within the setting! Finkley isn't just a business, it's a family and that's clear to see already, in the short period of time my son has attended!

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Steve Anning
8 months ago

Our son attends Finkley and he loves it. Finkley gives our son access to great resources like the farm and soft play, and the staff are always putting on great activities. Beyond the activities is the kindness of the staff, especially his key worker Jodi, who our son adores. Highly recommended.

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Emily Shelton
11 months ago

If you’re looking for a safe, nurturing & educational place for your children to attend, Finkley nursery is one of the best around. Soon all three of children will either be attending or have attended Finkley nursery and they’ve loved it. As much as five stars is a great review, there’s nothing better then children saying how much they love it. The staff are outstanding, it’ll be a choice you’ll never second guess. Xx

Read on Google

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Inspection history

Most recent inspection

19 October 2023

Outstanding

Only one graded inspection on record — a trend chart will appear here once a second graded report is published.

View full Ofsted report

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