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Goldfinch Nursery

Ofsted: Good
(Apr 2022)
·
5.0(11 parent reviews)
·Goldfinch Farm, Ford Road, Herne Bay, CT6 7AD · Kent
Number of places
57 places
Age range
0–4 yrs
Last inspected
Apr 2022
Local authority
Kent

About this day nursery

Goldfinch Nursery, located in Herne Bay, offers a nurturing and stimulating environment for children aged 0 to 5 years. The nursery focuses on supporting each child's individual development through a balanced approach of structured activities and free play, aiming to build strong foundations in communication, independence, and social interaction.

Their facilities include bright classrooms, secure outdoor play areas, dedicated sensory rooms, and high-quality learning resources. The nursery prioritises cleanliness and safety, and provides healthy snacks prepared in an onsite kitchen.

They also have separate baby and toddler rooms designed for specific age groups. Goldfinch Nursery is committed to creating an atmosphere where children feel secure, valued, and encouraged to express themselves, preparing them for school and future life.

They offer settling-in sessions to help children acclimate to the new environment and encourage appointments for personal tours to meet the team and address any questions.

What it's like

Children thoroughly enjoy their time at this friendly, welcoming nursery. The rural setting is extremely inviting. On arrival, children enjoy stopping and watching pigs happily playing in their pens, and looking at tractors and other machinery nearby. These features provide a great start to the day and help to ignite children's interests and curiosity.

Holistic Development FocusSecure Outdoor PlayNurturing EnvironmentSensory and Quiet Areas

Pricing & funding

This nursery offers full-day packages with standard sessions running until 5:00pm or 5:30pm. Fees include morning care, breakfast, and snacks for standard packages, with options to add extended care up to 6:00pm. Funded hours are available during specific session times, alongside a monthly consumables charge.

Funding accepted

15 hours — universal (3–4 yrs)30 hours — working parents (3–4 yrs)15 hours — eligible 2-year-olds15 hours — working parents (9 months–2 yrs)Tax-Free Childcare

Good to know

  • Operates full-day sessions only within 7:30am - 6:00pm.
  • Funded hours are free within standard sessions, with hours outside these periods being chargeable.
  • Standard Package includes early morning care, breakfast, and snacks.
  • Monthly consumables fee covers wipes, tissues, sunscreen, party days, and crafts.

Key facts

Food

Parents must supply a packed lunch and tea; nursery provides breakfast and snacks (chargeable via consumables fee or optional opt-in for funded-only families).

Waitlist

Book now for babies September 2027 intake, no other availability at present

Opening hours

Monday - Friday, 7:30am - 6:00pm

Age range

0 to 5 years

Term time / All Year

All Year

Session types

Full-day sessions only

Established

2010

Ofsted Inspection

Ofsted rating for Goldfinch Nursery

Last inspected 12 April 2022

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

What it's like to attend

Children thoroughly enjoy their time at this friendly, welcoming nursery. The rural setting is extremely inviting. On arrival, children enjoy stopping and watching pigs happily playing in their pens, and looking at tractors and other machinery nearby. These features provide a great start to the day and help to ignite children's interests and curiosity.

Inspector highlights

  • Children take part in interesting and exciting activities that are well matched to their interests and needs.
  • The nursery's leadership team is effective in driving improvement.
  • Children benefit from many opportunities to practise physical control and spatial awareness in the large outdoor play space.
  • Children make friends easily and are kind and respectful to one another.
  • Partnership with parents is good.

Areas to develop

  • 1n improve teaching to the highest level by ensuring that staff are always responding to what children are doing and saying, and allow them time to embed learning before moving on
  • 2n strengthen the planning of group times to focus more precisely on all children's learning to help ensure they remain focused and engaged.
Inspection #10228537 · Source: OfstedView full Ofsted report

What parents say

Verbatim quotes recorded in the Ofsted inspection

Parents comment that staff are friendly and welcoming.

Inclusion & environment

How they support every child

SEND provision

Leaders use funding well to support children who need extra help with their learning. Good partnerships are formed with parents, schools and any other agencies involved to make sure every child's learning and development needs are clearly understood and planned for. Children with speech delay are well supported and staff are passionate about making improvements. Adults and children use simple sign language to support those who need further development in their interactions.

Outdoor space

Children benefit from many opportunities to practise physical control and spatial awareness in the large outdoor play space. For example, they learn to carefully step across and balance along different-sized logs. Staff utilise the logs to create a bug corner where children can learn about minibeasts. They enjoy helping to care for plants and flowers and explore water in buckets and jugs.

Parent Reviews of Goldfinch Nursery

5.0
(11)
Demi Seymour-Ley
10 months ago

Our son and daughter both attend Goldfinch Nursery and absolutely love it! We have seen so much progress in both children since attending. The staff are absolutely wonderful! Everyone is so very caring and will do everything possible to help support your child. Our son has very particular interests and we have found the nursery to be very patient with him and accommodating helping to incorporate these into the learning so he can engage with the rest of the group. This is something the previous nursery he attended did not support. We are so glad we chose Goldfinch Nursery. Our children are thriving and we can't thank them enough.

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Joanna Miles
11 months ago

Our experience at Goldfinch has been wonderful! My daughter is always happy to go in and comes out smiling, which gives me peace of mind knowing she's happy and safe. All of the staff have been welcoming and the environment is always being adapted to further benefit the children. Activities are carefully planned with engaging topics and cultural events to enrich their early learning. In less than a year, we've seen incredible progress in our daughter’s speech and confidence. We are so happy with our choice to send our daughter to Goldfinch and we can’t recommend it enough.

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Charlotte Lambert
11 months ago

My daughter has been with Goldfinch for a year and a half, and couldn’t be happier. She has bonded so well with the staff in the baby room and more recently the nursery class and I have no doubt that the next transition will go just as smoothly. No tears on drop off, she looks forward to her day and has developed leaps and bounds in such a short space of time - what more could a parent ask for? We would highly recommend to any parent looking for a safe and happy environment for their child to flourish.

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Danielle Miles
11 months ago

My two boys have grown in confidence since starting at Goldfinch Nursery in September. The fun and engaging activities they do, as well as topic days and visitors, prepare them incredibly well for starting school in September. As soon as I walked into the environment, I knew this was a fantastic place for children to grow and develop and couldn't wait for them to start. The boys come home talking about what they have been learning about (The Great Fire of London, Space and Recycling to name a few) and we love seeing videos/photos on the app. The staff are very friendly and caring and communicate well. I cannot talk highly enough about Goldfinch Nursery and I have recommended it to many of my friends and family.

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Amy Terry
11 months ago

From the moment I first visited the nursery, I loved it and wanted my son to attend. Kira met us out the front and was welcoming and as soon as you walk in you can see all the children are happy and well cared for. My son walks in happily every morning without looking back, and he comes out smiling. He has made so many friends and built lovely relationships with all the staff across the different rooms, and they clearly care deeply about the children in their care. Even when you go to pick up your child, all the workers you walk past smile and say hi to the parents and children. You can tell they genuinely love what they do and treat each child as unique and special individuals. They make me feel like my son is truly seen and loved. The activities are always engaging and they have themes throughout the year which they update parents through the monthly newsletter. Also, they are very good at updating the app to see what your child has been up to throughout the day including: what they have eaten, slept, nappy changes, activities, photos and videos. I’m so confident in the care they provide that my second son will be starting here at the end of the year. I honestly wouldn’t want either of my children to go anywhere else. Highly recommend!

Read on Google

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Inspection history

Date: May 2013

  • April 2022Good
  • November 2016Good
  • May 2013Good

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