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Watership Downs Nursery

Ofsted: Expected standard·
5.0(3 parent reviews) ·Brickhouse Farm Community Centre, Poulton Close, Maldon, CM9 6NG · Essex
Number of places
44 places
Age range
0–4 yrs
Last inspected
Dec 2025
Local authority
Essex

About this day nursery

Watership Downs Nursery, registered in Maldon, Essex in 2019, provides care for children aged 0-4 years old. Open all year round from 7:00 to 18:00, the nursery offers a warm, nurturing, and inclusive learning environment where children are prepared for school through a balance of play and purposeful teaching.

The dedicated staff excel at meeting individual needs and building secure relationships with the children. They actively support communication development from an early age, including the use of Makaton for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

The setting prioritises outdoor play to foster physical development and independence. Managers at Watership Downs Nursery demonstrate a clear and ambitious vision, continuously striving for improvement and strengthening their SEND provision to ensure all children make secure progress and thrive.

Our ethos

The nursery fosters a love for learning through play, tailoring experiences to each child's individual needs. They emphasise a strong community spirit and family involvement, believing the home environment is paramount to a child's development.

What it's like

Children arrive confident and ready to start their day, eager to learn and thrive in a warm, nurturing, and inclusive environment. The curriculum thoughtfully combines play with purposeful teaching, preparing them well for school, while staff adeptly meet individual needs and build secure relationships. Staff provide opportunities for babies to explore sensory trays, read books to encourage language and motor skills, and engage older children in structured sessions to develop vocabulary, speech sounds, and social skills.

Confident ChildrenPurposeful TeachingSecure RelationshipsStrong InclusionAmbitious VisionPhysical Development

Pricing & funding

Fees are structured per session for before-school, after-school, and holiday clubs. Holiday clubs cater to children aged 0 to 8 years with multiple session lengths available. Meals, including lunch, high tea, and holiday packed lunches, are charged separately as optional extras.

Good to know

  • A non-refundable deposit is required per session at the time of booking.
  • Optional meals and packed lunches are charged separately.

Key facts

Opening hours

Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:00 - 18:00

Term time / All Year

All_year

Established

2019

Ofsted Inspection — new report card

Expected standard

Last inspected Dec 2025

Headline: Expected standard

Grade summary

Exceptional
—
Strong standard
—
Expected standard
Needs attention
—
Urgent improvement
—

Each dot represents one of the six inspection categories. Headline is the average of the six grades, rounded up.

Category grades

AchievementExpected standard
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routinesExpected standard
Children's welfare and wellbeingExpected standard
Curriculum and teachingExpected standard
InclusionExpected standard
Leadership and governanceExpected standard
Age range
0 to 4
Registers
Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register, Voluntary Childcare Register
Ofsted Inspection

Ofsted rating for Watership Downs Nursery

Last inspected 9 December 2025 · Tina Mason

Safeguarding effective

What it's like to attend

Children arrive confident and ready to start their day, eager to learn and thrive in a warm, nurturing, and inclusive environment. The curriculum thoughtfully combines play with purposeful teaching, preparing them well for school, while staff adeptly meet individual needs and build secure relationships. Staff provide opportunities for babies to explore sensory trays, read books to encourage language and motor skills, and engage older children in structured sessions to develop vocabulary, speech sounds, and social skills.

Inspector highlights

  • Children demonstrate engagement and enthusiasm throughout all activities, laying a solid foundation for future reading and writing through rhymes, songs, and rich language experiences.
  • Children develop key skills in independence, making choices during free play, fostering flourishing social skills and strong bonds with staff.
  • The curriculum is well sequenced and embedded in what children know and can do, with clear intent for next steps in communication, personal and physical development, showing secure impact on children's progress in communication and language.
  • The setting demonstrates a strong commitment to inclusion, ensuring that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make secure and meaningful progress.
  • The managers demonstrate a clear and ambitious vision for the nursery, with a commitment to continuous improvement and strengthening SEND provision.
  • Children of all ages love looking at books and singing familiar songs and nursery rhymes with staff.
  • Babies confidently express themselves through gestures, sounds and first words, and are well prepared for their next stage of learning and development.
  • Children's warm and responsive attachments with staff create an emotionally secure environment, allowing children to feel confident to express their ideas and communicate effectively.

Areas to develop

  • 1Managers should support staff to promote high-quality interactions with children.
Inspection #10215788 · Source: OfstedView full Ofsted report

Inclusion & environment

How they support every child

SEND provision

Staff gather detailed information from parents and carers when their children start, ensuring that children's individual special educational needs and/or disabilities are met. The setting demonstrates a strong commitment to inclusion, ensuring that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make secure and meaningful progress. Staff work effectively in partnership with external professionals, such as speech and language therapists and physiotherapists, to implement tailored strategies that support children's individual learning and development. Staff benefit from ongoing SEND training, enabling them to confidently implement effective strategies. Managers are proactively strengthening the nursery's provision for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) by ensuring that staff new to the role receive training and embed Makaton to enhance communication.

Outdoor space

Staff plan outdoor play to offer children fresh air and exercise, promoting their physical development and wellbeing. Children's independence is promoted from an early age, and staff plan group activities to support turn-taking, sharing, and friendships, while outdoor play aids children's physical development.

Parent Reviews of Watership Downs Nursery

5.0
(3)
olivia barnett
7 months ago

Sent my daughter here from 6 month old and she still goes to the after-school club and she is nearly 6. I would’ve never sent her anywhere else the staff our amazing!

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Jenny Calvert
a year ago

The best nursery around with the best people. My boys love all the staff and look forward to going. Made some lovely friends there too

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Samantha Foster
10 months ago

Only nursery out of many to accept my children with additional needs have been so supportive and kind cant recommend them enough

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Reviews from Google for Watership Downs Nursery. See all on Google Maps

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This listing has been compiled from official Ofsted records, the nursery's own website, details provided directly by the nursery where available, and other trusted public sources. We regularly review and update listings to keep the information as accurate as possible. Learn more