Nursery

The University of Portsmouth Nursery was established in 1979 and provides full day care for children aged six months to five years. The Nursery is a student facility, although sometimes places do become available for the children of University staff. The children of students are given priority over children of University members of staff.

Any registered University of Portsmouth student, studying 6 hours or more per week or any member of staff is eligible to apply for a Nursery place. There is a waiting list, which is longest for the children aged under two years. Parents are recommended to apply for a nursery place as early as possible as a place on a University of Portsmouth course does not guarantee a Nursery place.

The Nursery uses the Early Years Foundation Stage framework and operates on High/Scope principles.

The building is specially designed for Nursery use and is divided into three separate rooms for the three age groups of children. The new Nursery building has lots of natural light, with skylights and windows down to child height, making it a very pleasant space to play and work in. The ventilation and underfloor heating are well designed to allow good control of temperature and airflow.

The design of the play areas means that the children have alot of autonomy and can be independent (child height hand basins and work surfaces) and there is no 'traffic' through play areas to get to the children's toilets or other parts of the Nursery.

The Nursery building is secure for children and staff with a swipe card entry for staff and a video/audio entry system to let parents in.

The Nursery has a large landscaped outdoor play area with a separate play space for children under two years old. The landscaped area includes safe surfacing, artificial grass (Trulawn), real grass with a small hill, a quiet area with seating, a play den, a small climbing frame and a growing area for vegetables and flowers.

Ofsted

The Nursery is registered with Ofsted. The Ofsted inspection in September 2010 judged the Nursery as providing a 'Good' level of childcare and education with seven outstanding judgements. Comments by the inspector included:

'Excellent arrangements are in place to safeguard children's welfare.'

'The nursery environment is exceptionally well organised to provide a vibrant and stimulating atmosphere conducive to learning'.

'Extremely effective systems are in place to support children with English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.'

'Children are extremely happy and confident in the supportive and inclusive atmosphere of the nursery.'

'Children demonstrate and extremely strong sense of security and of feeling safe in the nursery through the confident manner in which they play and the pride in which they share their achievements.'

'Enthusiastic leadership inspires an extremely strong commitment towards meeting high expectations set across all areas of the nursery.'

For the full Ofsted report please go to www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report and search for 'University of Portsmouth Nursery' (URN 143572).

The Nursery prides itself on providing high quality day care at a competitive price. The Nursery employs sixteen qualified and experienced members of staff.

The Nursery is funded by the University and parental contributions. The Nursery is run on a non-profit basis and the fees are kept as low as possible. For more information on fee prices, please go to 'About us' on the menu on the left.