Pump Farm Day Nursery

My son enjoyed his time at Pump Farm enormously. From his first weeks in Ducklings aged 13 months, his interests have been developed and he's now a very inquisitive and questioning child - just the kind I'd love to have in my classroom if he weren't my own! Writing lots of letters and numbers and sitting nicely at a table can wait - exploring the world around him and enjoying finding things out are the work of early years. I am full of admiration for the staff - they really care about bringing out the best in every child and are driven by what the child wants and needs rather than targets set by Government agencies. Too many other nursery providers locally are focused on getting children to sit down at tables & start their formal learning.. Im so glad we left our son with you for another year and kept him out of a classroom! He's happy to come back during the holidays for Forest Schools Holiday Club and explore the outdoors, taking risks in his play and developing his confidence. Our daughter attends Pump Farm Day Nursery in their Free Rangers/Forest Schools group and really enjoys the outdoor time and the creative risk taking that the setting provides for her. She too has grown into an inquisitive and adventurous child as a result of the amazing work the staff at the nursery do. I couldn't ask for a better place to entrust my children to.
Jan 13th, 2020

Oct 14th, 2018

My son has just come to the end of about a 1 year stint at Pump Farm. The setting itself is wonderful and the key workers an absolute delight, I also really liked the Family App which kept me up to date with his adventures and provided lots of feedback. What warrants the dire rating is the service from the management, namely the owner, and the nonsensical policies that completely sabotage a busy working parents life. Firstly- you must drop off your child in an allocated slot. So if you pay from 8am- 6pm, they must be dropped off 8-8:30. The reason given is because dropping them off at 8:45 'will disturb the other children'. No evidence of the trauma inflicted on the other kids, just this blanket excuse of disrupting the other kids. In essence this turned our 25 min school run into a 50 min school run, as we had to get our son to Pump Farm by 8:30 then hang around before getting our daughter to school for 8:55. Secondly- don't even think of booking a doctors or dentists appointment, you'll lose the entire day's childcare unless you can get than back at 9:30am. I took out my son for a dentist appointment at 11am, and was told I wasn't allowed to bring him back. Outrageous. When asked why, I was told it would disturb the other children. When I asked for evidence of how they would be disturbed, surprise surprise no evidence was available. I have had my children in 4 nursery settings before Pump Farm and I can say hands down Pump Farm are the most cantankerous, inflexible and parent-unfriendly nursery I've ever come across. And all these ridiculous parent-punishing policies seem to be concocted by the owner. So choose carefully when deciding on a nursery for your child- they will be well looked after here but they will frustrate the schedules of the parents at every turn.
May 1st, 2023