Maples Day Nursery, Basingstoke

The Maples Day Nursery in Basingstoke is situated at 2 Anstey Close in Basingstoke. The Nursery has opened its doors as part of Naturally Curious Childcare and provides quality nursery care, learning and a home from home experience for children aged 2 – 5 years of age.

The Maples Day Nursery follows the Curiosity Approach and is currently undergoing an accreditation. We provide natural and authentic materials within the child’s play to spark imagination, independence and first-hand experiences. We offer amazing learning opportunities to suit the individual child allowing them to flourish and grow. 

Unlike our other settings, Maples offers you a flexibile approach to care, when you need it. You have the choice of: 

• Full Day (8am to 6pm)

• School Day (9am to 4pm)

• Morning and Afternoon sessions (8am to 1pm or 1pm to 6pm)

All on a term time or all year round basis. 

The nursery holds up to 26 children with direct free flow access straight out onto our inviting garden area. Your child will enjoy risky play by building with large planks of wood, crates and cable reels, alongside loose parts play with shells, buttons, blocks just to name a few. These open-ended resources really spark children’s imagination and curiosity. Children are always supervised but staff to do not interfere, as we believe children need to make their own risk assessments during their play.

Children are encouraged through independence to control their own learning and have the freedom to 

self-select according to their own current interests. Practitioners use what they know about the children to plan learning invitations to entice your children covering all areas of learning such as adventurous play, promoting physical development, personal, social and emotional development plus the skills to stay safe and manage appropriate risks. 

Our vision is to grow happy, independent children, supporting them holistically.  One of the advantages of Maples being a smaller setting is that we can really build a foundation to learning through our strong parent partnerships and personal relationships with children.

The Great Outdoors

Your child will have lots of access to the outside and the elements - remember dancing in the rain and splashing in puddles as a child yourself? The main room leads out to our secluded garden, allowing for outdoor play all year round - we do all those things you don't like to do at home!

Your child will have continued free flow access to our garden area providing opportunities to promote gross motor development with climbing and building, a variety of constructions using loose parts such as drain pipes, wood, tyres, logs, a giant sandpit and the very popular mud kitchen.

Nature is promoted by planting flowers, herbs and growing vegetables in our vegetable garden seasonally. It's our view that the garden is an extension of the inside area and all if not more learning takes place in the great outdoors. We also make use of the great green area's surround the nursery and we often visit the shop next door.

It's known that children sleep better, eat better and behave better with outdoor play and fresh air. In the warmer months children eat outside and even sleep outside where possible.

Take a tour of Maples - this video was shot on our Open Day in 2023.

Forest School

All children over the age of 3 will have fully supervised access to the forestry grounds of our local School, St. Johns.  Forest School goes hand in hand with our approach as it promotes independence, positive risk taking, learning about nature, the seasons, why things happen/how things work and generally a great opportunity to run, climb, get muddy and explore!

You will find an all-inclusive structure in terms of fees and care. This means everything that you need for your child is provided by us– one less thing for you to worry about! We offer Breakfast, morning Snack,  hot meal at lunch time, aafternoon Snack and Tea. We cater for any special dietary requirements or allergies.

As we like to have a home from home experience, our mealtimes are not rushed. Our mealtimes provide an opportunity for discussions between the children on their tables. We also encourage the children to self-serve their meals and drinks to promote independence and gross motor skills.

Nursery practitioners enjoy welcoming your child into the Nursery with open arms and big smiles. Each child has a designated key worker who will track your child’s learning and development and whom is your first point of call. We have an open-door policy, which means that we are always here if you would like to speak to us about any queries, at any time of the day.

For more updates and snap shots of our daily life take a look on our Facebook page - spaces are always limited so give is a call today on 01256 333113.