Tots2teens Daycare

Sign-supported communication, individual support plans and all-weather outdoor play give Tots2teens Daycare a clear character. This family-run setting on Clough Fields Road in Hoyland combines practical help with communication and learning with an unusually straightforward position on everyday extras: meals, snacks, nappies and wipes are included, including during funded hours.

At its October 2021 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found that children approached learning confidently, persisted with difficulties and benefited from carefully sequenced teaching. That judgement belongs to 2021. The current offer includes Read Write Inc. training for staff, used to support early phonics and communication, alongside tailored approaches for children with additional needs.

The nursery has capacity for 56 children, while its services span birth to 13 years. In October 2021, children attending were aged two to four. Morning, afternoon and full-day sessions provide different ways to organise attendance across the year.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for children's learning, development and care. In everyday terms, that means play and experiences that develop communication, physical skills and understanding, rather than treating early education as a timetable of formal lessons. The nursery's additional literacy and communication approaches sit alongside that framework.

Read Write Inc. is used to support early phonics, communication and confidence with reading. Staff adapt its strategies for different learners, including children with SEND. This gives the named programme a practical purpose: literacy support can change with the child's needs rather than requiring every child to participate in the same way.

In October 2021, teaching connected small physical tasks with later learning. Sand and play dough helped children develop hand strength and coordination before pencil work. Handwashing was taught carefully before children moved on to the more demanding task of brushing their teeth. The sequence mattered: children practised the foundations before tackling the next skill.

Stories also travelled between nursery and home in October 2021. Children acted out Three Little Pigs outdoors using pretend houses, explored how the characters might feel and took related story sacks home. This linked imaginative play with vocabulary and emotional understanding, while giving parents a concrete way to continue the story together.

Mathematics received deliberate attention at that time. Leaders adapted a local school's mathematics programme and arranged targeted staff training after identifying gaps in staff knowledge. This was work on the teaching itself, rather than simply adding more counting activities.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor play remains a substantial part of the current nursery offer. Children spend time outside in different weather conditions, with opportunities for climbing, running and muddy-puddle play. For families who value movement and exploration, this puts physical activity into the ordinary day.

The October 2021 outdoor examples were specific: children steered balance bikes around cones and worked out how to push wheeled barrows and pull delivery trolleys. These were opportunities to coordinate movement and persevere with awkward tasks. A piano and tambourines linked sound with movement, while serving food with tongs exercised smaller hand movements.

Community experiences formed part of the day in October 2021 too. Children visited older members of the community as part of learning about consideration and respect. This was a practical encounter with people beyond their own age group, rather than a lesson confined to nursery resources.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who observes their development and plans subsequent learning. Settling is individualised, with a flexible period responsive to the child. Together, those arrangements give families a continuing point of contact and allow the start of nursery life to be shaped around the child rather than a fixed settling timetable.

Communication with families can be written, spoken or translated according to individual needs, helping parents participate in discussions about their children's development.

In October 2021, photographs of children, relatives and staff were used both for comfort and for conversations about identity. Mealtimes gave children opportunities to serve themselves, consider how much food to leave for others and wait for their companions. Care and learning met in ordinary routines.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

SEND support has a defined structure: a lead co-ordinator and deputy roles work alongside the child's key person, with parents involved in planning. Individual Support Plans are reviewed at least termly with families. The Assess, Plan, Do, Review approach connects observations with action and subsequent review, making the support process easier for parents to follow.

Makaton supports communication through signs, while PECS, visual aids and daily visual timetables provide other ways to communicate and understand routines. Staff select and adapt these methods for individual children. External professionals can contribute advice, and the policy sets out further assessment where progress remains insufficient.

At the October 2021 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and praised SEND support that adjusted routines to individual needs and brought families together with outside agencies. Current arrangements include safeguarding lead roles, reporting procedures, safer recruitment and refresher training; these describe the systems in place rather than extending the dated effectiveness judgement.

All staff have paediatric first-aid training. The management team and deputies hold Early Years degrees, and ongoing staff learning forms part of the nursery's approach. These are useful details about preparation and development, rather than a promise about an individual child's experience.

Sessions and Attendance

Morning sessions run from 8am to 1pm, afternoon sessions from 1pm to 6pm, and full days from 8am to 6pm. Early Bird Sessions offer two earlier windows, 6am to 8am or 7am to 8am, both privately charged and outside funded hours. Parents can therefore distinguish the main daytime patterns from additional early care.

Attendance runs across 48 weeks, with term-time-only places excluded. The nursery closes for two weeks in August and two over Christmas. Closure periods and bank holidays carry no charges. These breaks still need to fit the family's childcare arrangements, even though they do not generate nursery charges.

Saturday care follows a waiting-list arrangement and is privately paid; funding does not apply on Saturdays. Sunday is closed. The contact form handles enquiries and visit arrangements, with email and telephone contact also provided.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare can be used between 8am and 6pm on weekdays. Hours or days beyond a family's funded entitlement are privately paid, as are the Early Bird Sessions. The distinction is important: offering funding does not make every attendance pattern funded.

Meals and snacks are included, and there is no consumables charge for nappies or wipes; the same inclusion applies to funded places. This keeps everyday food and those care supplies separate from the cost of additional private hours. Current prices are available directly from the nursery, with the attendance and charge structure set out on its sessions and fees page.

Getting There

The address is Clough Fields Road, Hoyland, Barnsley, S74 0ER. Visit arrangements can be made through the nursery's contact form, allowing families to discuss their intended attendance before joining.

• Across-year attendance. Term-time-only places are excluded, and the nursery closes for two weeks in August and two over Christmas. Families whose work follows school terms should weigh the attendance model and holiday cover together.
• Early starts and Saturdays. Early Bird Sessions and Saturday care are privately charged, with Saturday care organised through a waiting list. A weekday funded pattern and an earlier or weekend pattern have different cost implications.
• A broad age span. Services cover birth to 13 years, while the October 2021 account concerned children aged two to four. At a visit, ask how the daily environment and care arrangements work for your child's particular age.
• Individual communication support. Makaton, visual timetables and Individual Support Plans provide concrete starting points for a discussion about additional needs. A visit can explore how the key person and SEND team would put these approaches into practice for your child.

Tots2teens Daycare suits families seeking morning, afternoon or full-day attendance across the year, with additional early care as a privately paid option. Its clearest current strengths are practical: food and specified consumables are included, and communication support has named methods and a defined planning process.

The Outstanding judgement from October 2021 adds a strong dated account of teaching and care. Families should weigh that alongside the current attendance model, especially the exclusion of term-time-only places and the planned holiday closures.