Building Blocks Nursery, Handsworth Wood

A first-floor nursery with a sensory room and a baby sleep area gives Building Blocks Nursery, Handsworth Wood a recognisable character. Its home is Cherry Orchard Primary School, but its provision spans babies, toddlers and preschool children. The physical arrangement matters: younger children have space for rest and changing, while older children have rooms designed around exploration and choosing their own activities.

At its April 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children made good progress across the areas of learning, with strong progress for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). That assessment sits alongside a specific improvement priority: giving children more opportunities to manage everyday tasks independently.

The nursery has 58 places in total and accepts children aged 4 to 59 months. Full-time and part-time care give families different ways to use the setting; the nursery also describes a wraparound service with Cherry Orchard School Nursery.

Rooms and Ages

Babies occupy an adaptable, open-plan room with a sleep area and a separate space for nappy changes; play encourages movement, early communication and interaction with other children. Being able to divide the room gives the baby environment some flexibility, while the separate care spaces distinguish rest and changing from play.

Tweenies has two rooms, each accommodating 12 children aged 2 to 3, with play dough, water, sand and imaginative play supporting exploration. An adjoining sensory room is accessible regularly to children across the nursery and also supports intervention work. It is more than an extra play space: it has a stated role in individual support as well as sensory exploration.

Preschool accommodates up to 26 children aged 3 to 4, with an arrangement that supports independent choices and activities spanning communication, movement, early mathematics, literacy, creativity and understanding the world. That emphasis on choosing matters for children preparing to take more responsibility for their day.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the framework for learning and care: children develop language, physical skills, relationships and early understanding through play and planned experiences. Here, the room descriptions give that framework a practical shape, from babies learning to move and communicate to preschool children choosing activities across the areas of learning.

In April 2025, staff used information from parents about children's interests to plan the next steps in learning. Adults added words and ideas to play rather than simply supervising it. A group activity involving a giraffe with a neck that extended prompted children to describe what they noticed, giving conversation a concrete starting point.

Baby activities during that month included finding objects concealed beneath tape and moving items in pushchairs around obstacles. These were small, purposeful challenges: handling the tape exercised fingers, while transporting objects brought movement and awareness of space together.

Outdoor Life

In April 2025, children used stairs to reach the garden and understood the need to use the handrails. Outdoor activities included working a water-container tap and squeezing lemons into containers, providing practical exercise for hands and fingers. Observing caterpillars and emerging butterflies also gave staff opportunities to introduce simple addition and subtraction. Everyday materials carried the learning.

The baby sleep area and separate changing space give routine care an identifiable place within the youngest children's environment. For toddlers, the adjoining sensory room offers a different kind of space, including for targeted intervention. These are useful details for families weighing how play, rest and individual support fit together.

In April 2025, staff took time to understand children's individual needs and used respectful interactions when helping them play together. Children shared turns with a newly introduced play house, and adults maintained clear expectations about behaviour. The picture was of relationships supported through ordinary interactions rather than rules alone.

Individual support at that time included activities aimed at children's particular needs and joint working with outside professionals. Information from parents also helped shape learning plans, connecting home interests with nursery activities.

Independence was the weaker point in April 2025. Older children could pour drinks, but adults sometimes missed opportunities to help them use appropriate cutlery and manage lunch more successfully. The improvement priority concerned extending these everyday self-care opportunities, which matter as children prepare for school.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery occupies the first floor of Cherry Orchard Primary School on Cherry Orchard Road, Handsworth Wood, Birmingham, B20 2LB. It opens Monday to Friday, 7.30am to 6pm, across the year, with bank-holiday closures.

Full-time and part-time day care are offered. Wraparound care is also provided in connection with Cherry Orchard School Nursery for children aged 3 and 4. This adds an option for families combining the two nursery arrangements. The branch has an enquiry form for day care and wraparound enquiries.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes 2-Year Funded Places (15 Hours), 3- and 4-Year-Old Universal Funded Places (15 Hours) and 30 Hour Funding (3 and 4 Year Olds), subject to the relevant entitlement conditions. Universal funding can be taken during term time or across the year. At Handsworth Wood, the 30-hour entitlement is stretched over 48 weeks, giving up to 24 funded hours a week across the year.

For 30-hour funded places, meals and consumables carry a separate contribution. Families should get current prices in the nursery's written quotation, keeping the funded hours and these additional costs separate when assessing the overall arrangement.

Moving on to School

Sharing a site with Cherry Orchard Primary School does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still apply through the local authority admissions process.

• First-floor rooms. The nursery is upstairs, and children used stairs to reach the garden in April 2025. On a visit, ask how movement between the rooms and outdoor space works for your child's mobility and care needs.
• Everyday independence. April 2025's improvement priority concerned self-care, including support with lunch. Ask how staff now help children practise using cutlery and managing routine tasks for themselves.
• Stretched funding. The 30-hour entitlement is spread across 48 weeks at Handsworth Wood, with up to 24 funded hours weekly and separate contributions for meals and consumables. Consider how that distribution fits your working year and childcare budget.

Building Blocks Nursery, Handsworth Wood suits families seeking either full-time or part-time day care, with a further wraparound option alongside Cherry Orchard School Nursery. The baby care spaces, adjoining sensory room and clearly separated age stages give parents concrete features to weigh, while the Good judgement from April 2025 provides a dated assessment of quality.

The qualification is equally concrete: everyday independence needed more attention. For families approaching the preschool years, how children practise self-care deserves as much attention as the play activities and room layout.