Chatterboxes Pre-school

Planting, train spotting and a mud kitchen give Chatterboxes Pre-school a recognisable outdoor character. Its large garden sits alongside a spacious church hall in Moseley, with children able to choose between indoor and outdoor play for part of the morning. This is a setting where the environment supplies material for conversation, discovery and practical play.

Chatterboxes has capacity for 32 children aged two to five. At its June 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good. The current learning offer combines child-led planning, Forest School sessions and a programme of healthy habits, with a key person assigned to each child. These give families concrete points to weigh alongside the overall judgement.

Attendance is term-time, with morning sessions throughout the working week and afternoon sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The balance is between shorter sessions and opportunities for longer attendance on those two days.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage sets the framework for learning, development and care: here, children learn through play, conversation and activities that extend their interests. It is the common foundation for the nursery day. Chatterboxes adds the In the Moment Planning Approach, through which staff respond to what interests a child and extend that learning as it happens. Rather than requiring every activity to start from an adult's chosen topic, children's ideas help shape what comes next.

The setting also draws inspiration from the Curiosity Approach, encouraging investigation and exploration led by children's observations and interests. Nature play and recycling sit within that approach. The practical emphasis matters more than the label: children have opportunities to handle resources, pursue an idea and explore their surroundings.

Story of the Week connects a book with discussion and related activities. That gives stories a place beyond listening time, with opportunities to revisit characters, language and ideas through play. Cooking takes place both indoors and outside, adding another practical activity to the mix. These are different ways into learning, useful for children whose interests do not begin with a seated group activity.

In June 2022, children explored whether chalk could become paint, with adults introducing vocabulary connected to breaking it down. Children also discussed herbs they were growing and described their flavours. These examples show how everyday materials became opportunities to experiment and talk. They belong to that period, rather than a fixed timetable of today's activities.

The same June 2022 account included storytelling with puppets, but large-group activities did not involve every child fully. Improving their organisation and teaching was an action point. For parents, that is a useful distinction: engaging resources alone do not establish that every child gets an effective part in a group session.

Outdoor and Community Life

A large hall provides space for indoor activities, while the garden supports planting, train spotting and mud-kitchen play. Free flow operates during part of the morning, allowing children to choose where to play; a separate outdoor period gives every child time outside. Choice and shared outdoor experience both have a place in the routine.

Forest School sessions are led by a trained practitioner and can take place in the garden or Moseley Private Park. They add an outdoor-learning element to the day and can extend the setting's activities into another local green space. The emphasis on using less plastic, composting and recycling also gives children practical encounters with caring for their environment.

In June 2022, the garden included a small pond where children explained the change from frogspawn to tadpoles. They also practised climbing and jumping from a tree stump, talking with staff about doing so safely. These were concrete opportunities to observe living things and explore physical challenges, rather than outdoor time serving only as a break from indoor learning.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key person responsible for maintaining contact with parents, attending to individual needs and keeping records updated. That gives families an identified relationship through which to share information about their child. Admission forms gather health, contact, consent and additional-needs information before a child is left in the setting's care, making those details part of the starting arrangements.

The Famly app gives parents access to their child's development and progress. Families are also invited into celebrations, trips and stay-and-play sessions, offering opportunities to take part in the setting's activities alongside their children. Digital updates and shared experiences serve different purposes: one helps parents follow the child's day, while the other lets them participate directly.

In June 2022, communication about children's next learning steps needed more detail, including ideas parents could use at home. That remains an important question alongside the current journal system. Access to updates and useful guidance about what to do next are separate considerations, especially for families hoping to build on nursery learning between sessions.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Makaton is used to support communication, with an emphasis on encouraging sounds and words. Staff also have paediatric first-aid training. At its June 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and judged that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities benefited from consistently applied strategies developed with parents and outside agencies. Those are dated findings about practice, rather than a blanket assurance about every child's current experience.

Startwell Birmingham is the healthy-habits programme: it brings together physical activity, food skills, portion awareness and oral health, using characters to make the messages accessible to young children. This gives wellbeing a practical place in the day, through movement and food-related learning. It also connects with cooking and outdoor activities, rather than standing apart as a separate topic.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is The Calvary Church Hall, Oxford Road, Moseley, Birmingham, B13 9EJ. Contact is by telephone, email or an enquiry form, and visits can be booked.

Morning sessions run from 9am to 1pm, Monday to Friday. Tuesday and Thursday afternoons run from 1pm to 4.30pm. Regular morning bookings or one day a week are possible, giving families a choice between a repeated weekly pattern and a smaller commitment. The afternoon option is tied to those two weekdays, so it has a clear place in planning the family week.

Chatterboxes operates during term time. Funded attendance runs over 38 weeks, and there can be up to five additional closure days for staff development and wellbeing. Families therefore need to distinguish the weekly session pattern from the calendar of days when care operates.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded early education and additional paid sessions are offered. The entitlements cover universal 15-hour funding for children aged three and four, 15 hours for eligible two-year-olds, and the additional 15 hours for eligible working parents of three- and four-year-olds. The offer also includes 30-hour funding for eligible working parents from the term their child turns two, but Chatterboxes currently delivers up to 27 funded hours each week. Eligibility codes must be supplied and reconfirmed each term.

Children attending four morning sessions receive an additional free hour. Funded-place allocation gives priority to existing children, looked-after children, children with additional needs and siblings. These are allocation rules, rather than a promise of a place for an individual family.

Snacks are supplied, with a separate optional contribution, including during funded attendance; parents provide packed lunches for longer days, and drinks are water or milk. Dietary requirements can be accommodated, and packed lunches are encouraged to follow healthy-eating guidance.

Trip costs are communicated beforehand. Private fees are paid monthly in advance by bank transfer, and late collection attracts a charge for all children. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the funding and fees information explains the attendance and charge structure.

• Participation in groups. In June 2022, large-group teaching needed changes so every child could take part fully. During a visit, ask how story and group sessions now involve children with different communication needs and attention spans.
• Useful learning updates. More detailed guidance for parents was another June 2022 action point. Ask to see how Famly updates explain a child's next steps and give ideas for learning at home.
• The weekly pattern. Afternoon sessions operate only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and attendance is term-time. Match these patterns, the additional closure days and the funded-hours cap to the care your family needs.
• Food and individual needs. Longer days require a packed lunch, while snacks carry an optional contribution. For a child with allergies, discuss current food-handling arrangements and how their requirements will be managed.

Chatterboxes suits families seeking term-time morning sessions, including a one-day weekly pattern, or morning and afternoon attendance on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Its strongest practical attractions are the garden, indoor-outdoor choice and learning shaped around children's interests. Forest School and Startwell Birmingham add clear substance to that offer.

The Good judgement from June 2022 provides a dated quality reference, with two useful cautions about group participation and guidance for parents. Families who value outdoor exploration and a direct key-person relationship have good reasons to consider it, while checking how those specific improvement points are handled today.