Mini-Springers Nursery

A walk to the Shires, books revisited across a term, and support for children’s home languages give Mini-Springers Nursery a recognisable character. Its 2024-2025 curriculum connected learning with the surrounding community, while making space for children who needed quieter activities or additional help. The emphasis was on participation, rather than a single pace for everyone.

Based at Springfield Centre in Moseley, Birmingham, Mini-Springers has 51 places in total and accepts children aged 24 to 60 months. At its July 2022 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and praised support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). That is a dated assessment, rather than a judgement on today’s practice.

Term-time opening makes the nursery relevant to families whose childcare needs follow the school calendar. Its detailed learning plans and arrangements for involving parents deserve equal attention when weighing the practical fit.

Learning and Activities

The 2024-2025 curriculum used EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage), the framework for children’s learning and care, with play, conversation, stories and physical activity forming the day. Alongside that framework, observations and discussions with parents helped shape activities around children’s existing knowledge and interests. Wellcomm assessments contributed to this planning, with information collected each term.

Books gave that plan a clear organising thread. There were 18 core books across both rooms, with six used each term; staff linked activities to the stories and returned to them so children could become familiar with the language. Each child also had an individual reading opportunity with a member of staff every week. Shared stories and individual attention therefore had separate places in the plan.

Communication extended beyond English. The curriculum encouraged families and practitioners to retain home languages while developing English at nursery. For multilingual families, that offers a useful point of connection between learning at home and learning in the setting.

Planning for 2024-2025 included Black History Month, Christmas and Eid, with staff contributing knowledge from their own cultural backgrounds. Adult-led activities sat alongside play directed by children, and the routine allowed children who were not ready to sit with a group to continue playing. The practical implication was flexibility within a recognisable daily structure.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor space was used daily in the 2024-2025 plan. Bikes, climbing frames and a mud kitchen offered different kinds of activity: movement, physical challenge and imaginative play. Gardening, seasonal exploration and looking for wildlife added opportunities to talk about the natural world. These were learning experiences as well as chances to be active.

The Shires provided a named destination beyond the nursery. Each week, one key group was scheduled to walk there, with families invited to take part; the activities included litter picking, observing the river and exploring the surroundings through the senses.

EcoBirmingham was among the visitors included in the same curriculum, bringing activities about the environment and outdoor experiences. Musicians, theatre groups and language teachers also featured, with visits planned each term around children’s interests and needs. The local walks and visiting contributors gave children different starting points for conversation and play.

In July 2022, outdoor play included tricycles on a gently sloping garden path and a rope swing. A timer helped children see when to pass equipment to someone else. However, some children pushed while waiting for the swing, and the improvement action called for staff to make behavioural expectations clearer and apply them more consistently.

Relationships and Communication

For 2024-2025, induction began with parents spending time with their child’s key person and sharing information about the child. That made the family’s knowledge part of the starting point for planning, rather than something added later.

Tapestry, an app used to exchange learning achievements between home and nursery, supported communication during that curriculum year. Termly workshops helped parents use it, while formal meetings each term brought families and staff together to discuss development and next steps. Parents were also invited to activities every half term, including celebrations and workshops responding to children’s needs.

The communication model deliberately favoured conversation over frequent written observations. Staff aimed to spend less time documenting play on devices and more time participating in it. For parents, the useful distinction is between receiving a stream of photographs and having regular opportunities to discuss what their child is learning.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The 2024-2025 support arrangements included SEN plans written by an Inclusion Lead, reviewed with parents each term, and worked on through daily targeted activities. An Inclusion worker assisted with interventions and helped practitioners follow children’s plans. These are concrete mechanisms for additional support, rather than a general promise of inclusion.

Three interventions had clearly described purposes. Bucket time supported concentration; a sensory circuit gave children who felt overwhelmed an outlet; and the SEND snack table offered a calmer snack experience, using communication boards to help children express themselves. Together, they addressed participation in activities and everyday routines.

In July 2022, a visiting SEND teacher attended twice weekly, and a teacher of deaf children advised on support for hearing impairment. Those arrangements belong to that visit date. For a family considering additional support now, the relevant discussion is how the nursery would organise help around their own child’s needs.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Springfield Centre, Springfield Road, Moseley, Birmingham, B13 9NY. Opening hours are 8.45am to 3.45pm, Monday to Friday, during term time; the nursery closes for school holidays. This calendar is a substantial consideration for anyone needing childcare throughout the year.

In July 2022, the morning session ran from 8.45am to 11.45am and the afternoon session from 12.45pm to 3.45pm. These are the dated session patterns, separate from the nursery’s opening window. Families comparing attendance options should distinguish a shorter session from the hours during which the setting is open.

Funding and Paid Extras

In July 2022, the nursery provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four. That establishes participation at the time, without determining which entitlement or charge arrangements apply to a family now.

The 2024-2025 curriculum included snack time and the quieter SEND snack table as parts of the routine. For families budgeting for attendance, food arrangements and non-food items belong in the same practical discussion as hours and funding.

• Term-time calendar. Mini-Springers closes during school holidays. Families needing year-round care should weigh that calendar against their working arrangements.
• Attendance and costs. The July 2022 patterns were separate morning and afternoon sessions. At a visit, ask which pattern now fits your funded hours, how any additional attendance is priced, and who supplies or pays for meals, snacks and consumables.
• Behavioural expectations. In July 2022, children sometimes pushed while waiting for the rope swing, prompting an improvement action about consistent behaviour management. Ask how practitioners now explain turns and respond when sharing becomes difficult.
• Support and parent contact. The 2024-2025 plan combined targeted interventions with termly discussions and Tapestry. For a child needing extra help, discuss how a plan would be agreed, reviewed and communicated to you.

Mini-Springers merits consideration from families seeking term-time early education, whether a morning or an afternoon pattern is the better starting point for their needs. Those shorter patterns were documented in July 2022; the current opening calendar remains central to its practical fit.

Its strongest character comes from the detailed 2024-2025 plans: repeated reading, home-language support, walks to the Shires and specific ways to help children participate. The Good judgement from July 2022 provides useful context, alongside the behavioural improvement action. Families who value close discussion with staff and learning connected to the local community have concrete reasons to consider it.