The Willows Day Nursery

Stories give The Willows Day Nursery its organising thread: familiar books lead into play, while children’s own interests help shape what happens next. The Mango room and Cherries Room give its younger stages recognisable names. For parents, the attraction is a nursery day that connects conversation, exploration and learning rather than treating them as separate tasks.

At its May 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good overall and found safeguarding effective, with good support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The main improvement point concerned teaching challenge: children needed more opportunity to think through questions and develop their own answers.

Based in Kings Norton, Birmingham, the nursery has capacity for 88 children, with a current age range from birth to five. Morning, afternoon and full-day patterns serve different family routines, although the minimum booking requirement matters when weighing those options.

Rooms and Ages

The Mango room accommodates up to 15 children under two; the Cherries Room has a maximum of 23, and Pre School can accommodate 40. These are room limits, distinct from the nursery’s overall capacity. The youngest room’s cap is an important starting point for parents comparing baby care, but it should not be read as the number of babies attending together on any particular day.

Room virtual tours cover the baby, toddler and preschool stages. They provide a way to preview the facilities before a visit, while the named rooms make it easier to discuss the part of the nursery relevant to a child’s stage.

Learning and Activities

EYFS sets the requirements for children’s learning, development and care: here, play and planned experiences cover language, movement, relationships, early reading, number and creative exploration. Development Matters supplies guidance for supporting that development. Neither name alone explains the nursery’s character; the practical detail is how stories and children’s interests shape activities.

Core stories are used to plan learning, with both adult-led experiences and play initiated by children. Parents can contribute new interests and experiences, so something that captures a child’s attention at home can inform the nursery day. Goals are adapted to individual needs rather than treated as a single sequence for every child.

Practitioners work alongside children during play and aim to preserve their concentration when they are deeply involved. This gives self-chosen activity a place alongside planned learning. The curriculum approach also connects familiar adults and a key person with children’s confidence to explore.

In May 2023, books were accessible even to the youngest children, and activities developed from a story chosen for that week. Children used chalk to practise letters and spray bottles to make marks on a fence, giving early writing a physical, playful form. The teaching limitation was equally specific: questions could follow too quickly or invite only a brief answer, leaving less room for children’s ideas.

Outdoor and Community Life

In May 2023, children used a large garden daily, with a pirate ship for imaginative play, a slide and logs for balancing and jumping. These experiences combined movement with negotiating turns and playing alongside friends. Outdoor time had a clear place in that inspection-era day.

Trips include theatre visits and libraries, with parents encouraged to take part. These extend experiences beyond the nursery itself, while celebrations draw on festivals from different cultures. The useful distinction is between these outings and the everyday story-based planning: both contribute to learning, but they serve different purposes.

Relationships and Communication

A key person and familiar adults form part of the settling approach. Free settling visits usually take place during the week before the agreed start, normally lasting an hour. Comfort objects can accompany a child, and staff contact parents if concerns arise or a child is upset when starting. That creates a defined bridge between home and nursery.

Tapestry is the online learning journal, sharing photographs, video and written observations with families. Parents can add their own contributions, and staff use observations to decide subsequent learning steps. It is a two-way account of development, rather than simply a stream of nursery photographs.

In May 2023, communication also included parents’ evenings and workshops, with families joining a garden planting activity. Staff explained how behaviour affected other people and modelled manners during shared activities. These examples show how relationships and everyday expectations were handled at that time, rather than establishing today’s staffing arrangements.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the May 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that the special educational needs coordinator worked with other professionals, helped staff set individual SEND targets and reviewed progress, while staff understood safeguarding procedures and used room counts and risk assessments to support supervision. The practical substance is the combination of individual targets, professional involvement and routine checks.

Current arrangements include a requirement for parents to give written details of allergies, medical conditions and dietary needs. Nursery meals are included in quoted attendance prices except for grant-only places with packed meals, where parents provide food. Written dietary information therefore belongs alongside the attendance agreement, rather than being left to an informal conversation.

Preparation for school includes practising friendship, fairness, manners and respect. In May 2023, children shared play-dough tools and waited for their turn to speak. These are concrete examples of the social habits involved in moving to the next stage of learning.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 380 Redditch Road, Kings Norton, Birmingham, B38 8PS. Opening hours are 7am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates for 51 weeks, closing on public holidays and for one week between Christmas and New Year, so year-round attendance still requires cover for those closures.

Morning sessions run from 7am to noon or from 8am to 1pm; afternoons run from 1pm to 6pm. Standard full-day sessions run from 7am to 5pm or from 8am to 6pm. The terms require at least two full-day sessions on different days. Families considering shorter sessions therefore need to resolve how those patterns fit the minimum before choosing attendance.

The Place Enquiry Form starts the joining process, followed by contact from the manager and completion of registration paperwork after an offer. A 38-week attendance arrangement cannot be supplemented with regular attendance outside term time. Separately, extra occasional attendance requires payment and acknowledgement before a booking is secured.

Getting There

There are 10 parking spaces in front of the nursery. That gives families a specific parking provision to factor into collection and drop-off arrangements.

Funding and Paid Extras

Private childcare and funded attendance are both offered. Funding categories include babies aged 9 to 23 months, two-year-olds, universal preschool funding and extended preschool funding, with 15-hour and 30-hour options subject to eligibility. Funding follows either 38 weeks or a 51-week stretched arrangement. Stretched funding carries an extra premium and requires attendance for 12 months before leaving for Reception; families cannot switch between funding periods during a term. Grant-only attendance with packed meals follows 38 weeks.

For funded attendance, meals and consumables sit outside the grant and can form part of the quoted paid package; on the packed-meal arrangement, families supply food. Consumables included in nursery fees encompass resources and cleaning materials, while parents supply nappy cream and sun cream. The distinction matters: an inclusive attendance quotation does not mean that funded entitlement itself includes those extras.

A non-refundable registration charge and a deposit apply, except to limited grant-only places with packed meals. Deposits are held as account credit and refundable on leaving, subject to the notice terms. Ending attendance requires four weeks’ written notice; leaving immediately brings fees in lieu of notice, with deposit forfeiture where the required notice is not given. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

• Shorter sessions and minimum attendance. Morning and afternoon patterns sit alongside a requirement for two full days on different days. At a visit, establish which combination would form your child’s agreement.
• Teaching challenge. In May 2023, questioning sometimes gave children too little thinking time. Ask how practitioners now extend an activity when a child is ready for a harder question or a new idea.
• Baby-room routines. The Mango room’s maximum is 15 children under two. During a visit, ask how the daily group and sleep arrangements work for a baby of your child’s age.
• The funded package. Term-time, stretched and packed-meal arrangements have different conditions. Review the food, consumables, deposit and notice provisions together, and confirm current dietary practice if allergies affect your child.

The Willows suits families drawn to story-led play, a key-person relationship and shared learning through Tapestry. Its attendance offer spans mornings, afternoons and full days, giving parents more than one pattern to weigh against the minimum booking rule.

The May 2023 Good judgement provides a dated quality benchmark; the teaching challenge remains a useful subject for a visit. For the final decision, the room relevant to the child and the precise funded or private attendance agreement deserve equal attention.