Westhill House Day Nursery

Language development gives Westhill House Day Nursery its clearest character: babies experimenting with sounds, younger children building sentences and preschool children explaining their ideas. These are snapshots from November 2021, rather than a description of today's daily routine.

At its November 2021 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children progressed well, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The current age range is 6 to 60 months.

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care: learning includes developing language, understanding numbers and learning to manage feelings. In November 2021, staff used observations of individual children to decide what they needed to learn next, and helped them persist with problems rather than abandon a task.

Learning included concrete experiences. Preschool children explored how adding objects changed a total; a ball game gave younger children practice in sharing and waiting for a turn. Creative play drew on children's experiences of Bonfire Night, with resources chosen to represent fires and marshmallows on sticks.

There were limitations, too. Younger children's counting needed more varied experiences, while adult direction sometimes narrowed children's creative choices. Both matter for families who want children to develop their own ideas as well as follow instructions.

In November 2021, new children settled successfully and babies developed close relationships with staff. Practitioners knew their key children individually, helping to connect care with the next steps in learning.

Communication extended beyond the nursery day: staff discussed progress with parents and offered ideas for learning at home. Support for expressing needs included strategies for children with delayed language. Children also practised managing feelings and taking turns, making relationships part of their learning.

Hygiene routines and learning about balanced eating formed part of care in November 2021. Children ate nutritious meals.

The address is 36 Rednal Road, Birmingham, B38 8DR. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across the year, with bank-holiday closures.

In November 2021, the nursery received funding for early education for children aged two, three and four. That is a dated participation fact, rather than a statement about current funded arrangements.

• Counting and creative freedom. The November 2021 improvement points concerned younger children's understanding of number and opportunities to make independent creative choices. Ask how these are supported now.
• Notification requirements. In November 2021, the nursery had failed to notify Ofsted about its company secretary, a legal breach assessed as having minimal impact on children. Keep this separate from the effective safeguarding judgement.
• Attendance and charges. The weekday opening window spans the working day. Which booking patterns and funded arrangements would fit your family, and what would the written quotation include?

Westhill House suits families seeking weekday childcare; its November 2021 inspection picture will interest parents who value close relationships and attention to communication. Its November 2021 picture combines individual attention with clear priorities for improving number learning and children's creative independence. Those priorities deserve as much weight as the Good judgement.