Earlybirds Day Nursery

Messy play for babies, a toddler room with free movement between indoors and outdoors, and school preparation on a shared school site give Earlybirds Day Nursery its character. This Creswell setting has 45 places in total for children aged three months to five years. At its February 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good and judged safeguarding effective.

The rooms put children's choices to practical use: toddlers can move between construction, stories and pretend play, while parents of babies receive daily care information alongside an online learning journal. These are useful differences between stages, rather than one description applied to every age.

Full days, morning and afternoon sessions sit alongside term-time attendance and arrangements for children sharing funding with the school nursery. That makes the attendance offer relevant to several family routines. The educational caveat is clear, too: in February 2022, staff needed to make learning more consistently challenging and give children more opportunities to manage everyday tasks themselves.

Rooms and Ages

The Under 2's Room welcomes babies from three months to approximately 18 months, with sensory and messy experiences alongside songs and rhymes to encourage exploration and early language. For children under two, the stated staffing ratio is one adult to three children. The timing of a move between nursery rooms depends on the child's development.

From approximately 18 months, the Toddler Room combines a home corner, story space, construction and mark making with sand, paint and water, plus access to an outdoor play area where children can choose to play outside or inside. Activities connect with children's interests and their next learning steps. For a child who wants to build before joining pretend play, that arrangement leaves room for choice.

Children enter the Pre-School Room in the term of their third birthday, where the emphasis shifts towards independence and gradual preparation for school or school nursery. The progression is practical: early exploration leads towards doing more for oneself, rather than making school preparation simply a matter of formal tasks.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage sets the standards for children's learning, development and care; here, play, conversation and exploration provide everyday ways to work towards them. Babies' songs, toddlers' mark making and older children's growing independence are examples of how that framework takes shape across the rooms. It is the statutory starting point for early education.

In February 2022, babies explored noodles while adults supplied words for their textures, toddlers practised animal names, and preschool children searched for the source of a sound in a listening game. These examples show language being used during play rather than saved for a separate lesson. They also distinguish learning to name something from learning to listen carefully.

Another February 2022 example began with a ladybird outdoors and continued with drawing and counting its spots inside. Children discussed its unusual colour, took turns holding it and collected garden mint for it. One discovery became a sequence of conversations, observation and creative work. That is a useful picture of interest-led learning at the time, though it sits alongside the need for staff to extend children's skills more consistently.

Outdoor and Community Life

The toddler outdoor access gives children a choice of setting for their play. In February 2022, outdoor physical activity included preschool children practising balance on planks, while the garden supplied the mint used during the ladybird exploration. Movement and curiosity both had a place outside.

Learning can continue at home through Oxford Owl, a resource for games and activities supporting skills such as listening and coordination, and CBeebies activities for children aged zero to three. These are parent resources, rather than nursery sessions. They give families concrete ways to build on shared play and conversation.

Relationships and Communication

For babies, the online Learning Journal lets parents see activities and contribute to learning, while a daily diary covers meals and care routines. The combination matters: an account of development serves a different purpose from knowing how the care day went. Parents can take part rather than only receive updates.

In February 2022, staff used what they knew about their key children to plan around interests and assessments. They also warned children before routines changed, giving them time to finish playing before moving on. That detail is useful for families whose children find sudden changes difficult, although it describes practice at that date.

Registration includes initial assessment forms for different age groups and a partnership-working form. Settling-in visits also form part of joining. Together, these provide occasions to share information about a child's routines and starting points, rather than leaving the nursery to learn everything after attendance begins.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO role provides a point of coordination for additional needs, and the deputy manager also holds the safeguarding lead role. The nursery's SEND arrangements include reasonable adjustments, discussion with parents and involvement of relevant professionals when a possible additional need emerges. Support is considered alongside the limits of staffing and facilities, so the mechanism is more informative than a blanket promise.

A progress check at age two is part of those arrangements. The Derbyshire Local Offer supplies information for children with SEND, their families and professionals. For parents, that links discussion within the nursery to information about support beyond it.

At the February 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that cooperation with families and outside agencies supported vulnerable or disadvantaged children, while work with health visitors and social workers helped preparation for the next stage of learning. These were findings about support at that inspection, rather than a guarantee about an individual child's experience today.

Daily help with toilet training is another practical element of care. The approach centres on the child's readiness and the parent's confidence about starting, making it a shared change rather than a fixed-age deadline. Practitioners also attend paediatric first aid, safeguarding and food hygiene training.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The full-day booking runs from 8am to 6pm; a morning session runs from 8am to 1pm, and an afternoon session from 1pm to 6pm. The earlier opening therefore sits outside the standard full-day start.

Early-start care runs from 7.30am to 8am, with an additional arrangement from 8am to the 8.30am school start. Hourly bookings are for children who divide their funding between Earlybirds and the school nursery. Term-time-only places are also offered, with a holiday retainer applying to non-funded bookings.

For school-age children, Breakfast club runs from 8am to 9am and includes taking children in F2 or above to their school class. After school club collects from Creswell C of E Infants and Nursery; Holiday Club is for children in FS2 or above. These arrangements extend the practical offer beyond the early-years rooms.

Across the year, Earlybirds opens for 51 weeks, closing over the Christmas-to-New-Year period and on bank holidays. Those closures are chargeable. Monthly fees are paid in advance, and reducing the number of sessions requires four weeks' notice.

Getting There

The nursery is on the premises of Creswell C of E Infant & Nursery School, Gypsy Lane, Creswell, Worksop, S80 4HY, and shares the site with a Children's Centre. Drivers are directed to use Stoney View, Creswell, Worksop, S80 4US for sat nav and access to the school gates.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01909 723947 or through the contact form. Applications use a registration form, and a place is confirmed only when the nursery issues written confirmation. Where demand exceeds capacity, priority goes first to looked-after children, then local children, siblings and applications in date order; joining the waiting list does not guarantee a place.

Sharing school premises does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still apply through the local authority's admissions process. School preparation is supported through the 10 keys to unlocking school readiness, guidance covering everyday abilities such as communicating needs, sharing, managing clothing and enjoying books.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes the universal 15-hour entitlement for three- and four-year-olds, provision for eligible two-year-olds and the working-parent offer of 30 hours from the term after a child turns nine months, once eligible and holding a valid eligibility code, whichever is later. Funded hours can be stretched across the year where applicable. Additional hours beyond the entitlement are paid separately, and eligibility codes must be maintained where required.

Food is charged separately for funded sessions; parents choosing to supply their child's food must discuss this with staff beforehand. Funded places have no consumables rate. These are separate cost categories, so the food charge should not be read as a general supplement to funded hours.

Non-funded places require a non-refundable booking fee, payable within 48 hours of accepting a place. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, with the fees and payment terms setting out the charging arrangements.

• Everyday independence. In February 2022, adults sometimes intervened too quickly with coats, drinks and handwashing, and staff needed to strengthen curriculum delivery. During a visit, ask how children now practise these tasks and how adults extend their learning.
• The youngest starting age. The Under 2's Room welcomes babies from three months, while the admissions policy starts at nine months. Families seeking an earlier start should clarify which entry age applies to their proposed booking.
• Attendance costs. Non-funded term-time places carry a holiday retainer, and bank-holiday and Christmas closures are chargeable. Ask for a written quotation covering your chosen pattern, including any funded-session food charges.

Earlybirds suits families looking for morning or afternoon sessions as well as full-day care, with further arrangements for children sharing funding with the school nursery. Baby care communication and toddler outdoor choice give parents concrete reasons to consider it.

The Good judgement from February 2022 provides a dated quality reference, with clear improvement priorities around learning and independence. Its shared school site is practically useful, but Reception admissions remain a separate decision. The strongest match is a family seeking play-based early education and an attendance pattern that fits around nursery or school routines.