Emma's Day Nursery

A conservatory for expansive play, a garden Pirate ship and separate upstairs spaces for babies give Emma's Day Nursery its character. At 46 West Way in Bournemouth, the residential setting brings reading, construction, art and outdoor exploration into different parts of the day. The physical variety matters: quieter activities have their own space alongside more energetic play.

At its August 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding overall and found safeguarding effective. The detail behind that judgement is engaging. In August 2024, children used tools for delicate hand movements, weighed materials and contributed ideas about their activities. This was learning that asked children to think and take part, rather than simply follow instructions.

Children are accepted from three months to five years. Opening hours run from 8am to 6pm on weekdays, with full-day and part-day attendance patterns and specified holiday closures. The upstairs baby spaces deserve particular attention for families choosing care for a younger child; downstairs, the different rooms give older children several ways to play.

Rooms and Ages

The yellow room brings together books, pretend play and smaller construction resources in a quieter space; the blue room accommodates creative work and larger building equipment in a busier setting. The green Room is a light conservatory used for role play and activities needing more space. A further downstairs room is devoted to art.

Upstairs, the Baby play room and Baby sleep room separate activity from rest. For a baby, that distinction is a useful part of the physical layout: play and sleep have designated spaces rather than one room having to serve both purposes. It is also a different arrangement from the downstairs rooms, which are described by their activities rather than by age bands.

The sample day combines free choice with shorter organised activities. Children have opportunities to explore resources independently, then join their key worker for activities shaped around their interests. That gives the day a recognisable rhythm while retaining space for children's own ideas. Reading, construction and creative work are supported by the rooms themselves, rather than relying solely on a timetable.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage is the framework for children's learning, development and care: here, play, conversation, stories, movement and practical exploration give it everyday expression. The sample timetable brings literacy and mathematics into organised sessions alongside time for independent play. A story, weather discussion and a letter theme feature in the morning, while later activities include number and shape work and puzzles tackled alone or together.

ECAT – Every child a talker brings children together for activities that develop speech and language. Its place in the sample afternoon gives communication an explicit slot, alongside the conversations that occur through play. Music and movement and indoor physical activities add another mode of participation, using apparatus and movement rather than expecting children to sit through every organised activity.

In August 2024, learning examples included pegs used with number songs, predictions about how stories might develop, and dough-making that introduced vocabulary about texture and preparation. Children also practised fastening zips and handling small objects with tools. Those examples connect practical tasks with the language, coordination and reasoning children use as they become more independent.

Children had a say, too. In August 2024, the nursery council allowed them to contribute activity ideas, while photographer of the day involved taking pictures of favourite things and sharing them. These were concrete ways for staff to hear what interested children, including interests that might be easier to show than explain.

Outdoor and Community Life

The Pirate ship gives the garden a substantial feature for imaginative play. Outdoor time also includes running, equipment chosen for individual or shared play, and activities involving discovery, construction and mark-making. The sample day returns to the garden in both morning and afternoon, so outdoor play is woven through the routine.

A covered art area, a climbing frame with a slide, and planks and tyres provide different kinds of outdoor activity. The vegetable patch adds opportunities to participate in growing plants, while the playhouse offers role play and quieter time. These are useful differences within one garden: balancing, making, pretending and observing do not all require the same space or equipment.

Relationships and Communication

Key Worker Group Time appears in both halves of the sample day, with activities adapted to children's interests. This connects the relationship with an adult to the learning routine: a child has organised opportunities to work on something that matters to them, rather than only joining whole-setting activities.

At the August 2024 inspection, Ofsted found high-quality SEND support, with assessments helping staff identify additional needs and collaboration with parents and other professionals directing support and funding. For a family whose child needs extra help, the significant point is the mechanism: assessment, shared planning and work with outside professionals were linked together.

In August 2024, parents were involved in children's development and given resources to extend learning at home. Preparation for school included practising changes into school uniform and using books to explore the transition. These are practical and emotional preparations for a new routine, rather than a claim about access to any particular school.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Rest has a place in the sample day. Children who need sleep or a break can rest with classical music, while those remaining awake have a quiet story activity; the nursery also accommodates differences in children's rest needs. The separate Baby sleep room is especially relevant to younger children whose sleep pattern differs from that of older children.

Collection procedures restrict release to authorised adults, with an emergency arrangement requiring contact with the manager or deputy. Medication requires parental permission and a written form, followed by acknowledgement of its administration. These procedures give families specific responsibilities to complete before another adult collects a child or medicine is needed during nursery hours.

The sample day includes a cooked lunch, snacks and a later light meal, with fresh ingredients used where possible and drinking water accessible through the day. Food charges depend on the booking option, so the meal routine and the payment arrangement need to be considered together.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery opens Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, for 47.5 weeks a year. Full-day places sit alongside morning sessions from 8am to 1pm and afternoon sessions from 1pm to 5.30pm. The recommendation is attendance at least twice a week for continuity; this is a recommendation rather than a compulsory minimum.

Holiday breaks include two summer weeks, one Easter week and the Christmas period, with closure on UK bank holidays unless otherwise confirmed. Families arranging year-round childcare therefore need to account for planned breaks as well as the weekly attendance pattern. Full fees apply to a child's sickness or holiday absence and to closure caused by bad weather.

A waiting list follows application order, although full-day applications and siblings may receive precedence. A holding deposit is required after acceptance of an application and is non-refundable if the place is not taken up. After attendance begins, the deposit is returned when the child leaves, subject to the terms and any outstanding fees.

Getting There

The address is 46 West Way, Bournemouth, BH9 3EB, with the entrance on Brockenhurst Road. Roadside parking is available around the nursery, and Brockenhurst Road is the recommended street for collecting and bringing children.

Morebus route 20 stops outside the nursery and connects Poole Bus Station with Castlepoint. The M1, between Poole Bus station and Bournemouth hospital, stops at the top of West Way; access from that stop involves a 250 metre walk down West Way.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded early education is offered, with terms describing 15 or 30 hours a week across a minimum of 38 weeks, subject to eligibility. The nursery's funded-hours arrangement requires a separate parental agreement, and private hours are also offered. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Meals are included for Option A bookings involving three or more full days and 30 funded hours; for Option B, meals carry a voluntary separate charge. Curriculum + covers supplementary services that may include enrichment teaching such as Baby Ballet, local visits, parties, digital journals and consumables including wipes. These additions are possibilities within the service, rather than a promise that each occurs on a fixed schedule.

Curriculum + is included for Option A bookings of three or more full days with 30 funded hours; Option B charges are voluntary. Wipes therefore sit within that option-dependent package, while parents provide labelled sun lotion for reapplication after lunch during full-day attendance. Funded hours, food and non-food items need to be read as separate parts of the arrangement.

• Baby care upstairs. Separate play and sleep rooms are part of the layout. During a visit, ask how movement between these spaces and the downstairs rooms works for your child's age and routine.
• Attendance and funding options. Full days, mornings and afternoons serve different needs, while Option A inclusion depends on three or more full days and 30 funded hours. Have the proposed sessions, meals and Curriculum + arrangements set out together in the written quotation.
• Changing a booking. Withdrawing a child or reducing sessions requires at least three months' written notice. This is a substantial planning commitment if work arrangements or childcare needs may change.
• Holiday cover. Summer, Easter and Christmas breaks interrupt the year-round pattern. Match those closures to your family's cover before committing to attendance.

Emma's Day Nursery suits families seeking full-day care or shorter morning and afternoon sessions in a residential setting with clearly different spaces for reading, building, art, outdoor play and baby rest. ECAT gives language a named place in the day, while the garden and conservatory broaden the ways children can participate.

The August 2024 Outstanding judgement is a strong inspection position. The practical decision rests on the attendance option, its funding and extras conditions, and whether the holiday breaks and notice period fit family life. There is plenty of substance here to assess, from separate baby spaces to activities that connect hands-on play with language and thinking.