Awsworth School House Day Nursery

A separate preschool annex gives older children their own space, while Caterpillars keeps babies’ routines central to their care. Awsworth School House Day Nursery combines age-grouped rooms with a practical emphasis on communication, independence and preparing for school. The progression matters: infant feeding and sleep lead into toddler self-help and, later, the everyday skills children will need beyond nursery.

At its February 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective. That judgement provides a useful starting point, alongside two clear improvement priorities concerning individual learning and spoken language.

The nursery has capacity for 64 children aged 0 to 5, with babies accepted from four weeks. Its address is The Lane, Awsworth, Nottingham NG16 2QQ. Opening hours are 7am to 6pm on weekdays, and attendance involves a minimum of two sessions each week.

Rooms and Ages

Caterpillars, the baby room, combines floor play and supervised tummy time with conversation and nursery rhymes; peaceful sleeping spaces accommodate babies’ own rest patterns. Reaching, grasping and listening sit alongside care routines rather than requiring babies to follow an older child’s timetable. The emphasis is on small steps.

Ladybirds and bumble bees, the toddler room, uses sensory exploration, creative play and movement to develop communication, coordination and cooperation. Children typically enter this stage between 18 months and 3 years, depending on their development. That flexibility makes readiness relevant alongside age: becoming mobile and increasingly independent changes what children need from their surroundings.

Pre-School occupies a separate annex for children aged 3 to 5, where planned activities develop communication, self-care and independence ahead of school. The physical separation gives this stage its own setting. Its more structured activities still include hands-on exploration, with nature walks and science experiments providing concrete opportunities to investigate and ask questions.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning through play, including communication, physical development and growing independence. It is the shared early-years foundation; Awsworth’s particular additions lie in its room routines and school preparation.

The preschool uses a school-readiness programme developed by local schools. Its 10 areas include managing separation from a parent, expressing needs, handling toileting and handwashing, putting on shoes, feeding oneself and enjoying books with an adult. These are practical capabilities rather than an early push into formal lessons. They connect preparation for school with things children can practise throughout the nursery day.

In February 2023, babies explored dough with their hands, toddlers experimented with musical instruments, and older children used pretend baking equipment. Creative work included painting with feathers and cotton balls. Those examples show different ways of engaging with materials: manipulating, listening, imagining and making, rather than expecting every age group to approach an activity identically.

Books also took different forms in February 2023. Babies explored sound-making books alongside staff, toddlers handled sensory bottles during stories, and preschool children looked through books for themselves. The common thread was access to stories, with different levels of adult involvement and independence.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor experiences include exploring nature and developing physical skills in the countryside setting. In February 2023, children used the garden daily, riding toys, trying balancing equipment and digging in mud. This adds movement and hands-on exploration to the indoor offer. Preschool nature walks provide further opportunities to explore.

Relationships and Communication

Each baby has a key person who learns their preferences, routines and communication cues. Settling happens gradually, allowing familiarity with adults and the daily pattern to build over time. For parents of a young baby, the useful detail is continuity: the person providing care gets to know how that particular child signals hunger, tiredness or interest.

Home sleep patterns guide infant rest, and staff accommodate breast milk or formula feeds and help with weaning. These arrangements make feeding and sleeping part of the care plan, rather than treating them as interruptions to activities. Toddlers have regular points for meals, rest and active play, providing a different kind of predictability as their independence grows.

Parents receive updates covering activities, meals and developmental milestones, and can discuss progress with their child’s key worker. In February 2023, families also received play-planning ideas fortnightly to use at home. That dated example gives substance to home–nursery communication: it involved suggested activities as well as accounts of what children had done.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The team includes practitioners with additional speech and language training.

In February 2023, Ofsted identified that staff sometimes spread their attention between activities instead of extending individual learning, and asked for more consistent language modelling and vocabulary development. These were teaching improvements, with a clear implication for families: sustained conversation and responsive adult involvement matter alongside the toys and activities provided.

Everyday self-care also formed part of the February 2023 nursery day. Babies practised drinking from open cups, older children served their own breakfast and cleared their dishes, and doll play introduced toothbrushing and washing. These examples connect independence with ordinary routines, giving children manageable responsibilities rather than making school preparation a separate lesson.

Two nursery cooks prepare food on-site using fresh ingredients, and sample menus cover four weeks. Families with dietary requirements discuss them with the team before attendance begins, so feeding arrangements can be agreed in advance.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates for 51 weeks, closing for a week at Christmas. This is a year-round arrangement rather than a term-time-only calendar.

Children attend at least two sessions per week, and childcare cannot be purchased by the hour. That minimum is a meaningful planning condition for families seeking occasional care: attendance needs to form a recurring part of the week. Out-of-school care is not provided.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form or by telephone on 0115 718 5137. Fees continue during a child’s illness or holiday, and normal charges also apply on bank holidays. Budgeting therefore needs to account for booked attendance, not simply the days a child attends.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible children aged 9 months to 4 years can use 15 or 30 funded hours from the term after eligibility begins. Funding is stretched across the nursery’s operating year, with additional paid hours offered to meet childcare needs. Participation remains subject to eligibility, availability and local authority guidance.

Meals and snacks are included in the ordinary nursery day; for funded attendance, families may incur separate meal charges, alongside charges for extra sessions or services outside their allocation. The distinction matters when comparing a funded arrangement with private attendance. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

An eligibility code must be validated before funded enrolment is confirmed, and codes require reconfirmation approximately every three months. Funding therefore involves an ongoing administrative step as well as the initial application.

• Adult interaction. The February 2023 priorities concerned individual learning and language modelling. During a visit, ask how staff now extend children’s conversations and adapt activities to their next learning steps.
• Toddler transition. The toddler room typically serves children between 18 months and 3 years, depending on development. Development, as well as age, shapes the timing of this stage.
• Recurring attendance. The minimum is two sessions weekly, with no hourly bookings and fees continuing during illness and holidays. Ask which session arrangement fits your working week before committing.
• Funded-place costs. Funding is stretched, and meals or additional services may attract separate charges. Request a written breakdown covering your proposed attendance.

Awsworth suits families seeking continuity from infant care into a separate preschool stage, with year-round weekday opening and a recurring attendance pattern. Babies’ home routines, toddler play and practical school preparation give the age progression substance. The annex and school-readiness activities are useful details for parents looking ahead, while key-person care is more immediately relevant to those starting with a baby.

The February 2023 Good judgement sits alongside specific teaching improvements that deserve attention. For families comfortable with the two-session minimum, the decision turns on how well today’s adult interaction, room transitions and funded charging arrangements fit their child and weekly routine.