Tower View Nursery with Peelers Out of School Club

Garden herbs destined for lunch and imaginary journeys to the moon give Tower View’s nursery day a recognisable character. Those examples come from August 2022, when children combined practical tasks with inventive play. The setting sits at Old Hall Primary School in Bury, bringing school transition into the same-site picture.

At its 26 August 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and judged that children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, made good progress. That judgement belongs to that visit. Its strengths were accompanied by specific weaknesses in teaching and assessment, which matter when weighing the nursery today.

Tower View now accepts children from birth to five and has capacity for 77 children in total. Babies are explicitly welcomed. The nursery opens throughout the year, with closures for bank holidays and a week at Christmas.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for children’s learning, development and care: play supports learning alongside the practical business of becoming more independent. In August 2022, children’s interests helped shape activities, and children had opportunities to direct their own play. Making play dough involved experimenting and trying again.

Small movements had a practical purpose. In August 2022, toddlers poured sand between containers and made paint marks, while block-building prompted children to photograph their creations. Older children invented a moon journey and thought about travelling safely. Counting and recognising numbers also formed part of the day. These examples connect learning with something children wanted to do.

At the August 2022 inspection, Ofsted identified uneven teaching, including missed opportunities to deepen learning and occasional inaccurate speech modelling, alongside assessment delays and insufficient parental involvement in some progress checks for children aged two to three. It asked leaders to sharpen feedback to practitioners and improve assessment. Enthusiasm for activities was therefore only part of the educational picture: how adults developed that enthusiasm needed attention too.

Outdoor and Community Life

In August 2022, the garden supplied herbs that children gathered for the cook’s garlic bread. It was a concrete link between growing ingredients and eating lunch. Community outings included a farm, giving children experiences beyond the nursery itself.

Yoga, football and dance were also part of the August 2022 activity mix. Books, reading and singing featured throughout the day, and books and activities went home for families to use together. Movement, stories and home learning sat alongside children’s self-directed play; these are dated examples of the experience, rather than a current activity timetable.

In August 2022, a key-person arrangement gave children a familiar adult connection. Staff helped them understand feelings and manage behaviour in ways suited to their age. Family messages kept in jars gave children another connection with home, making their own relationships part of nursery life.

Independence was practised through small, useful tasks in August 2022. Children used mirrors while learning to clean their noses, handled cutlery and served themselves food. Older children helped prepare the lunch table and tidy after activities. Care routines doubled as opportunities to take responsibility.

The August 2022 safeguarding arrangements included daily checks of potential hazards, recruitment checks and staff training in safeguarding and paediatric first aid. Children took part in recognising hazards too. These were the practical arrangements behind the dated safeguarding judgement, rather than an assurance about current staffing or procedures.

School transition had a tangible connection in August 2022: leaders worked with the school on the nursery site, while external professionals supported continuity of care and learning. This made the move towards school a matter of working relationships and preparation.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Old Hall Primary School, Springside View, Bury, BL8 4LU. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, with provision across the year apart from bank holidays and a week at Christmas. That opening window is useful for judging whether the setting fits a family’s working day.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 0161 764 5200 or by email to managers@towerviewnursery.co.uk. The nursery’s current age range extends from birth to five, so the explicit welcome for babies is relevant to families considering care before toddlerhood.

Funding and Paid Extras

In August 2022, Tower View provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation. Families considering funded care should distinguish the education entitlement from any additional hours or items when considering the total arrangement.

In August 2022, children ate home-cooked meals and helped serve their food. Garden herbs were used in lunch preparation, linking an outdoor activity with the meal itself.

Attending the nursery does not guarantee a Reception place at Old Hall Primary School. Families still apply through the local authority admissions process; sharing a site and receiving transition support are separate from securing a school place.

• Teaching and assessment. The August 2022 weaknesses concerned extending learning, accurate speech modelling and timely assessment, including parental involvement in progress checks. Ask how practitioner feedback and those checks now work in practice.
• Care from babyhood. Babies are welcomed within a setting serving children up to five. What room, settling arrangement and usual group size would apply to your baby?
• School-site expectations. Tower View shares its address with Old Hall Primary School, and school transition work featured in August 2022. Plan a Reception application separately from the nursery decision.

Tower View suits families looking for care from babyhood through the preschool years, with weekday opening hours that extend across a working day. Its August 2022 examples give substance to the offer: practical independence, imaginative play, garden ingredients and a connection with the school on site.

The Good judgement provides a dated quality reference, but the teaching and assessment weaknesses deserve equal weight. The strongest decision will turn on how today’s care arrangements fit the child and how the nursery has addressed those specific points.