Shining Stars Day Nursery, Illingworth Road

An up-and-over tower for babies, connected playrooms for toddlers and space for preschool construction give Shining Stars Day Nursery, Illingworth Road a character built around movement, messy play and growing independence. The physical arrangements matter: younger children have room to explore, while bathrooms alongside the older children's play spaces support everyday self-care.

At its June 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good overall and found safeguarding effective. That is a dated assessment. Its two improvement priorities concerned children's awareness of how their behaviour affects others and waits between activities, both relevant to the rhythm of a young child's day.

The Halifax nursery has capacity for 78 children aged 0 to 60 months. Full-day, morning and afternoon sessions provide different attendance patterns, rather than requiring every family to book the same length of day.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room occupies two rooms, combining a literacy area and home corner with an up-and-over tower for large movements, plus cosy sensory resources, books, songs and messy activities. This brings physical exploration and early communication into the same stage of care. Babies can encounter books and rhymes alongside opportunities to move and handle different materials.

Two connected spaces form the Toddler Room, where playdough, books, pretend play, singing and dancing support communication, relationships and early mathematics, while an accessible bathroom helps children practise handwashing and begin toilet training. Independence has a practical setting here. It is something children can rehearse alongside their play.

The Preschool Room uses two rooms and a bathroom, with construction, stories, sand, water and creative activities alongside numeracy and self-help skills, continuing until children begin their Reception year. The combination gives older children both imaginative materials and opportunities to practise doing things for themselves. Preparing for school is expressed through daily skills as well as learning activities.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the required framework for children's learning, development and care: it connects play and communication with physical, social and practical development. Here, the room arrangements give that work concrete forms, from songs with babies to playdough with toddlers and construction with preschool children.

In June 2023, children chose stories and joined familiar repeated phrases, while preschool children talked through experiences from their holidays. These were opportunities to practise listening, remembering and explaining. The same dated account described toddlers taking turns and children helping each other with clothing fastenings during pretend play.

Outdoor and Community Life

In June 2023, outdoor play included balancing on stepping stones and making a walking ramp from wooden planks, with staff helping younger children who needed support. Babies also explored soil and sand with small digging tools. These examples show the kinds of physical and sensory experiences taking place at that time, rather than a timetable of current activities.

The daily sequence needed attention, however. In June 2023, some children waited too long before outdoor play or another activity and lost interest. For families, the important issue is how movement between parts of the day preserves children's engagement.

Personal information at the start of care can make a practical difference to settling. At the June 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that staff gathered detailed information from parents about children's existing learning, and supported children with special educational needs and/or disabilities through individual action plans and advice from external professionals. These were specific mechanisms for adapting care and learning to the child.

In June 2023, parents received information about learning and ideas they could use at home. That creates a useful connection between nursery activities and family life: a story, conversation or developing skill can continue beyond the nursery day. The settling arrangements also began with what parents already knew about their child.

Self-care featured in the June 2023 daily routine, including children helping themselves at meals. The current Toddler Room bathroom and preschool toilet-training support give independence a physical basis too. Learning to wash hands or manage clothing belongs alongside stories and number activities, rather than being treated as separate from learning.

Moving on to school was supported in June 2023 through exchanges of information with the schools children were joining. This was continuity work, helping the next setting understand children's learning. It did not describe an admissions advantage.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is at 156 Illingworth Road, Halifax, HX2 9RX. It opens Monday to Friday, with full-day sessions from 7.30am to 6pm, mornings from 7.30am to 1pm and afternoons from 1pm to 6pm. The distinction is useful: a morning booking and an afternoon booking cover different parts of the routine, while a full day spans both.

Closures include bank holidays and the period between Christmas Eve and 1 January, together with up to two designated training days each year. Those training closures deserve a place in family planning alongside the holiday break. They can affect working arrangements even when a family's usual weekday booking stays the same.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form or by calling 01422 647224. The nursery also provides a Famly Enquiries Form for Illingworth Road. This gives families a direct route for starting the joining process.

Funding and Paid Extras

Meals carry separate charges, with the charge structure distinguishing the child's age and whether the booking is a morning, afternoon or full day. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The useful comparison is the complete cost of the intended attendance pattern, including its meals.

• The daily flow. June 2023 improvement priorities covered long waits between activities and helping children understand the effect of their behaviour on others. During a visit, discuss how staff now manage these moments, including the change from indoor to outdoor play.
• The complete booking cost. Meals are charged separately for the different session patterns. For your chosen morning, afternoon or full-day arrangement, how would funded hours, meal charges and supplies such as nappies and wipes fit together?
• Closure planning. Bank holidays, the Christmas Eve to 1 January break and up to two training days affect the care calendar. Build these closures into the family's working and holiday arrangements.

Shining Stars suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as those booking full days. Its strongest practical detail is the progression through spaces: movement and sensory exploration for babies, connected toddler rooms with accessible washing facilities, then preschool construction, creative play and self-help skills.

The June 2023 Good judgement provides a dated quality assessment, with clear reservations about waiting between activities and children's understanding of others' feelings. Families have concrete points to weigh: the room arrangements, the attendance pattern, separate meal charges and the way staff organise the nursery day.