Angel Day Nursery

A Victorian house, a baby sleep room upstairs and walks to Sandford Park give Angel Day Nursery a recognisable character. This Cheltenham setting combines care for babies with a preschool day that extends into the garden and local community. Its scale matters too: there are 50 places in total for children aged five months to five years.

At the 5 February 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, with positive findings on the curriculum and targeted support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The strengths came with clear teaching improvements: quieter conditions for language learning, more freedom for children's creative ideas and quicker help when children lose interest.

Families can book a Full Day or a Short Day, with year-round and term-time attendance options.

Rooms and Ages

The BABY ROOM takes children from five months to two years, with a maximum of 12 across three rooms: a downstairs play space with a viewing step for independent looking outside, a messy-play and dining room, and an upstairs Sleep Room.

Two first-floor rooms make up the TODDLER ROOM, with movement between them and nearby toilets and basins supporting play and exploration; entry can begin at 22 months, depending on development, while some children stay with the babies longer.

At around three years, children move to PRE-SCHOOL for independent play and school preparation in a rear ground-floor space with its own entrance and patio doors opening directly onto the garden.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning and care: play, communication, physical activity and growing independence shape the day. Angel also uses Development Matters to inform its approach. These sit beneath the nursery's own activities rather than making ordinary early-years provision an extra selling point.

For babies, the practical choices include stories and songs, water exploration, painting and cooking. Toddlers learn through play and exploration, with TOPIC BASED LEARNING incorporated into their day. In preschool, CHIRPY Values express the ambition to develop Confident, Happy, Independent, and Proud Youngsters; planned activities and children's interests both contribute to their experiences.

In February 2025, babies explored filling containers with spoons, toddlers carried objects around the garden in plant pots, and older children practised writing their names and cutting with scissors suited to their dominant hand. These are useful examples of how learning changes with age: early handling and movement develop into more precise tasks. They also make the teaching concerns concrete. Background music interfered with babies listening during an activity, while adult-drawn pictures left older children waiting rather than developing their own designs.

Outdoor and Community Life

A Mud Kitchen, growing area, grass and bark-covered play area give children different ways to explore outdoors. Babies have their own garden space.

Sandford Park and the local Fire Station are destinations for walks, with parental permission. Children can feed ducks and see fire engines, bringing familiar interests into real places. In February 2025, community experiences also included remembrance services and a local literacy festival.

Special events across the year include a Christmas concert and stay-and-play sessions for grandparents, fathers and mothers. Outings include museums and the Literature and Science Festivals. These experiences sit within the optional extras charge structure for funded places, which matters when comparing an inclusive package with funded-only attendance.

Relationships and Communication

Home sleep routines, familiar sleeping bags and comforters help babies maintain continuity in the separate Sleep Room, which has individual cots. Baby monitors and staff checks form part of the nursery's Safer Sleep Policy, with guidance from The Lullaby Trust.

FAMLY APP records cover food, drinks, nappy changes and sleep, alongside an online Learning Journey. Staff also talk with parents and coordinate toddler toilet training or adjustments to a new sibling. Twice-yearly written progress reports and biannual parents evenings allow fuller discussion of development.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the February 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that children with SEND benefited from individual learning plans and made good progress, while identifying a need for stronger staff coaching so that disengagement was recognised and addressed sooner. That distinction is useful: personalised support was a strength, but consistency in everyday teaching still needed attention.

Safeguarding concerns are passed to the Designated Safeguarding Lead, and procedures follow Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership guidance. The nursery also directs families towards Early Help and the Glosfamilies Directory for support. These are practical mechanisms for raising concerns and finding assistance, separate from the dated safeguarding judgement.

Food is cooked on the premises each day, and dietary alternatives can be arranged in advance, with menu allergen information supplied on request. Weaning is coordinated with parents, beginning with puréed foods and introducing ingredients in line with home experience; tea is intended as a lighter meal rather than the final meal of the day.

School preparation includes visiting the child's future school, inviting the teacher to meet them at nursery and working together on the skills needed for Reception. This is transition work centred on the child's next setting.

Sessions and Attendance

Angel Day Nursery is at 16 Keynsham Road, Cheltenham, GL53 7PX. It opens Monday to Friday, with 51 operating weeks and closures for bank holidays and a week at Christmas.

A Full Day runs from 8am to 5.30pm; a Short Day runs from 8am to 3.30pm. Both are offered across the year, and term-time places are another attendance option. A full-day booking reserves the whole session: arriving later or collecting earlier does not reduce it. Short Days can be extended by agreement, but additional hours require confirmation and are intended for occasional use rather than regular bookings.

Enquiries can be made through the online contact form or by email. The nursery requests the intended start date, required days, child's date of birth and a telephone number, so the enquiry can address the family's proposed pattern.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes the Working Parent Entitlement, support-based two-year-old funding and early education entitlement for three- and four-year-olds. The terms describe 15-hour support-based provision and 15 or 30 hours for three- and four-year-olds, subject to the relevant eligibility conditions. Funding is delivered over 38 term-time weeks; additional hours and non-funded weeks in a year-round booking are charged privately.

For private Full Days, meals and snacks are included; Short Days include the breakfast snack, cooked lunch and afternoon snack. On funded bookings, meals, snacks and non-food consumables are separately charged optional extras. Families choosing the funded-only arrangement supply suitable packed food and the required consumables, with allergen information shared for packed meals.

Events, celebrations and outings also fall within optional additional charges. Funded-only attendance excludes those extras unless families pay for participation or alternative arrangements are made. The funded hours themselves are free, and additional charges are not a condition of receiving them.

A registration charge applies when securing a confirmed place, incorporating an administration charge and settling sessions credited against the first invoice; it is non-refundable if the child does not attend. Bank holidays remain chargeable, and absence does not bring a fee reduction. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Teaching consistency. February 2025 improvement priorities concerned distracting background noise, adult control of creative work and delayed help for children who had disengaged. On a visit, ask how staff now protect listening time and support children's own ideas.
• Baby routines and room moves. The baby provision has a cap of 12 and a separate sleeping space, while the move to toddlers depends on development. Discuss how your child's sleep routine and readiness for that move would be handled.
• Funded attendance choices. Term-time and funded-only bookings are subject to demand for year-round places. Compare the proposed pattern and optional extras in a written quotation before committing.
• Dietary arrangements. Alternatives are organised in advance and allergen information can be requested. Families managing allergies should confirm current food preparation and packed-food arrangements.

Angel Day Nursery suits families seeking either a shorter nursery day or a full working-day session, with term-time and year-round patterns to consider. Its strongest practical features are the separate baby sleep provision, detailed parent communication and preschool garden access. Sandford Park walks and community outings add recognisable experiences beyond the house.

The February 2025 teaching concerns temper those strengths. Home routines, daily updates and development-led room moves remain useful reasons to consider Angel.