Clever Clogs Day Nursery, Bowburn

Natural materials, separate sleeping spaces and direct outdoor access give Clever Clogs Bowburn a clear character: children have room to investigate, while babies can keep the routines they know from home. From Tiny Miracles to Big Inventors, care progresses from babies' familiar routines to preschool spaces for reading, science and technology.

Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding at its 15 March 2023 inspection. At that visit, children practised everyday independence, explored materials with their senses and took part in activities beyond the nursery.

On Durham Road in Bowburn, Durham, DH6 5AT, the nursery has capacity for 108 children aged two months to five years. It opens Monday to Friday, from 7.30am to 6pm, throughout the year except bank holidays. Alongside nursery care, Bowburn also offers care outside school hours for older children up to 11.

Rooms and Ages

Tiny Miracles serves younger babies, combining music, stories and sensory exploration with the home routine, direct access to a large outdoor play space and a separate sleep room with cots.

Small Discoverers, for older babies up to around two, emphasises investigation through sensory, messy and pretend play, with direct outdoor access and a separate sleep room offering cots or bed mats. Home routines continue here.

Little Explorers, for children aged two to three, introduces a basic routine and combines construction, creative play and a home corner with nearby toilets and sinks, direct outdoor access and a separate sleep room with bed mats. Nearby washing facilities bring self-care into the day.

Big Inventors, for preschool children aged three to five, brings together a science area, an IT corner and a reading area, with access to outdoor play throughout the day.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) supplies the framework for learning through play, including language, physical development, relationships, early mathematics and literacy. It is the educational foundation here. Bowburn adds The Curiosity Approach, using familiar household objects and natural materials as resources children can investigate and use in open-ended play.

That approach has concrete expression in the baby provision, where older and newer resources sit together and children explore rather than follow one prescribed use for a toy. Across the nursery, daily possibilities include making models from discarded materials, pretending, painting, building and singing.

In March 2023, children used woodworking equipment with close adult supervision to make toys and bird houses. Other activities helped them practise handling scissors and pouring drinks. These were useful, purposeful tasks: children were learning to control tools and manage something for themselves.

During March 2023, sensory learning included pretend cooking with actual fruit and vegetables, counting stones and investigating the smells and textures of herbs and pine cones. Babies explored paint and foam, while preschool children investigated magnets during Science Week.

Football, Mighty Monsters and Lingotots are also offered at an additional charge. These are paid additions to everyday nursery activities.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor access is built into the room arrangements, and outdoor play continues in different weather conditions.

In March 2023, the enclosed garden included tandem bikes, with children practising taking turns. They also helped with everyday tasks such as carrying water to fill a play tray. Both examples connect physical activity with cooperation: children had something real to do together, with opportunities to share equipment and responsibility.

Beyond the grounds, March 2023 experiences included woodland walks and visits to shops and a library. Children also visited a neighbouring care home for crafts and singing with residents. These outings broadened the nursery day beyond toys and room activities, bringing children into contact with the natural world, local services and people of different generations.

Relationships and Communication

Room changes are treated as a process. Tiny Miracles introduces visits to Small Discoverers before a permanent move, with parents involved and the move completed when the child is settled. Small Discoverers similarly uses introductory visits before children progress to Little Explorers. The practical benefit is continuity: children can get to know another space before it becomes their everyday room.

In March 2023, staff passed detailed information to each child's next key person and helped children become familiar with different adults and rooms. Those handovers helped the next practitioner continue the child's care.

School preparation also has a concrete mechanism. Big Inventors receives visits from Reception teachers, giving children a chance to meet adults connected with their next stage. In March 2023, nursery staff also spoke with schools after children had moved on and sought feedback about settling. That work concerned the experience of transition, rather than an admissions advantage.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities outstanding, including cooperation with health professionals and help obtaining resources and equipment. For families whose child needs additional support, those findings describe practical work around inclusion, rather than a general promise that every need can be met in the same way.

Sleep has its own space in the baby and toddler rooms. Staff monitor the sleeping areas and sleep times, while babies' home routines shape their day. This arrangement gives rest a defined place within provision that also includes active exploration and outdoor play.

A chef cooks lunch on site, with a hot two-course meal and a four-week menu rotation; morning and afternoon snacks are also offered, and dietary and cultural requirements can be accommodated. Parents supply formula and baby food until their child can eat the nursery's blended menu.

In March 2023, the cook documented ingredients, with further checks by management and the staff serving meals for children with allergies. These checks linked food preparation with serving.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm on weekdays, with year-round opening apart from bank holidays.

Bowburn also provides out-of-school care for children up to 11. For a family with children at different stages, this extends the setting's role beyond the preschool years. It is a separate practical consideration from the nursery rooms and their age bands.

Funding and Paid Extras

In March 2023, the nursery provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four.

Parents provide formula and food for babies until they move onto the blended nursery menu. Football, Mighty Monsters and Lingotots carry an extra charge. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, which gives families a basis for considering their intended care alongside these additions.

• Your baby's room and routine. Tiny Miracles and Small Discoverers both retain home routines and have separate sleeping spaces. On a visit, ask how feeding, sleep and the move between these rooms would work for your baby, including the usual group size.
• Funding and the complete booking. Funded provision was confirmed in March 2023, while the nursery opens across the year. Ask for a written arrangement covering your current entitlement, attendance pattern, food and consumables so you can assess the complete booking.
• Paid activities. Football, Mighty Monsters and Lingotots cost extra. Ask what each involves at Bowburn and which would be appropriate for your child's age and interests before adding it to the booking.
• Food allergies. Ingredient recording and further serving checks were in place in March 2023. Confirm how your child's allergy would be managed now, including the food supplied from home during the baby stage.

Clever Clogs Bowburn suits families who value gradual room transitions, babies' familiar routines and a nursery day shaped by practical exploration. Direct outdoor access and separate sleep rooms are useful physical features, while the March 2023 examples of woodworking, sensory investigation and community visits give substance to its educational character.

The strongest fit is for parents seeking care through the baby, toddler and preschool stages who want play to include independence and real materials. Provision for older children may also matter to families with siblings.