Ribbon Daycare

Resident chickens, a room for children who are not yet mobile, and outdoor space linked directly to the youngest children’s room give Ribbon Daycare in Murton a recognisable character. Its three named rooms provide different settings for play, rest and growing independence. The practical distinction is between a baby’s need for protected space and an older child’s appetite for exploration.

Ofsted rated Ribbon Daycare Outstanding at its inspection on 29 November 2022. That judgement is a dated assessment of the nursery’s quality, rather than a description of every aspect of its present operation.

The nursery accepts children from three months to five years and has capacity for 79 children overall. Morning, afternoon and all-day arrangements feature in The Woodland Room. Ribbon Daycare sits within Ribbon Academy School, making the distinction between nursery attendance and Reception admission important for families planning ahead.

Rooms and Ages

The Acorn Room combines an area designed for babies who are not yet mobile with early mark making, language, movement and social development, plus a softly lit resting space and direct access outdoors. Those separate spaces matter: active play and a quieter pause have different places within the room’s layout.

The Oak Room supports independently chosen play across creative work, understanding the world, early number and literacy, alongside daily individual and small-group activities for speech, attention and listening, with a quiet corner for rest. Independence here means children can select resources linked to their interests; targeted activities sit alongside that choice.

The Woodland Room accommodates up to 78 children and combines interest-led play, early literacy and mathematics with outdoor physical challenges and care of resident chickens. Its capacity is a room maximum, not a statement about the size of any one learning group. Morning and afternoon education groups share this room’s provision with children attending for all-day care.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children’s learning, development and care: in everyday terms, play supports communication, movement, relationships and early learning. The room arrangements give that framework concrete expression through accessible resources, opportunities to make marks and space to explore outdoors.

In November 2022, stories and familiar songs connected learning across the age groups. Preschool children brought sticks collected on family walks back to nursery for projects inspired by favourite stories, then used drawings to map a story and transformed their sticks into imaginary objects. This made storytelling something children could build and act out, extending it beyond listening to an adult read.

Physical activity also took different forms in November 2022. Babies moved to music with ribbons; toddlers experimented outdoors with foam, water and paint; older children practised balancing and climbing on substantial outdoor equipment. An indoor climbing frame gave babies another opportunity to practise movement. These examples show how the same broad area of learning was adapted to different stages of development.

Rest has a physical place in both The Acorn Room and The Oak Room. The former uses subdued lighting in its quiet space, while the latter gives children a calm area to pause. For families with younger children, these arrangements deserve as much attention as the play resources: a nursery day includes tired moments as well as busy ones.

In November 2022, staff visited children at home before they started and gathered information to help with settling. Families received observations and assessment updates through a digital platform and could take part in stay-and-play sessions. Together, these practices connected children’s experiences at home with their nursery day and gave parents more than a brief account of activities.

At the November 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and praised the support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including early intervention and work with Portage workers, health visitors and speech and language therapists. The value of that support lay in identifying needs and bringing relevant professionals into the child’s learning, rather than relying on a general promise of inclusion.

Cooking activities accompanied nutritious food in November 2022, helping children explore where food came from. Encouragement also accompanied physical achievements, including babies learning to climb, while turn-taking games gave children practice in sharing an activity with others.

Sessions and Attendance

Ribbon Daycare opens Monday to Friday, from 8am to 5.30pm, and operates throughout the year with bank holiday closures. These are opening hours. The Woodland Room’s attendance arrangements include morning and afternoon education sessions as well as all-day care, so families can consider more than one pattern of attendance.

Getting There

The address is The Ribbon, Murton Children’s Centre, Barnes Road, Murton, Seaham, SR7 9QR. Enquiries for the Murton nursery use admin@ribbondaycare.com.

Ribbon Daycare is within Ribbon Academy School. Attending the nursery does not guarantee a Reception place. A familiar setting and a school place are separate decisions.

Funding and Paid Extras

Private childcare and funded places for two-, three- and four-year-olds are offered at Murton. Families should obtain a current written quotation for prices. The distinction between funded attendance and additional paid childcare matters when matching a booking to the family’s needs.

• The Woodland Room’s scale. Its maximum is 78 children, with morning, afternoon and all-day provision using the room. On a visit, ask how the spaces and groups are organised during the attendance pattern you are considering.
• Your child’s settling and daily costs. Home visits and digital updates were part of the November 2022 practice. Ask how settling works now and how meals and consumables are handled within your proposed booking.
• Reception admission. Being within Ribbon Academy School does not guarantee a Reception place. Keep that distinction in mind when choosing the nursery.

Ribbon Daycare suits families considering morning or afternoon education sessions as well as all-day care, with different room environments for younger and older children. The Acorn Room’s protected play and rest spaces offer practical detail for parents of babies; The Woodland Room combines outdoor challenges with opportunities to care for resident chickens.

The Outstanding judgement from November 2022 provides a strong dated assessment. The most useful current details are tangible: direct outdoor access, daily language activities in The Oak Room and the distinction between session attendance and all-day care. Families should weigh those arrangements against their child’s stage and the scale of the room they would use.