I Can Day Nurseries

Forest School, a purpose-built baby room and a playground for bikes and scooters give I Can Day Nurseries a character that reaches beyond indoor play. Based on Kingsland Avenue in Chapelfields, Coventry, it combines spaces for different developmental stages with opportunities to move between indoors and outdoors. Forest School adds practical exploration through bug hunts, den building and activities with natural materials. There is room for quieter moments too.

At its 25 April 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall, with effective safeguarding and a curriculum organised around what children already understood and what they needed to learn next. The improvement priorities were more demanding activities for the most able children and stronger opportunities to investigate mathematical ideas.

The nursery has 150 places in total and accepts children aged 2 to 60 months. Full-day and half-day combinations are offered, including arrangements for funded education. Its strongest appeal is the combination of outdoor exploration, age-related spaces and everyday opportunities for children to do things themselves.

Rooms and Ages

Room progression follows development as well as age: Babies, Toddlers, Tweenies, Lower Pre Younger, Lower Pre Older and Pre-School each have their own example of a nursery day. Walking marks the move towards Toddlers, increasing mobility and independence feature in Tweenies, and Lower Pre Younger is associated with children turning three. Lower Pre Older serves the three-to-four stage. That structure makes the room move itself a useful part of understanding the child's experience.

Babies have painting and sticking, singing, messy exploration with cornflour gloop, a soft-surfaced outdoor area and a cosy corner for books or rest. Toddlers combine stories and songs with accessible toy baskets, play dough and outdoor bikes, cars and balls, giving children choices they can act on themselves. Tweenies practise feeding themselves and putting bowls away, alongside sand, water, painting and shared books. Lower Pre Younger brings songs and conversation into key-group time, with self-serving at meals and an afternoon balance of play and rest. Lower Pre Older pairs time with a key person with block building, creative materials and choices about indoor or outdoor play. Pre-School adds role play, science and ICT, with a ball pit, sheltered outdoor spaces and a large playground for bikes, scooters and balls.

These are examples of the day rather than a promise that each child follows an identical timetable. The useful pattern is consistent: shared meals and small-group experiences sit alongside choices about play, with rest remaining part of the younger children's day.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS sets the framework for children's learning, development and care; here, play, conversation, physical activity and growing independence give those strands practical expression. Choosing materials, sharing stories and managing small tasks are part of the learning day, rather than additions reserved for a separate lesson.

Forest School supplies a more specific outdoor strand. Activities respond to children's interests and developmental stage, with choices including investigating plants and animals, creating things from natural resources, physical challenges and helping with supervised camp fires. Circle time opens and closes sessions so children can consider what they want to do and reflect afterwards. The combination gives outdoor exploration a clear beginning and ending, alongside freedom within the activity.

In April 2022, babies used low furniture to support their first steps, toddlers practised putting on coats, and older children could choose between indoor and outdoor activities. Communication ran through stories, conversation and early work with letter sounds. Those observations show how everyday experiences carried learning at the time, rather than relying solely on organised group activities.

The same April 2022 findings exposed a limit: some activities needed greater challenge for children who were already more capable. Mathematics also needed more chances for children to try out ideas involving shape, weight and measure. For families, the issue is the level of thinking an activity demands, as well as whether children enjoy taking part.

Outdoor and Community Life

Free-flow indoor and outdoor spaces, a large playground and soft play areas broaden the physical setting. Children in Pre-School can put on and remove outdoor clothing themselves as they move between spaces. Sheltered outdoor areas also give their play somewhere to continue in sun or rain.

In April 2022, planting involved filling pots, sowing seeds and talking about what marigolds needed to grow. Older children constructed an obstacle course and used balancing beams. These were practical experiences with movement, materials and living things: useful examples of outdoor play doing more than providing a break from the room.

Relationships and Communication

Key-group time gives children a regular connection with a familiar adult through books, songs, conversation and shared activities. The examples differ by room: Toddlers share stories and singing, while Pre-School children use the group to explore interests and new ideas. That offers a small-group thread within a much larger nursery.

EYLog is the nursery's digital learning journal, used to record and track each child's development. Parents can receive practitioner comments, photographs and videos, and interact with their child's practitioners. It gives families something concrete to discuss beyond a brief account of what their child has eaten or played with, while keeping children's experiences attached to their individual journal.

In April 2022, communication with parents included both online exchanges and conversations. Staff also held supervision and reflection meetings and had access to training. These are dated features of the nursery's working arrangements, rather than a current staffing count or a promise about who will care for a particular child.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the April 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that support for children with SEND included individual plans, work with external agencies and communication aids such as objects and picture cards; safeguarding arrangements were effective, and the provider promptly addressed potential risks identified during the visit, which were to be incorporated into daily checks. The practical value of the SEND detail is its specificity: support involved adapting how children could understand and express their needs.

Rest has a place in the room routines. Babies can sleep or spend quiet time with books, while Toddlers have a cosy book area for children who need a pause rather than sleep. Lower Pre Younger also allows some children to rest while others continue playing. Children are not all expected to have the same energy level at the same point in the day.

Food comes from The Nursery Catering Company, supplying starters, lunches, desserts and snacks on a three-week seasonal menu rotation. Regular, vegetarian, vegan and halal menus are offered, and the nursery describes catering for recognised allergens. Dietary arrangements therefore deserve the same individual attention as sleep and communication needs.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Kingsland Avenue, Chapelfields, Coventry, CV5 8EB. Opening hours are 7.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday, with year-round operation and closures for bank holidays and Christmas.

Full days, half days and combinations of the two form the attendance choices. For funded education, examples include two full days or four half days, as well as other combinations. These examples describe ways of organising attendance rather than a single required booking pattern. They are useful for families comparing concentrated nursery days with shorter periods spread across the week.

Queries can be sent through the contact form. There is also a form for requesting a viewing, making it possible to discuss the nursery and see its rooms before deciding on a booking.

Getting There

Private parking is provided at the nursery. Its Kingsland Avenue address places the setting in Chapelfields, so families can consider it alongside their ordinary home and work routes.

Funding and Paid Extras

Both 15 and 30 hours of government-funded childcare are offered, subject to eligibility. The funding arrangements include 15 hours each week over 38 weeks for three- and four-year-olds, with some two-year-olds also eligible for funding. Full-day and half-day combinations are among the ways that funded attendance can be organised.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. Families should assess the attendance pattern and the written terms together, since the number of funded hours and the chosen nursery days are separate parts of the decision.

• Challenge beyond participation. The April 2022 improvement priorities concerned stretching the most able children and developing mathematical exploration. On a visit, ask to see how an activity becomes more demanding for a child who has already mastered its first steps.
• Room moves and individual routines. Progression includes walking, growing independence and age-related stages, while younger rooms retain sleep and quiet time. Discuss how a move would preserve your child's rest pattern and relationship with a familiar adult.
• Funding and the total booking. Full-day and half-day combinations can organise funded attendance. Request one written breakdown showing how your preferred pattern treats funded hours, additional time, food and non-food consumables.
• Dietary needs. The menu includes several dietary options and a policy covering recognised allergens. Allergy-affected families should confirm current practice for their child's specific needs, including communication between the nursery and its meal supplier.

I Can Day Nurseries suits families looking for either full-day attendance or shorter half-day combinations, with outdoor activity and increasing independence running through the child's day. Forest School gives exploration a defined structure; EYLog gives parents a way to follow individual experiences; and the room routines retain space for sleep, quiet play and small-group contact.

The Good judgement from April 2022 provides a dated quality assessment, with clear improvement priorities rather than an unqualified endorsement. Families whose children need greater intellectual challenge should give those priorities weight. For others, the combination of developmental room progression, practical outdoor experiences and several attendance combinations makes this a nursery with substantial day-to-day choice.