Oak House Nursery

Tiny Talk for younger children, drama for Sunshine and Rainbow, and regular Forest School sessions give Oak House Nursery a recognisable character: communication, imagination and outdoor exploration run through its activities. Its Victorian premises in Mickleover provide the physical setting. The appeal is the combination of specialist-led experiences and ordinary play, rather than a programme built entirely around organised classes.

Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding on 11 January 2023. That is a dated judgement, but the detail behind it matters: babies explored sensory resources, older children investigated living things outdoors, and preschool children experimented with programmable toys. These were practical experiences with room for children to choose, question and persevere.

Oak House accepts children aged 6 to 60 months. Parents have a key person to discuss their child's care with, and settling is adjusted to the individual child rather than treated as a fixed timetable. Together, these arrangements give families a clear point of contact during the move into nursery.

Rooms and Ages

Teddies is the baby room, while Tigers serves toddlers. Sunshine is for children aged 2 and 3, and Rainbow is the preschool room. The activities differ between these rooms, so the progression involves changes in experience as well as a change of name.

Teddies takes part in Tiny Talk, where a specialist uses singing, rhymes and games. Tigers joins the same activity, giving toddlers another setting in which to explore sounds and language. Sunshine combines Tiny Talk with drama built around stories, mime and imaginative adventures. Rainbow adds Creative Dance led by a dance specialist, Spanish and drama, with a Christmas play and a Graduation play in July.

Across the nursery, the play resources include wooden blocks, water, sand, dough and small-world toys such as dinosaurs and cars. A home corner is maintained indoors or outside, allowing children to act out familiar household roles. Resources are changed or removed when they fail to hold children's interest. This makes children's engagement part of the planning, rather than keeping an activity simply because it has been set out.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the shared early-years framework: children develop language, movement, relationships and other areas of learning through play and interaction. Oak House's approach gives attention to how children tackle an activity, including experimenting, continuing after difficulty and developing their own ideas. The specialist sessions sit alongside that everyday learning.

In January 2023, babies selected brushes during sensory play while adults repeated words, demonstrated actions and brought songs into the interaction. Preschool children worked out sequences for programmable toys and used directional language to describe their movements. These examples show different stages of learning: an adult responding to a baby's immediate interest, and older children following instructions and testing a sequence.

Staff development also connects with communication. In January 2023, training included Elklan and Early Talk, initiatives used to support children's speech and language. The useful detail is their purpose, rather than the names alone: staff learning was linked to children's developmental needs.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School brings regular outdoor sessions led by a specialist teacher. In January 2023, older children searched the forest school area for minibeasts and patterns, following a snail trail as part of their investigation. Outdoor learning here had a concrete subject to explore, with children's questions helping to extend the activity.

During the same month, children recalled recurring mystery visitor events connected with oral health, including a dentist visit and a hygienist's contribution. Staff extended these experiences through stories and pretend play. Such encounters connected everyday hygiene with people and situations beyond the nursery.

Relationships and Communication

Parents can stay during initial settling visits and spend time with their child's key person. The settling period is flexible, allowing relationships to develop at the child's pace. A free stay-and-play session before starting gives parent and child time together in the nursery environment.

Communication follows the child's stage. Teddies and Tigers use a personal daily diary to record eating, while Sunshine and Rainbow have a chart showing the day's menu and how children ate. Parents can discuss care or development with the key person or nursery leadership. This provides both routine information and a route for a fuller conversation.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the January 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described staff working with health visitors on progress checks for children aged two to three, helping developmental or health concerns receive timely support. That finding concerns the practice assessed then; it is useful evidence of how nursery care and outside professional input worked together.

Current illness rules have practical consequences for working families: a child with a fever should return only after a whole day without it, and sickness or diarrhoea requires 48 hours away following the last episode. Parents can request nursery policies and offer feedback on them.

A cook prepares homemade food in the nursery kitchen, with menus rotating over three weeks and monthly International Days introducing food from different countries. The nursery follows a no-nut policy and asks families to discuss allergies or dietary requirements with staff.

Oak House Nursery is at 127 Station Road, Mickleover, Derby, DE3 9FN. It opens Monday to Friday, from 7.45am to 5.45pm, with bank holiday, Christmas and summer closures. Full-day and short-day sessions are offered; the short day runs from 8.30am to 4pm. Minimum attendance is two sessions per week. Full-day fees include a morning snack, a two-course lunch and afternoon tea, while short-day fees include snack and lunch.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01332 512484 or through the contact form. The nursery works with parents, other professionals and local schools on children's move to their next stage of education. That transition work concerns preparation and continuity of care.

Oak House participates in Derby City's Free Entitlement scheme for qualifying children. Families should obtain a current written quotation for their care arrangement.

• Settling with a key person. Parents may stay during initial visits, and settling is flexible. On a visit, discuss how that flexibility would work for your child's routines and your return to work.
• Activities by room. Tiny Talk spans Teddies, Tigers and Sunshine; Rainbow has dance, Spanish and drama. Consider which experiences suit your child now and how the move between rooms is managed.
• The complete care arrangement. Full-day and short-day sessions include food, and Oak House participates in Derby City's Free Entitlement scheme for qualifying children. Discuss how funding applies to your chosen sessions and how food and non-food consumables are handled within funded hours.
• Allergy planning. The nursery follows a no-nut policy and asks parents to raise dietary requirements. Families affected by allergies should confirm current food-handling practice before starting.

Oak House suits families seeking either full-day sessions or shorter days from 8.30am to 4pm, alongside play-based learning, specialist activities, outdoor exploration and flexible settling. Tiny Talk, drama and Forest School give that offer substance, while diaries and menu charts provide practical communication about the day. The Outstanding judgement dates to January 2023; the strongest reason to consider the nursery is the combination of those detailed observations with its room-specific activities and key-person arrangements.