Wilsic Road Day Nursery

Village life gives Wilsic Road Day Nursery much of its character: walks around Tickhill, a weekly Mini Wheelers coaching session at the recreation ground and regular trips to CAST in Doncaster extend children's experiences beyond the nursery. Inside, the youngest children have both a space for messy activities and a carpeted room for quieter play and naps. This is a setting where the details of the day matter more than a branded curriculum.

At its June 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall. The improvement point concerned the breadth and planning of children's experiences with books, rather than a lack of stories altogether.

The nursery cares for children from three months to five years and has 40 places in total. Full days, morning sessions, afternoon sessions and half days feature in its funding arrangements, giving families several ways to organise attendance.

Rooms and Ages

The Toddler & Baby Rooms together accommodate up to nine children under two, with messy and sensory play in an active area overlooking the main nursery and a carpeted room for crawling, dressing up, quieter play and sleep.

Materials include compost, feathers, shaving foam, water and playdough. These offer different textures and ways to explore, while the quieter space gives children somewhere to change pace. Activity and rest have separate spaces within the under-two provision. The arrangement recognises that a baby's day includes both exploration and tiredness.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage shapes planning, covering children's communication, physical development, relationships, early literacy, mathematics and understanding of their surroundings. In parent terms, learning includes how children move, talk, play with others and make sense of everyday experiences, alongside their first steps towards reading and counting.

Tapestry, the online learning journal, is used to plan children's next steps, and parents can access it online. This gives families a way to follow learning beyond the conversation at collection. The journal also accompanies children when they move to school, connecting the nursery's account of their development with the next stage.

Free Flow lets children choose indoor or outdoor play, with corresponding activities in both spaces. Children can follow their interests in either setting.

In June 2023, children made obstacle courses using tyres and wood, then tested their balance on what they had built. Other activities included manipulating coloured rice with tools and making marks with brushes of different thicknesses. These examples connect physical control with purposeful play: children were constructing, experimenting and practising the movements used in early writing.

In June 2023, children selected library books and staff read stories aloud. The improvement needed was broader, more deliberate book planning to extend children's language and understanding of the world.

Outdoor and Community Life

Tickhill supplies several everyday destinations: the mill dam, village library, park and playgrounds, with occasional visits to shops. These outings bring children into familiar community spaces rather than keeping all experiences within the nursery grounds. The weekly Mini Wheelers session adds coaching at the recreation ground; its practical content is a useful topic for a visit.

Trips further afield include Sandal Beat Woods and Sundown Adventureland, while CAST in Doncaster is a regular destination. The mix gives families a concrete picture of the nursery's outward-looking day. In June 2023, nature walks and community visits also included practice in crossing roads safely, linking an outing with an everyday skill.

Relationships and Communication

Daily feedback is part of collection, covering children's chosen activities and experiences. Children in the baby and toddler provision also have a diary for families to read at home, while children's work is kept in folders to take home. These are different forms of communication: a spoken account of the day, a written record for younger children and examples of what a child has made.

In June 2023, staff used information from parents about children's routines, needs and interests when planning their care and learning. Babies settled into relationships with staff, and children practised independence through ordinary tasks such as helping with meals. These are dated examples of how relationships translated into the nursery day, rather than a promise that each child will settle in the same way.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the June 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described staff identifying learning delays, planning support and using visual prompts to help less confident or non-verbal children make choices. The practical detail matters: support included ways for a child to communicate a preference, rather than relying entirely on spoken answers.

Policies covering safeguarding, SEND, settling, sleep and medication are reviewed annually. Staff also attend regular training to update their knowledge.

Food is cooked on site, with meat from Eatons butchers and vegetables from Juicy Fruits greengrocers; lunches and afternoon snacks follow rotating four-week menus. The nursery caters for dairy and lactose intolerances and supports weaning with freshly prepared finger foods, while the cook can adapt meals for babies through mashing or blending.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 11 Wilsic Road, Tickhill, Doncaster, DN11 9JG. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across the year, with closures for bank holidays and Christmas. This opening window describes the nursery's operating day.

Full days, mornings, afternoons and half days are separate attendance patterns within the funding examples. The arrangements also allow additional paid sessions alongside funded attendance, so a family's booking can involve both funded hours and private childcare. The useful distinction is between the session booked and the funded allocation applied to it.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by telephone on 01302 742629 or by email. Children are accepted from three months to five years, covering baby care through the period before starting school.

Funding and Paid Extras

Stretched funding is offered for 15-hour and 30-hour funded children. The allocation is calculated term by term, so the weekly funded allowance can change with the number of weeks it covers. The Spring 2026 examples illustrate that calculation rather than setting a fixed weekly allowance for every term.

Hours beyond the funded allocation are charged, with an hourly charge for a split session and session fees for additional attendance. For funded sessions, nursery meals are charged separately, with the alternative of supplying food from home. That choice matters when comparing the total cost of a funded booking.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The funding information links to the stretched-funding calculations, which separate childcare beyond the allowance from meal charges.

• The youngest children's rooms. The Toddler & Baby Rooms include an active area and a quieter carpeted room. At a visit, explore how these spaces work around your child's play and sleep routines.
• Breadth of books. June 2023's improvement point was to plan broader reading experiences that develop language and knowledge of the world. Current book choices and how staff connect them with children's interests are useful points to discuss.
• Term-by-term funding. Stretched allocations vary between terms, and funded meals have a separate charge or a bring-your-own option. Compare the written quotation with the attendance pattern you actually need, including what meals and non-food consumables it covers.
• Mini Wheelers. Coaching takes place weekly at the recreation ground. Ask what the session involves and how participation is organised for children at different stages.

Wilsic Road Day Nursery suits families seeking either full-day attendance or morning, afternoon and half-day sessions, with village outings and regular experiences beyond Tickhill adding substance to the nursery day. The combined under-two provision, quieter carpeted room and written diaries are useful practical features for parents choosing baby care.

The Good judgement from June 2023 provides a dated quality assessment, while broader planning around books remains the clear improvement point. For families considering stretched funding, the strongest practical advantage is the explicit separation of funded childcare, additional attendance and meal charges. The termly calculation deserves careful attention alongside the child's everyday experience.