Halesowen Day Nursery

A six-child Baby Room, weekly nature exploration and a garden divided by a picket fence give Halesowen Day Nursery a clear character: small-scale spaces for the youngest children, with increasing freedom to explore as they grow. The building is a converted house on Hagley Road. Its four main playrooms have neutral decoration, leaving children’s work to supply the colour.

At its 7 March 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, children making good progress overall and effective support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. That judgement has practical detail behind it, but also two teaching improvements to weigh: clearer purposes for activities and fewer interruptions during group learning.

The accepted age range is 2 to 59 months. Outdoor exploration, a play-based curriculum and an established key-person arrangement are the main reasons to consider it; full daycare is part of the offer, with term-time or stretched funded hours for Time for Twos, Universal 15 Hours and the older children’s 30-hour entitlement.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room has a maximum of six children, covers 3 to 14 months and combines sensory play with places to rest; the room also has a quiet cave and a carpeted floor where shoes are removed, giving babies space to crawl and retreat from busier play. For a parent choosing first childcare, that room cap is a useful measure of the immediate environment, distinct from the size of the nursery as a whole.

For children aged 1 to 2 years, the Toddler Room has a cap of 12 and emphasises discovery through play, with a climbing frame and a full-length window that lets children watch transport outside. Movement has a physical place in the room, rather than depending entirely on garden time.

Kindergarten caters for 2 to 3 years, with a maximum of 12 children, open-ended play, growing independence and opportunities to mix with preschool children. The Preschool Room covers 3 to 4 years and emphasises phase one phonics, physical development and social and emotional understanding, with direct outdoor access supporting children’s increasing independence.

Garden Room is an additional space used by Kindergarten and preschool children for smaller sessions, including yoga, investigations and key-group activities. It gives staff somewhere separate from the main playrooms to bring children together for a particular purpose. Resources in the main rooms are largely within children’s own reach, and every room uses the outdoors daily.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the shared framework for learning through play, including language, movement, relationships, early literacy and mathematical exploration. Here, children’s interests help shape activities and their next steps. Planting, cooking, stories, clay and construction supply different ways to investigate an idea, practise a skill or communicate something they have noticed.

Alongside that framework, the Reggio Emilia Approach places importance on children’s curiosity and on an environment that invites exploration. Accessible materials and spaces with several possible uses are the concrete expression of that approach here. Children can choose what to investigate rather than always working towards an adult’s predetermined result. The curriculum approach also connects these experiences with observations used to plan subsequent learning.

STEM has a weekly emphasis in every playroom, using joint exploration and open-ended investigation. Process Focused Art gives children a choice of techniques and leaves the finished outcome open. These additions matter because they make room for experimentation: a child can try something, change direction and develop their own idea rather than reproduce a model.

In March 2023, babies explored textured books with staff, while older children revisited familiar stories and encountered unfamiliar vocabulary. Play dough was another route into language and hand control, with adults discussing its texture while children shaped it using tools. These were examples of learning embedded in ordinary play, rather than separate formal lessons.

Outdoor and Community Life

A picket fence separates the garden’s younger and older areas, although both age groups use both spaces. Shade and weather cover extend their usefulness. Sand, water, climbing and wheeled play give children different reasons to spend time outside, while weekly forest school sessions involve exploring nature and taking supported risks.

Regular outings include parks, libraries, farms and nature reserves. Parents can also contribute their professional skills, interests and cultural traditions to nursery activities, connecting children’s learning with people beyond the staff team.

Project Gambia has involved sending pictures, letters and gifts to children at a nursery in The Gambia, alongside exploring photographs, instruments and a jointly created storybook. That gives community work a concrete starting point: children encounter other children’s lives through things they can look at, discuss and make themselves.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who builds a relationship with the family and supports settling, development and changes between rooms. The free settling programme has three stages: playing with a parent present, spending time in the playroom while the parent remains elsewhere on site, then trying a longer separation. A welcome meeting establishes the child’s routines and care needs before those trial experiences begin.

Famly, the communication app and learning journal, carries daily photographs, care updates and developmental observations. Parents can add experiences from home, so planning can draw on more than what staff see at nursery. Regular parent evenings provide a separate opportunity to discuss progress with the key person, while workshops and Stay & Play Sessions give families other ways to participate.

Regular bank staff cover absence and annual leave instead of agency staff. That arrangement helps preserve familiarity when the usual practitioner is away. Each playroom has a room leader, and staff development includes training, supervision and observation of practice.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A designated SENCO works with key carers and other colleagues to identify and support additional needs. Individual Education Plans and care plans provide a structure for that work, with outside agencies involved where necessary. For families whose child needs adjustments, these are practical mechanisms to discuss rather than a general promise that one approach will suit everyone.

Sleep and feeding routines for babies are discussed with parents, including breastfeeding, bottles and weaning. Emotion Coaching helps children understand and manage feelings through connection with adults; all staff are trained in it. The emphasis is on understanding what a child’s behaviour communicates and helping them develop ways to regulate it.

At the March 2023 inspection, Ofsted identified secure relationships and gradual settling as strengths, alongside attentive supervision during sleep, but asked for sharper learning aims and better organisation of group activities to reduce distraction. Those teaching concerns matter even where children enjoy the activity: engagement and a clear learning purpose should work together.

Current safeguarding arrangements include designated lead roles, coded entry, visitor sign-in procedures and checks on adults collecting children. These are concrete procedures for controlling access and handling concerns. They sit alongside the dated safeguarding judgement rather than replacing it.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 137 Hagley Road, Halesowen, West Midlands, B63 4JN. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday; these are the nursery’s opening window, while full daycare is the named attendance offer. It operates across the year, closing for bank holidays, Christmas and up to three staff training days annually.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by email or by telephone. An enrolment form and Commitment Fee form part of joining, followed by the welcome meeting and settling programme. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes Time for Twos, Universal 15 Hours, 30 Hours Extended Entitlement and Working Parents 15 Hours (From 9 Months), subject to the relevant eligibility conditions. Funded hours can be taken alongside additional paid hours or on their own. For Time for Twos, Universal 15 Hours and the older children’s 30-hour entitlement, attendance can be term-time or stretched over 51 weeks; under the term-time option for the latter two, non-term-time attendance is paid privately.

The funding information separates funded hours from support towards additional childcare costs. The distinction matters when comparing a funded attendance plan with a privately paid one: the hours covered and the overall bill are separate questions.

A nursery chef cooks meals and snacks on site each day, following a three-week menu rotation. The dietary policy provides separate menus for babies under one and for allergy or cultural dietary requirements, so affected families should confirm how their child’s needs will be handled.

• Teaching purpose and group attention. In March 2023, activity aims were sometimes unclear and group learning could be interrupted. During a visit, ask how staff now plan a specific learning purpose and organise group sessions to keep children involved.
• The youngest room. The Baby Room covers 3 to 14 months and has a six-child cap, while the accepted age range begins at 2 months. Discuss the intended room, sleep arrangements and settling sequence for your baby before choosing an attendance plan.
• The complete funding quotation. Term-time and stretched funding produce different attendance arrangements, and additional hours can be purchased separately. Ask for one written breakdown covering your intended pattern, meals, non-food consumables and any extras.

Halesowen Day Nursery suits families who value a small baby-room setting, daily garden use and learning led by children’s curiosity. The six-child youngest room, open-ended art and weekly nature sessions give that character substance. Famly and the staged settling programme also make the family’s role practical rather than ceremonial.

It can serve families seeking full daycare as well as those organising term-time funded attendance or stretching funded hours across the year. The Good judgement from March 2023 is a useful foundation, with the teaching concerns about activity aims and group attention remaining the clearest points to explore. For parents drawn to accessible materials, outdoor investigation and continuity with familiar adults, this is a setting with a recognisable approach.