Willow House Nursery School

Building walls with pretend cement, measuring towers and hearing songs in home languages: practical play gives Willow House Nursery School its character. At its November 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated it Outstanding and judged safeguarding effective. The Newent setting accepts children aged 6 to 60 months.

This is a review of inspection-era daily life. The strongest examples combine independence with purposeful adult involvement: children make choices, while staff introduce vocabulary and help them investigate their ideas.

In November 2024, younger children explored contrasting textures with brushes and flannels, then joined action songs using props. Older children mixed foam with sand for building play. Staff extended the activity through questions and language about how the mixture behaved, giving imaginative play a practical learning purpose.

The contrast between those activities matters. For younger children, familiar objects supplied something to touch and compare; song props gave them something to discover before joining the actions. Older children could pursue an imagined building project and investigate their materials as they went. Staff introduced the word consistency during this play, connecting a new word to something children were handling. Questions also left space for children to think before answering. The adult contribution was therefore more than an explanation: it gave children time to work out a response and language with which to express it.

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children's learning, development and care. Here, the November 2024 examples show learning through play: tower-building became an opportunity to measure, while rings and dough helped children connect numbers with quantities.

A tape measure brought a real tool into the tower activity, linking construction with finding out how tall something was. Counting also involved representing amounts with objects, rather than simply reciting number words. Children applied their number knowledge to shapes by recognising the sides of a triangle. Together, these examples show how materials and tools made mathematical ideas tangible within play children were already pursuing.

Community experiences broadened that learning. In November 2024, regular outings included visiting care-home residents and exploring nature beside a lake. Families contributed traditions to celebrations including Diwali, and fundraising supported a food programme in the Gambia. These brought people and experiences beyond the nursery into children's learning.

At the November 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that assessment tailored support to individual children and helped them make exceptional progress, with parents contributing to ongoing assessments and receiving next steps in learning. That gives families a concrete role in continuing learning at home.

The November 2024 assessment process began at induction, when staff established what children already knew and could do. Support could then start from that individual starting point. Parents remained involved as assessments continued, rather than contributing only when their child joined. Sharing the next learning steps connected those conversations with what staff planned to work on next. For families, the useful distinction is between receiving an account of completed activities and understanding the next step for their own child; this inspection described both parental involvement and that forward-looking communication.

In November 2024, staff helped children manage emotions through finger breathing and stories that connected feelings with familiar situations. Small-group activities used QR codes to play greetings and songs in children's home languages, making their languages part of a shared activity.

Health education also involved doing things for themselves. In November 2024, children served vegetables using tongs, and regular cooking activities encouraged them to taste unfamiliar foods. Staff development was supported by targeted training, while subsidised healthcare and recognition awards addressed staff wellbeing.

Willow House Nursery School is at 11 Glebe Close, Newent, GL18 1BQ. Opening hours are 8am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday, with an all-year opening schedule.

In November 2024, the nursery provided funded early education for children aged nine months to five years and closed for two weeks over Christmas. Those arrangements belong to that inspection date.

• Attendance and funding. The opening window runs from 8am to 5.30pm. At a visit, which booking patterns and funded-hours arrangements would fit your child's age and your working week?
• Language and independence. November 2024 activities combined home-language songs with practical tasks such as measuring and serving food. This approach will appeal to families who value learning woven into play and everyday routines.

Willow House suits families drawn to practical, child-led exploration supported by attentive teaching. Its November 2024 examples are persuasive: construction play developed mathematical thinking, home languages entered group activities, and community outings added social experience. The Outstanding judgement gives that account weight, while its date remains essential to reading it fairly.