Green Lane Nursery

A willow den for stories, a garden play space with coloured lighting, and minibuses for countryside outings give Green Lane Nursery a character that reaches beyond its age-group rooms. Play and growing independence run through the day. Children have opportunities to choose activities, manage small tasks and explore materials whose uses are not fixed in advance.

At its September 2021 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found safeguarding effective, with responsive support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. That is a dated judgement, rather than a description of today's staffing or routines. The current offer combines outdoor exploration, support for babies' feeding routines and communication through the Famly app.

Based in Buxton, the nursery accepts children from 3 months to 5 years. Attendance can be term-time only or across the year, with weekday opening from 8am to 6pm.

Rooms and Ages

Flower Garden serves children under two, combining singing, stories and play with feeding and weaning routines agreed with parents. Staff share details of the child's day, helping families keep home and nursery care connected.

Butterfly Garden serves two- to three-year-olds, emphasising belongings, friendships and language, with adults helping children manage strong emotions. Finding a possession or explaining a need helps children take part independently.

Tree House is for three- and four-year-olds, with group conversation, early maths, work with sounds, songs and stories supporting the preschool stage. Its children are also known as the Wise Owls. Work with local schools supports their next step, placing school preparation alongside the social experience of belonging to a group.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning and care: children build communication, early literacy, number understanding and other skills through play and everyday experiences. Here, open-ended materials, music, imaginative play and exploration outdoors give that framework practical expression. Children can choose an activity, help clear a space or practise feeding themselves. Independence is something to rehearse during the day.

The Garden Room adds a different setting for play. A projector, disco ball and coloured lighting support sensory exploration, while collections of everyday objects allow children to investigate texture, shape and weight. Pots and kitchen utensils become things to examine rather than toys with one prescribed purpose. Smaller groups also use the space for stories, listening games and time together.

In September 2021, children explored pine cones and egg boxes, adjusting the objects to discover how they fitted together. Other observed experiences linked movement and language, including imitating animals and experimenting with voices during The Gruffalo. These examples show what learning looked like at that visit: practical problems and familiar stories became starting points for conversation and experimentation.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden has a NoMow lawn area that supports use in varied weather. Its willow den doubles as a place for reading and imaginative games, while a fort gives children opportunities for role play and climbing. The Mud Kitchen adds pretend cooking to outdoor play. These spaces offer different reasons to head outside, from quiet stories to energetic physical activity.

Older children build courses using tyres and scaffolding planks, then practise balancing across them. Wood, crates and pipes can be rearranged into children's own creations; trikes, scooters and bikes add movement and coordination practice. The materials leave room for children to decide what a game will become, rather than simply follow the equipment's intended use.

Minibuses support outings into the surrounding countryside and visits to care-home residents, where children share songs and stories. Younger children also visit the park on warm days, explore nearby streets and choose books at the library. The nursery day therefore extends into community settings as well as the garden, giving children experiences to talk about when they return.

Relationships and Communication

Sharing milestones and achievements gives parents a role in learning alongside their involvement in care routines.

Famly carries photographs, videos, observations and direct messages, alongside newsletters, permissions and accident forms. Parents can also report illness or holidays, update permissions and request changes to sessions through the app. Administrative information and glimpses of learning sit in the same system, making it easier to keep track of the child's care.

Face-to-face conversations and telephone contact remain available for families who prefer to discuss something directly.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In September 2021, children sought comfort from familiar adults, supported one another and managed disagreements. Putting on shoes and clearing up after meals gave them everyday opportunities to practise independence.

Current room descriptions put adults' responses to children's emotions alongside learning. Butterfly Garden staff help children cope with strong feelings, while Flower Garden follows safe-sleep guidance and works with parents on feeding routines. Staff training includes first aid for babies and children and use of the on-site defibrillator. These are concrete arrangements, separate from the dated safeguarding judgement.

Meals and snacks are prepared by the nursery's chef on site; babies can receive Aptamil 1, formula supplied from home or warmed expressed breastmilk, and parents can breastfeed in a private space. The nursery has a nut-free policy and discusses allergies and dietary requirements with families, so an allergy-affected family should confirm current practice before attendance.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 11 Green Lane, Buxton, SK17 9DP. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Full-day attendance and term-time bookings are offered, alongside attendance across the year. The nursery closes for bank holidays and a Christmas break. An enquiry form, telephone contact and email provide routes into the joining process.

Funded hours have their own room-dependent windows. In Flower Garden, they can be used from 9am to 6pm; in the two older rooms, the window is 9am to 4.30pm. These are funding-use windows, separate from the nursery's overall opening hours. Additional time can be booked as private hours, so the funded entitlement and the total attendance pattern need to be considered together.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible working parents can use 30 funded hours over 38 weeks, starting in the term after their child turns nine months old, with the option of stretching them over 50 weeks at 22.5 hours a week. The universal entitlement for three- and four-year-olds is 15 hours over 38 weeks, or 11.5 hours weekly over 50 weeks. A further 15-hour entitlement over 38 weeks applies to eligible two- to three-year-olds whose parents meet the benefits-related criteria.

Meals sit outside the funded entitlement. Parents provide nappies, wet wipes and nappy cream, along with suitable clothing and spare clothes. This separates funded childcare time from food and the everyday supplies a child needs; current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

For funded children, the Quality Premium Charge is a non-compulsory contribution towards resources, trips and additional staffing for outings. It should be distinguished from privately booked hours and meals when considering the overall arrangement. Funding administration involves an eligibility code where applicable, an FE1 form and the child's birth certificate; eligibility codes need reconfirming every three months.

Tree House works with local schools on children's transition. This supports preparation for the move, with no admissions advantage implied by nursery attendance.

• Funded hours and your working day. Flower Garden's funding-use window runs later than those of the older rooms. Consider how the change of room will fit your routine and any additional private hours.
• Babies' routines. Feeding, weaning and safe-sleep guidance are part of Flower Garden's arrangements. At a visit, ask how your child's settling and sleep routines would be put into practice.
• The whole childcare bill. Funded entitlement excludes meals. The Quality Premium Charge is non-compulsory for funded children. Keep these categories separate when assessing the written quotation.
• Outdoor experiences. Garden climbing, countryside outings and care-home visits are part of the offer. A visit is a useful opportunity to discuss how children at your child's stage take part.

Green Lane suits families choosing either term-time attendance or care across the year, including those wanting full-day bookings. Its strongest practical combination is the progression through named age-group rooms, varied outdoor play and community outings, supported by communication through Famly.

The September 2021 Outstanding judgement provides a dated quality benchmark. Today's decision also turns on fit: a baby family's care routines, an older child's appetite for active exploration, and the relationship between funded hours and the time parents actually need. The rooms and garden give those questions concrete substance.