Head Start Day Nursery

A closed-off sleeping area for babies, garden access for toddlers and a preschool salon for pretend play give Head Start Day Nursery a clear progression through the early years. This Ramsey setting belongs to the Golden Apples family and accepts children from three months to five years.

At its 9 August 2022 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, with reading and language among its strengths and improvements needed in teaching cooperation and advising families about healthy food choices. That is a dated judgement. The current offer includes individual planning with a key person, support through a SENCO and an online learning journal that parents can contribute to.

Funded attendance can follow term-time or stretched arrangements, with privately paid hours alongside the funded entitlement.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room, for ages zero to two, combines reading spaces and a closed-off sleeping area with a ball pit, low climbing equipment and sensory materials, giving babies opportunities to practise movement alongside quieter periods of rest.

For children aged two to three, The Toddlers Room has a home corner and other pretend-play spaces, reading and comfort areas, plus free movement into a garden with mud kitchens, climbing frames and varied ground surfaces, allowing active play and quieter choices within the same day.

The Pre-schooler Room, for ages three to five, brings together art stations, sensory activities, themed tuff trays and role-play settings including a salon, with garden access extending the opportunities for physical challenge and imaginative play.

Learning and Activities

EYFS provides the statutory foundation for children’s learning, development and care: play, conversation and practical exploration are ways of building skills within that framework. Here, observations by the key person help shape activities around a child’s interests, including interests brought from home. Parents can add their own observations, so planning can connect nursery experiences with family life.

In August 2022, books were used both for shared stories and for finding things out, including learning about sea creatures. Adults made room for children to speak and introduced unfamiliar vocabulary through reading.

Past branch activities show how a book can grow into a larger theme. In July 2022, Pirates Love Underpants prompted children to make pirate hats, telescopes and treasure maps, alongside biscuit making.

Outdoor and Community Life

In July 2023, children were growing strawberries, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes and herbs, following the plants from sowing towards harvesting. The same month, Mini Monsters visited the graduation celebration with animals including a giant land snail, a millipede and a lizard, giving children close-up experiences beyond pictures in books. These are examples from that period, rather than promises of a current activity timetable.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who gathers information about routines, interests and development. Settling sessions give that adult and the parent time to work together on the child’s initial plan. Information from home helps shape ongoing care and activities.

Parents can view and comment on a learning journal, and regular progress meetings provide another opportunity to discuss how their child is doing. An online app also carries day-to-day information, including eating and naps. Weekly email newsletters contain photographs and accounts of activities, helping families understand the experiences behind a child’s conversation at home.

In August 2022, children sought staff out readily and babies received comfort when tired or unsettled. Adults also talked with children about feelings and family life.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The nursery SENCO works with key persons to adapt resources and activities and develop personal plans around children’s abilities and interests. Plans are reviewed with parents. With parental consent, the SENCO can involve Health Visitors, Speech and Language Therapists and Early Years Inclusion Officers, giving families a defined route for coordinating support.

For a child whose family uses another language, parents are encouraged to share familiar words that the key person can use.

Room changes involve a handover between key persons and settling sessions in the next room. Preparation for school includes inviting the new teacher to meet the key person and passing on transition documents; a supported school visit with the parent and key person can be arranged where suitable.

Food is prepared on site by nursery cooks, and the group-wide food arrangements include rotating menus and a Food From Home Policy for packed meals, requiring clear labels and a cool bag while excluding shop-bought or pre-prepared lunchboxes. The nursery publishes a No Nuts policy; allergy-affected families should discuss current practice before choosing food arrangements.

Sessions and Attendance

Head Start’s address is 1E Stocking Fen Road, Ramsey, Huntingdon, PE26 1SA. Enquiries can be made by telephone or email, and a showaround can be booked through the nursery’s booking form. Enrolment progresses through paperwork and settling sessions before the child starts.

The group-wide funded booking arrangements offer fixed sessions on either a term-time or stretched basis. Funded sessions start at 8am, 9am or 1pm, with lengths of three, four and a half, five, six, seven and a half or ten hours. Those choices are separate session lengths, not a licence to combine sessions into a different pattern.

Collecting early is permitted, but the full booked session is claimed against funding. Hours beyond that session are privately charged.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible families can use 15 or 30 funded hours per week during term time, depending on age and eligibility. Under the Golden Apples funding arrangements, term-time delivery runs across 38 weeks and stretched delivery across 50 weeks. The stretched arrangement includes an unfunded week at the start of the Autumn term; families receive advance notice and can book that week as privately paid childcare. Switching between the two is restricted to September, so the calendar choice has consequences beyond an individual week.

Meals and snacks are charged separately from funded childcare, with the option to send food that meets the Food From Home Policy. Parents supply nappies, wipes, nappy bags, cream and sun cream each day; a replacement charge applies if required items have to be purchased because they were not brought in.

Optional enrichment is a separate charge, with families able to opt in or out for the term. Opting out preserves the full EYFS provision. The group-wide examples include trips, cooking and gardening, but they are possible extras rather than a branch activity schedule.

An enrolment deposit is refunded once the child has started. A non-refundable administration charge applies only when a family buys private hours, including hours added to funding, and supports settling visits and a meeting about the child’s needs. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation; the nursery price list is the starting point for understanding the charge structure.

• The morning start. Opening times differ: the home information gives 8am, while the funding and rooms information gives 7.30am, with both ending at 6pm on weekdays. Confirm which opening window applies to your intended attendance before arranging work commitments.
• Learning to cooperate. In August 2022, adults did not consistently help children develop the skills to negotiate and share, and families needed more guidance about healthy food choices. At a showaround, ask how cooperation is taught now and how lunchbox guidance is shared.
• Food from home. Packed meals must meet labelling, storage and food restrictions under the Food From Home Policy, and an alternative meal can attract a charge if the requirements are not met. Families managing allergies should confirm the current individual arrangements.
• A fixed funded pattern. Sessions cannot be combined, early collection still uses the full funded session and optional enrichment choices last for the term. Take your intended weekly timetable to the showaround so these rules can be discussed against actual care needs.

Head Start suits families seeking a progression from baby care into toddler and preschool play, with garden access for older children and a clear role for parents in individual planning. Its term-time and stretched funded patterns serve different family calendars, while private additional hours offer another part of the attendance mix.

The baby sleeping area and SENCO planning process add practical value. Fixed funded sessions and separate food charges require careful consideration against family routines.