Nazareth House Day Nursery

Woodland play and a baby room with its own resting space give Nazareth House Day Nursery a clear character. On Ashton Road in Lancaster, its outdoor provision extends from covered play space to a field and a garden for growing produce. These are useful differences for families who want outdoor activity to be part of the nursery day.

The nursery has capacity for 67 children aged 3 to 59 months. At its April 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated it Good overall and found safeguarding effective. That dated judgement sits alongside two important improvement points concerning babies' walking space and hygiene, discussed below.

Three named rooms organise the progression from infancy towards school age: Bluebells Room, Poppy Room and Sunflower Room. Their environments change with the children, from sensory rest space to activities involving phonics and literacy.

Rooms and Ages

Bluebells Room takes infants aged 3 to 24 months, with a maximum of 15 children per session, and combines dedicated indoor and outdoor play space with a low-lit sensory resting area where soothing music accompanies naps. Mothers can also use this space for breastfeeding. For parents of babies, the room cap and provision for rest deserve as much attention as the toys and activities.

For children aged 2 to 3 years, Poppy Room has capacity for 20 per session and development-oriented play areas, with direct access to a partly covered, soft-surfaced outdoor space shared with Sunflower Room. Its children also use a field containing a rope bridge, musical features and a sandpit, alongside a garden where fruit and vegetables grow. The covered section gives outdoor play somewhere to continue in less favourable weather.

Sunflower Room serves children aged 3 and above, up to 32 at a time, combining quiet areas and child-chosen exploration with organised work on social development, phonics and literacy. Sharing outdoor space also allows children to spend time with siblings and others of similar ages. The mix gives older children opportunities both to pursue their own interests and to join activities with a clearer adult-led purpose.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) provides the framework for children's learning and development, with experiences adapted to their individual needs and pace. Here, that includes play, social interaction and the older room's literacy activities; the framework itself is the common foundation, rather than an extra programme.

Woodland Nursery adds age-appropriate Forest School concepts, using the natural world as a setting for exploration and learning. This gives the outdoor provision an educational purpose beyond exercise. In April 2022, children made regular visits to adjoining woodland, looking for small creatures and constructing homes for them from natural materials and containers.

An orchard also featured in the April 2022 nursery day, giving children opportunities to investigate apples and their growth. Outdoor discoveries supplied concrete things to examine and discuss. These are dated examples of how the grounds were used, rather than a promise of a particular current activity schedule.

A Key Worker system gives families a consistent point of connection with their child's care and development. Parents and carers are encouraged to take part in that development, while observations of each child's progress are documented and monitored. Where difficulties arise, parents are consulted and relevant professionals are involved, keeping support connected across home and nursery.

A SENCO role oversees additional-needs support, while an Equality Named Coordinator supports inclusion. Children learning English as an additional language receive tailored help. Physical access includes wide doorways, an automatic entrance operated by a push button and an accessible visitor toilet. These are concrete arrangements that families can assess against their child's needs.

In April 2022, children moving between rooms visited with their key person before exploring independently, and staff passed on information about their development and backgrounds. The nursery employed 27 staff at that time. The transition approach gave children continuity while they became familiar with a different room and routine.

There were also shortcomings in April 2022: staff sometimes missed babies mouthing objects that had been on the floor, creating a cross-contamination risk, and toys or other obstructions interrupted new walkers. Management had failed to notify Ofsted about a manager change, although the impact on children was assessed as minimal. These findings matter alongside the overall grade.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is at Nazareth House, Ashton Road, Lancaster, LA1 5AQ. Opening hours are 7.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday, across the year, with closure on bank holidays. Families planning regular attendance can therefore assess the opening window against their working day and holiday arrangements.

Contact is through the nursery's telephone number, 01524 64090, or its enquiry form. Applications involve completing and returning an application pack. This provides a direct route from an initial enquiry to a formal application.

In April 2022, funded early education was provided for children aged two, three and four. Treat that as the inspection-time position when considering the financial arrangements for a new booking; funding and charge questions belong with the written quotation for the proposed attendance.

• Babies' movement and hygiene. The April 2022 improvement points concerned clear space for new walkers and consistent hygiene. On a visit, ask how staff now manage floor-level resources and keep walking routes clear.
• The Poppy Room staffing pattern. Its published arrangement is one adult to four children, compared with the legal minimum of one to five for two-year-olds. That is a meaningful staffing difference; ask how it works across the activities your child would join.
• Your booking costs. Request a written quotation covering your intended attendance, funded hours, food and non-food consumables. Keep the April 2022 funding position separate from the terms offered for your booking.

Nazareth House Day Nursery suits families who value outdoor exploration and a clearly described progression through three rooms. Bluebells' resting arrangements and Poppy's covered outdoor access give parents concrete features to weigh, while Sunflower combines independent play with preparation in literacy and social development.

The April 2022 Good judgement is useful context, but the baby-care improvement points deserve direct attention. For families whose childcare needs fit the weekday opening window and year-round calendar, the strongest reasons to consider it are the rooms' different environments and the Woodland Nursery approach.