Burmantofts Community Nursery

Free meals, food for families to take home and play bags to borrow give Burmantofts Community Nursery a practical community character. This charitable nursery on Rigton Drive in East Leeds supports family life alongside children's learning. Its FareShare partnership reaches beyond snack time: families can collect fruit, vegetables and cupboard food from shelves in the entrance area.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good at its 18 March 2022 inspection. The strongest themes from that period were children's independence, relationships with staff and support for families, with an improvement needed in how practitioners questioned children. Those findings are dated; today's offer includes age-based rooms, a key worker for each child and play shaped by Birth to 5 Matters (2021), guidance used here to support learning through exploration and relationships.

There is capacity for 58 children. Term-time attendance and year-round childcare are both offered, with funded hours arranged differently for each. That gives families a meaningful choice about the shape of the year, rather than simply a choice about daily opening hours.

Rooms and Ages

Three rooms organise the progression from babyhood towards school: the Baby Room serves children aged 9 months to 2 years, the Toddler Room covers ages 2 to 3, and the Pre-school Room serves ages 3 to 4. Movement between them takes account of children's development and their emotional and social needs. The room names describe stages, while the learning within them changes as children grow.

In the Baby Room, touch, sound and movement support exploration and early communication, with consistent routines and a calm environment. The Toddler Room develops language, choices and playing with other children through practical experiences, while the Pre-school Room uses purposeful play to build early literacy, maths and problem-solving. Each stage has a clear emphasis. For parents, that makes the progression easier to understand than a single description of learning applied to every age.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care: it brings communication, physical development and personal growth into the nursery day. Alongside that shared framework, Birth to 5 Matters (2021) informs this nursery's play-based approach. Babies explore through their senses; toddlers practise expressing themselves and making choices; older children develop ideas and early literacy and maths through play.

Home Learning Bags extend that approach into family time. Children borrow resources and imaginative activities to use with an adult at home, then return the bag and its contents. The value is concrete: families have something to explore together, with opportunities for conversation, creative thinking and solving problems. This is participation through play, rather than a demand for formal exercises.

In March 2022, children chose their own activities and moved independently around the setting. Learning about identity included making self-portraits and discussing similarities and differences, while books and conversations introduced different families and cultures. Staff also introduced words from other languages. These examples show how social understanding was woven into ordinary play and discussion at that time.

Language teaching had a clear next step. In March 2022, practitioners used simpler speech with younger children and introduced new vocabulary to older ones, but sometimes moved between questions before children had enough thinking time. More opportunities for children to explain their ideas were needed. That distinction matters: hearing new words and having time to formulate an answer are different parts of learning to communicate.

Outdoor and Community Life

A spacious garden was an important part of the March 2022 nursery day. Children used bikes and scooters, and equipment for climbing, balancing and swinging, giving them opportunities to practise coordination and judge physical challenges. Outdoor activity was more than a break between indoor tasks; it contributed to physical development.

The community dimension continues through FareShare and practical family support. Food deliveries arrive twice a week, replenishing the free produce and pantry items that families can take home. Staff also work with external professionals and direct families towards other organisations when support would help. The nursery's role therefore extends beyond the hours a child spends in a room.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key worker who develops a relationship with them, follows their progress and supports their learning. That gives continuity across the nursery day and as children move between rooms. It also gives parents a clear point of connection with the adults caring for their child.

In March 2022, staff used their knowledge of children's experiences at home to help them settle and introduce new experiences. Reading nooks enabled adults and children to share books at nursery, and a lending library took reading into the home. These were practical ways of linking children's learning with family life, rather than treating the two as separate worlds.

For families involved in Early Years Pupil Premium support, communication includes progress updates through the Famly app and conversations at nursery. Stay-and-play sessions provide another way to participate, and learning bags may be lent for use at home. The combination makes support visible to parents through both information and shared activity.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and praised support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including collaboration with parents and professionals and the use of additional funding. These are inspection-time judgements, rather than assurances about an individual child's future experience.

Current arrangements include a designated safeguarding lead and deputy safeguarding roles. The nursery also provides a route to discuss concerns and works with outside professionals on family wellbeing. These mechanisms matter because families need identifiable responsibilities and a way to raise a concern, as well as warm relationships with staff.

Early Years Pupil Premium is additional funding paid to the nursery for eligible children. Its possible uses include extra key-person time, communication activities, resources and specialist staff training; these are options for tailoring support, rather than a promise that every child receives each intervention. Eligibility is checked through Leeds City Council after families complete a declaration.

Independence was also visible in March 2022 care routines: children managed handwashing and other self-care tasks, while older children prepared fruit for snacks. Small everyday responsibilities gave them opportunities to practise doing things for themselves.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Rigton Drive, Leeds, LS9 7PY. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Term-time-only childcare and attendance throughout the year are both offered, so the annual pattern can follow school terms or extend across the year.

Summer holiday provision includes half-day and full-day sessions, with bookings ranging from occasional days to full weeks. These are holiday arrangements, distinct from the ordinary opening window. Applications can be submitted using the nursery's application form, and enquiries can be made by telephone or email.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible families can use 15 or 30 funded hours per week. Term-time attendance uses the entitlement over 38 weeks; for year-round attendance, the same entitlement is stretched across 52 weeks. Spreading funding changes how the hours are distributed, rather than adding more funded hours. Additional sessions can be purchased privately.

Through FareShare, meals and snacks are free of charge, including for funded childcare, so families do not pay a separate food fee. The partnership also supplies free food for families to take home. Current prices for paid childcare come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Conversation and thinking time. In March 2022, questioning sometimes left too little space for children's responses. During a visit, ask how practitioners now encourage children to explain their ideas and allow time to answer.
• Baby-room entry. The Baby Room begins at 9 months. Families planning care around that stage should discuss settling and how their baby's routines would fit into the room.
• The funded week. Funding can follow 38 term-time weeks or stretch across 52 weeks. Match that choice to the childcare year you need and establish the paid-session arrangement before booking.

Burmantofts suits families seeking either term-time childcare or attendance across the year, with half-day and full-day summer holiday provision adding another practical option. Its strongest current attractions are specific: free food through FareShare, Home Learning Bags and a key-worker structure connecting care with learning. The March 2022 Good judgement provides a dated quality reference, with questioning and children's response time the point to explore. For families who value practical support alongside play, this nursery has a clear purpose.