Hamilton Nursery

A chicken coop, vegetables grown in the garden and a teacher-led Foundation Unit give Hamilton Nursery a character that extends beyond its playrooms. Food becomes something children help produce, while the Foundation Unit adds a more structured stage before school. These are practical differences families can weigh against their child's interests and readiness.

Hamilton Nursery cares for children from 3 months to 5 years at 25 Hilltop Road, Hamilton, Leicester LE5 1TT, with capacity for 58 children. At its May 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and praised support for children with SEND and those learning English as an additional language. That is a dated judgement, rather than a description of every aspect of today's provision.

The current offer combines sensory learning for babies, repeated practice for toddlers and activities such as woodwork and yoga. The Foundation Unit also provides a school-day pattern and wraparound care, giving families different ways to organise attendance.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room centres learning on sensory experiences, giving babies opportunities to explore while developing movement, communication and problem-solving. In the Toddler Room, practising an activity again is part of learning a new skill, with practitioners guiding that repetition. Pre-School emphasises communication alongside physical and emotional development, while the teacher-led Foundation Unit uses learning through play to prepare children for their next stage.

Calm, neutral interiors and a large enclosed outdoor space provide contrasting places for play. The rooms offer a progression in emphasis, rather than one activity model applied to every child. For families, that makes the move between stages as relevant as the first room their child joins.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS sets the standards for children's learning, development and care; here, children learn through play, with adults extending their ideas and planning experiences around their development. Adult-led activities sit alongside play that children direct themselves. Practitioners follow children's interests and help them take an idea further, so learning can begin with something a child chooses rather than only with a planned group activity.

Woodwork gives children a practical activity to explore, Art Class provides opportunities to make and create, and Yoga Classes offer a calmer setting for activity. These additions sit alongside the EYFS. They give families concrete examples of the day beyond a general promise of learning through play.

Within the Foundation Unit, literacy and science sit alongside mathematics, with an ICT suite and yoga sessions adding different experiences. Structured sessions take place in small family groups, although that description should not be read as a fixed group-size cap. The published 1:8 staff:child ratio is a compliance measure, rather than an enhanced staffing offer.

In May 2022, preschool children investigated a millipede they had collected, using an investigation pot, books and information from the internet to explore their discovery. Learning followed a real interest. The improvement point concerned how adults developed children's language, especially mathematical ideas: pouring between containers offered an opportunity to discuss measurement and how much each container could hold. The activity itself was useful; the adult conversation needed to take it further.

Outdoor and Community Life

Garden growing and collecting eggs from the chicken coop connect play with the origins of food. Children can encounter the process behind ingredients, rather than food appearing only at lunchtime. That gives the outdoor space a role beyond exercise and games.

In May 2022, outdoor play was planned daily, including for children whose homes offered little access to outside space. A large climbing frame and slide supported active play, while older children visited a forest area to climb trees, hang lanterns and practise caring for their surroundings. Those examples describe the nursery at that time; the current enclosed outdoor space remains part of its offer.

Relationships and Communication

A key person plans experiences around each child's interests and developmental stage, observes their learning and welcomes contributions from parents. This gives families a defined relationship through which to share what their child enjoys or finds difficult. It also connects observations at nursery with what happens at home.

Baby care follows an existing routine where a child already has one. That is a useful starting point for families balancing nursery attendance with established daily habits. Settling is planned too: the nursery recommends two or three introductory visits, preferably spread over two weeks, with room to increase them if needed.

Learning updates are shared digitally through nursery software, using iPads to pass information to parents. The Famly system also supports parent communication and nursery news. These channels give families a way to stay connected with the day's activities alongside their relationship with the key person.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In May 2022, support included working with outside agencies and drawing up plans for individual children; specialist bilingual staff were employed using funding to help children and families communicate their needs. These are concrete examples behind the dated inclusion judgement. They show the mechanisms used at that time rather than a blanket promise about every future support need.

Everyday independence also featured in May 2022. Children, including those with SEND, practised toothbrushing, pouring drinks and serving lunch. Managing coats, shoes and belongings helped prepare them for changes of room and starting school. Small care tasks were part of learning, rather than something adults always completed for children.

CCTV and controlled door entry are part of the nursery's security arrangements. These are practical measures; the safeguarding judgement belongs to the dated inspection above.

Cooks prepare food at the nursery each day, with menus changing weekly and fresh produce supplied by PB Fruit & Veg. Children also take part in food preparation and laying the table, making mealtimes another opportunity to practise everyday skills.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, throughout the year except bank holidays. The nursery is open for 52 weeks, so its overall calendar is different from a setting that operates only during school terms. Full-time and part-time childcare are offered.

The Foundation Unit's school day runs from 9am to 3pm, with wraparound care from 7.30am to 6pm and flexibility in hours. The shorter structured day and the wider care window serve different routines. A family choosing the Foundation Unit can therefore consider the learning pattern and the additional care separately, rather than treating opening hours as the only attendance option.

Hamilton Nursery is at 25 Hilltop Road, Hamilton, Leicester LE5 1TT. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 0116 274 3090, and applications can also be made through an online booking form. The nursery serves north-east Leicester, including families in nearby Thurmaston and Syston, with the A47 ring road identified as a local route.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered for eligible two-year-olds, alongside 15- and 30-hour entitlements for eligible three- and four-year-olds. Staff can help with funding forms, and claims for three- and four-year-olds are handled through the nursery. Eligibility remains a condition of the relevant entitlement.

Parents supply sunscreen, as well as seasonal clothing such as wellies, raincoats and hats. Prescribed long-term medication brought for an allergy or medical condition must carry the child's name and clear instructions. Current prices should form part of the nursery's written quotation, so families can consider the cost alongside their chosen attendance pattern.

• Mathematical conversation. The May 2022 improvement point concerned adults' language, especially mathematical concepts during play. Ask how practitioners now use activities such as pouring to extend children's understanding of measurement.
• Foundation Unit attendance. Its 9am to 3pm school day sits alongside wraparound care from 7.30am to 6pm. During a visit, discuss how a child experiences the move between structured sessions and the longer care period.
• Starting gently. Two or three settling visits over two weeks are recommended, with scope for more. Families whose baby already follows a routine can use those visits to discuss how it will be carried through the nursery day.
• The complete quotation. Funded childcare and private attendance both form part of the offer. Request a written breakdown showing how meals, non-food supplies and any activity charges apply to the pattern you are considering.

Hamilton Nursery suits families who value practical learning: garden growing, the chicken coop and woodwork give children things to investigate and do. Its key-person arrangements and planned settling visits add useful structure to the relationship with parents. The May 2022 Good judgement provides a positive inspection reference, with adult language around mathematical learning the specific improvement point to keep in view.

For older children, the Foundation Unit suits families choosing its School day from 9am to 3pm or its Wraparound Care from 7.30am to 6pm. Families choosing baby or toddler care have a different emphasis: sensory exploration, repeated practice and continuity with home routines. The appeal lies in those concrete arrangements, rather than a single attendance model for every age.