Humpty Dumpty Day Nursery & Pre-School, Lichfield

A glazed Atrium for rainy-day play, an on-site Forest School and a sensory room give Humpty Dumpty’s Lichfield nursery several ways to take children beyond the usual activity room. The purpose-built premises on Trent Valley Road combine outdoor exploration with spaces for quieter sensory experiences. That combination is the strongest reason to look closely at this setting.

At its February 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) received substantial support. The current age range runs from 3 months to 5 years, with capacity for 210 children in total. This is a substantial nursery, so the experience of the individual group matters more to a family than the whole-setting number.

Full days, morning sessions and afternoon sessions give families different attendance patterns.

Rooms and Ages

Chicks, Cygnets and Ducklings are the baby groups, where sleep and feeding follow the home routine as closely as possible and play takes place indoors and outside. That continuity gives families a clear starting point for discussing how nursery care will fit their baby’s established day.

Pandas, Penguins and Pelicans introduce more organised activities while retaining the home pattern for naps, with opportunities to play both outside and indoors. Toddler provision includes activity spaces, a room for nappy changing and cot rooms. Sleep remains part of the plan as the day becomes busier.

Puffins and Zebras emphasise growing independence through indoor and outdoor play, alongside music, movement and Forest School experiences. Giraffes, Ladybirds and Robins use a free-flow area that lets children choose between learning indoors and outside, with stories, singing and familiar meal routines providing structure.

Pre-School, for children aged 3½ to 4½ years, has its own facility and PlayScape, with a more organised routine introduced progressively through the year. Children practise self-registering and taking part in the pattern of a school day. The emphasis is preparation through repeated experience rather than an abrupt change of routine.

Moves between groups are discussed with parents and the child’s keyworker. These discussions give parents a role in preparing their child for the next group.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning, development and care. Play, stories, physical activity and exploration help children practise skills and reach developmental milestones; the named activities below add to that foundation.

Older children have weekly Spanish lessons from Kidslingo, introducing another language through an age-appropriate nursery activity. Creative Flair leads weekly music and movement sessions built around themes such as animals, numbers and colours, giving children opportunities to express themselves physically and practise controlling their movements. Weekly PE sessions also work on balance, jumping, listening and cooperating with others.

My Happy Mind brings play-based emotional wellbeing activities to Pre-School. Characters appear in books, animations and soft toys, while a parent app offers related activities for home. Its practical value is that families can follow the themes their children are exploring and use the same material together.

Puzzles, construction, painting and crafts sit alongside daily stories, rhymes and singing, giving children opportunities to make, listen and explore.

In February 2024, intended learning was not consistently put into practice: staff carried babies who were learning to walk, and some activities gave younger children too little scope to explore their own ideas. This is the important qualification to the broad activity offer: an interesting resource only helps if the way it is used matches what a child needs to learn.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School adds outdoor learning about nature and the surrounding world. The nursery has its own site for these experiences, so outdoor exploration is part of the setting itself rather than dependent on a trip elsewhere.

The glazed Atrium provides another option in wet weather, with views across neighbouring fields and the community. Children can hear rain while playing in the sheltered space. Alongside the Pre-School PlayScape, it gives the nursery more than one physical setting for active play.

In February 2024, children searched the garden for hidden treasure pots and collected objects during forest school activities. Younger children also explored the sensory room, watching bubbles in tubes and responding to projected insect pictures. The current sensory room is accessible to all children, adding a different kind of exploration to the outdoor offer.

Relationships and Communication

Care begins with the baby’s existing needs: the practitioner responsible for the baby room discusses routines with parents, including sleeping and feeding. For toddlers, potty training continues at nursery when parents judge the timing right. Both arrangements give families a practical role in shaping care rather than requiring every child to follow the same timetable.

In February 2024, staff helped new children settle by choosing resources linked to their interests and offering comfort when they were upset. They also shared information about development and ways parents could support learning at home. These are useful examples of how relationships and communication worked at that point.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In February 2024, the SENCo researched approaches to supporting children with SEND and shared them with colleagues; staff also worked with outside professionals and charities. These mechanisms explain the support behind the inspection judgement, rather than leaving families with a broad assurance alone.

Children also had places where they could pause quietly, and staff used conversations about feelings and breathing exercises to help them manage emotions. Today’s My Happy Mind activities add a named resource for Pre-School families to use together, with the parent app linking nursery themes to home.

Meals are cooked on site in the nursery kitchen, using a four-week menu rotation that includes specially prepared food for dietary requirements. For children staying across the day, this provides a changing menu rather than the same meals repeated each week.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is at Trent Valley Road, Lichfield, Staffordshire WS13 6HB. Full-day bookings run from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday; morning sessions are 8am to noon and afternoon sessions 1pm to 5pm. These are different booking patterns, so families can choose a shorter session rather than assuming the opening day must be purchased in full.

An early start from 7.30am is available, and times can be adjusted by arrangement. The nursery remains open during summer, closes for a week at Christmas and closes on statutory holidays, including Good Friday and Easter Monday. Families needing care across holiday periods should factor those closures into their plans.

Funding and Paid Extras

In February 2024, the nursery provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four. Private bookings are also offered, with a booking charge submitted alongside application and personal-detail forms. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation, tailored to the childcare required.

Enquiries go to 01543 416002 or lichfield@humpties.co.uk. Visits can be arranged through the Lichfield booking form.

• Learning in practice. The February 2024 improvement point concerned how activities deliver their intended learning. On a visit, ask how staff now adapt activities so babies can practise emerging skills and younger children can pursue their own ideas.
• Your child’s group. The nursery has capacity for 210 children, with several named groups serving different stages. Ask about the usual size of the group your child would join and how that group uses the shared spaces.
• The complete booking quotation. Full days and shorter sessions have different clock times, with early starts and flexible arrangements also offered. Request a written breakdown covering the chosen pattern, any funded hours, meals, consumables and the booking charge before deciding.

Humpty Dumpty suits families seeking either full-day care or morning and afternoon sessions, with a substantial activity offer and several different environments for play. The Atrium, sensory room, Forest School and Pre-School PlayScape make the physical provision a persuasive part of its appeal.

Home routines for babies give care a practical family connection. The February 2024 learning point deserves attention: the individual group’s use of these resources matters as much as the facilities themselves.