Mini Miners Nursery School

Language support and practical independence give Mini Miners Nursery School its character: children mixed play dough themselves, while staff used visual cues to help communication in February 2022. At its 2 February 2022 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and reported good progress for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

The nursery has capacity for 50 children aged 24 to 60 months at Burnage Christ Church in Manchester. The account of daily life below relates to February 2022.

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care. In February 2022, this meant activities shaped around children's interests and assessments of what they needed to learn next.

Practical tasks gave children opportunities to act independently. They poured ingredients and mixed play dough, with physical activity taking place inside and outdoors. Stories and songs supported vocabulary. Staff also used clear speech and visual cues, adapting communication to individual children.

Older children practised phonics and writing letters from their names in February 2022. Staff worked with local schools on curriculum planning, linking these activities to preparation for school. Outings to shops, the park and the library extended learning beyond the nursery itself.

In February 2022, staff could communicate in Punjabi and Urdu with children learning English as an additional language. Familiar language helped new children settle, alongside opportunities to practise English through songs and stories.

Staff used a side room to help some children with SEND settle before joining the group. Staff drew on advice from external agencies to adapt support. That is a concrete mechanism for inclusion, rather than a general promise.

Home learning was also part of the February 2022 arrangements. Staff suggested activities, and parents sent back photographs of children trying them. Communication in families' home languages helped make those exchanges accessible. Handwashing and toothbrushing featured in children's routines, although lunchtime expectations needed more work.

The address is Burnage Christ Church, 111 Burnage Lane, Manchester, M19 2WH.

In February 2022, the nursery ran throughout the year on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with sessions from 9am to 2pm. Those daytime sessions offered a different attendance pattern from a full working day. At that time, it also provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four.

• Lunchtime expectations. In February 2022, some children wandered from the table or tried to take someone else's food. Discuss how staff now make the meal routine clear and settled.
• Care across settings. In February 2022, information exchange with other childcare settings needed strengthening. Families combining providers should discuss how learning information passes between them.
• Attendance planning. The February 2022 sessions ran on three named weekdays. Which current booking pattern would fit your family's routine?

Mini Miners' February 2022 provision suited families seeking daytime sessions, practical learning and support for children developing English. Its clearest strengths in that account were individual communication strategies and links between nursery learning and activities at home. The lunchtime routine and coordination with other settings were the important counterweights to that positive picture.