Safe Haven Day Nursery

Original beams, low ceilings and separate sleeping spaces give Safe Haven Day Nursery a recognisable character: childcare in a converted, listed barn in Mansfield Woodhouse, with rooms organised around babies, toddlers and preschool children. The building matters to the day. Rest, meals and outdoor play have their own spaces, rather than all taking place in the main activity room.

At its August 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged its safeguarding arrangements effective. Safe Haven has capacity for 72 children from birth to five, at 61a High Street, Mansfield Woodhouse, Mansfield, NG19 8BB. Its strongest practical features include the baby room’s own garden, separate sleep rooms for babies and toddlers, and detailed communication about children’s care and development.

Families can book a Standard Day, Morning Session or Afternoon Session. Those choices sit alongside an emphasis on play, familiar care routines and gradual moves between rooms. The teaching judgement also carries a useful qualification: staff needed to give children more opportunities to explain their thinking and develop conversations.

Rooms and Ages

Tiny Tots, for children aged birth to two, combines exploration based on babies’ interests with a separate sleep room and its own enclosed garden, where artificial grass and direct access support outdoor play. That separation is useful for families whose baby needs daytime sleep while other children remain active. The room follows routines from home, giving feeding and sleeping habits a place in the nursery day.

Jiggly Jumpers, for two-year-olds, emphasises independence, communication and social skills, with toilet-training support and outdoor learning in all weathers. Care routines form part of learning here. Hygiene, eating, rest and learning to manage personal needs sit alongside creative play and early experiences of numbers and literacy.

Little Learners, for ages three to five, combines personal and social development with literacy, numeracy and technology, using an interactive Smart board, a computer and outdoor access in all weathers. Planning follows individual interests and needs. This gives preschool children opportunities to practise independence and explore ideas while becoming familiar with a more structured daily routine.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for learning through play, including communication, physical development, relationships, literacy and maths. Safe Haven adds The Curiosity Approach, using natural materials and resources that children can explore in different ways, with invitations to play built around their interests. The approach shapes the materials and activities; the statutory framework remains the basis for learning and development.

The distinction is concrete rather than simply a curriculum label. Staff track development and plan opportunities to build on what children enjoy. An interest can become the starting point for learning, rather than an activity being detached from what already holds a child’s attention.

At the August 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that teaching sometimes needed to stretch more capable children further and that staff missed opportunities to develop reciprocal conversation. These are meaningful points for parents of children who readily explain ideas or need encouragement to speak: an appealing activity works best when adults leave room for children’s own answers.

In August 2024, babies explored citrus fruit in water and pushed rhubarb through tubes, while toddlers used tools in a large sandpit. These examples connected sensory exploration with movement and coordination. Older children tackled tunnels, played ball games and practised accepting the outcome of a sack race.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor space is divided by age, with an area around the baby-room conservatory and separate sections for toddlers and preschool children. Children have daily opportunities to use the gardens, including in mildly bad weather. Age-appropriate equipment gives each stage its own outdoor setting, rather than requiring babies and older children to share the same activities.

Little Learners take part in wake up shake up, a dance activity that adds movement to their day, and make visits within the local community and to places of interest. In August 2024, outdoor activities included making oversized bubbles with hoops and learning to use a tree swing safely. Movement was woven into play, with children practising both physical skills and judgement.

Relationships and Communication

A key person in Tiny Tots provides a familiar contact for care and information from home. Daily diary sheets cover feeds, sleep and nappy changes, while Tapestry, the online learning journal, shares photographs, videos and observations about development. The two serve different purposes: one covers immediate care, the other helps families follow learning over time.

Parents can contribute home interests and experiences through Tapestry, allowing staff to build on them at nursery. Nursery In A Box handles invoices, booked sessions and updates to family information. Keeping these functions separate gives parents a practical route for administration as well as a way to participate in their child’s learning.

Parents Evening is usually held annually, providing time with the key person to discuss development and the child’s learning journey. Stay & Play sessions are arranged within rooms throughout the year, with family members joining activities such as baking, painting and crafts. These offer involvement beyond receiving updates on a phone.

Moves into an older room follow a four-week programme of visits, adapted to the individual child. Visits take place at different points in the day and become longer gradually. This gives children experience of the new room’s routines and adults before the move becomes permanent, while allowing the timetable to respond to their needs.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Two Special Needs co-ordinators work with families, staff and outside specialists. When a need is identified, parents are invited to discuss support strategies; these are reviewed, with specialist teachers involved where further help is needed. This is a defined process for agreeing and revisiting support, rather than a general promise about inclusion.

Separate sleep rooms serve both babies and toddlers, and the building also contains a Sensory Room. For babies, maintaining the home routine is an explicit part of care. For toddlers, quiet periods and rest sit within a day that also includes energetic exploration and growing independence.

School transition work begins once a child’s school has been allocated: the nursery contacts the school, organises visits and shares information with parental permission. Preparation therefore includes communication between settings as well as children learning to manage everyday tasks. Graduation marks the goodbye, with children wearing caps and gowns and receiving a trophy.

Sessions and Attendance

Safe Haven opens Monday to Friday, from 7.30am to 6pm, throughout the year except bank holidays and one week at Christmas. Standard Day runs from 7.30am to 6pm; Morning Session runs from 7.30am to 1pm. Afternoon Session ends at 6pm.

The nursery allocates places in the order applications are received. The telephone number is 01623 480 554, and the contact form offers a callback option.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and privately paid sessions are offered. Funding options include 15 universal hours and 30 funded hours for three- and four-year-olds, 15 hours for eligible two-year-olds, and 15 hours for eligible working families from the term following their child turning nine months. These are funding offers subject to the relevant eligibility conditions, rather than a guarantee that an individual family qualifies.

Meals and snacks are included in privately paid nursery sessions: the morning includes breakfast, a snack and dinner, the afternoon includes a snack and light tea, and Standard Day includes both sets. Additional consumables are charged on funded provision. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

Food is cooked on the premises, with seasonal menus rotating over three weeks and a separate baby menu. The nursery accommodates special dietary requirements on request; toddlers and preschool children eat in a dining room, while babies’ meals are served in the conservatory.

• Afternoon timing. The afternoon start is printed as 1.00am, which conflicts with the 7.30am weekday opening time. Confirm the intended start when discussing a booking so the session fits your day.
• Conversation and challenge. In August 2024, teaching did not consistently give children enough scope to develop their own ideas or extend conversation. During a visit, ask how staff now encourage children to explain, respond and think further.
• Funded attendance. Additional consumables are charged on funded provision. Ask for a written breakdown showing how funding applies to your chosen sessions and what sits outside it.
• Dietary needs. Special diets are accommodated on request. Families managing allergies should discuss their child’s requirements and confirm current food-handling arrangements before starting.

Safe Haven suits families choosing between a full Standard Day and shorter morning or afternoon sessions, especially those who value continuity with home routines and gradual room transitions. The baby garden, separate sleeping spaces and practical care diaries give its offer substance. For older children, outdoor play, interest-led activities and opportunities for independence broaden the day.

The Good judgement from August 2024 supports consideration, with a clear teaching question attached: how consistently do adults extend children’s thinking and conversation? The strongest reasons to choose Safe Haven are its concrete care arrangements and family communication, weighed alongside that improvement priority and the charge structure for funded attendance.