Ashbourne Day Nurseries at New Ollerton

A separate sleep room for babies and a garden opening straight from Pre-school give Ashbourne Day Nurseries at New Ollerton a clear practical character: rest for the youngest children, easy outdoor access for the oldest. This is a sizeable setting, with capacity for 104 children aged three months to five years, at Fountain Court on Darwin Drive.

At its 17 March 2025 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and reported rapid learning progress overall, including for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). That judgement came with two improvement priorities: more consistent help towards individual learning targets and clearer supervision of staff practice. Both matter when judging how well everyday activities meet a particular child's needs.

Flexible sessions carry a minimum booking of two sessions per child. The strongest practical attractions are the age-specific rooms, outdoor space and fee package including food and everyday care supplies.

Rooms and Ages

Babies, for children from three months to two years, has a separate sleep room and allows flexibility according to each child's developmental stage. The sleeping space gives rest its own place, rather than making it compete with active play.

Toddlers, for two- to three-year-olds, is a large room where the curiosity approach means an emphasis on natural materials and reducing plastic resources. Pre-school, for children aged three to five, opens directly onto the large garden, allowing children to move freely between indoor and outdoor activity.

These are different arrangements for different stages. For a baby, the sleep provision is the clearest physical feature; for an older child, direct garden access changes how easily outdoor play can form part of the day.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides learning and development, with play and activities supporting children as they grow towards school age. Alongside this shared early-years framework, the toddler room's curiosity approach adds a concrete choice of resources: natural materials take precedence over plastic.

In March 2025, preschool children collaborated on building a tower and worked out how to reach higher when its height exceeded their reach. Staff extended the challenge with questions. The activity combined construction, cooperation and problem-solving, rather than stopping at putting blocks together.

Younger children had opportunities to persist too. In March 2025, babies tackled tray puzzles with adult encouragement, while children at a sand and water tray practised spooning sand into containers. These examples show the different scales of learning across the age groups: solving a practical problem for older children, handling objects and trying again for younger ones.

The limitation concerned individual next steps. In March 2025, staff could discuss children's development targets, but their help towards those targets varied. A busy activity programme therefore needs to be considered alongside how consistently each child's learning plan shapes the support they receive.

Outdoor and Community Life

The enclosed garden serves all age groups, with a mud kitchen and construction area giving outdoor play specific places and materials. Pre-school's direct access makes that space especially relevant to its daily routine. Children can explore outdoors as well as work with resources inside.

Local outings extend the nursery day beyond the garden. Children often visit the village library and make regular trips to a nearby supermarket, forest and park. These are ordinary community places with different experiences to offer, from books to shopping and outdoor exploration; the frequency remains regular rather than a fixed weekly timetable.

Relationships and Communication

Settling periods are tailored to individual children. That gives families a starting arrangement based on the child, rather than a single timetable applied to everyone. An app carries updates about care routines and activities, and parents can also view their child's educational plan through it.

In March 2025, staff exchanged information with parents each day about children's experiences and encouraged families to share interests from home. This gave practitioners something specific to connect with during play. Staff also comforted distressed children and attended to their individual sleep and nappy-changing needs, helping them return to activities after reassurance.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In March 2025, staff used stories and toy characters with toddlers and preschool children to discuss feelings. This made emotions something children could explore through familiar play materials. Information was also exchanged with other agencies supporting children with SEND, linking nursery care with the work of professionals involved with the child.

Food is prepared on site: seasonal cooked lunches and healthy snacks are provided, with dietary needs and allergies catered for. The fee package includes food, milk, wipes and nappies, so these everyday items sit within the fee rather than being separate purchases for that package.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Fountain Court, Sherwood Energy Village, Darwin Drive, New Ollerton, Nottinghamshire, NG22 9GS. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks of the year; the nursery closes for bank holidays and over Christmas. Those closures need to fit a family's wider childcare arrangements.

Flexible sessions are offered, with at least two sessions booked for each child. The opening window describes the working day of the nursery; the minimum booking describes the commitment a family makes. Together, they give a useful starting point for planning attendance.

Funding and Paid Extras

In March 2025, the nursery provided government-funded places for children aged nine months to four years. Funded childcare and the all-inclusive fee package are separate considerations when planning costs. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

For the fee package, meals and non-food consumables are included: food and milk alongside nappies and wipes. That is a practical benefit for families managing daily supplies, while the terms for a child's funded attendance need to be considered on their own basis.

• Individual learning targets. In March 2025, support towards children's next steps varied. During a visit, ask how the educational plan visible in the app translates into activities and help from different practitioners.
• Attendance commitment. Each child needs a minimum of two sessions, and the nursery closes over Christmas and on bank holidays. Consider how that commitment and those closures fit your working pattern.
• Funded attendance. Government-funded places were provided in March 2025. Ask how funded hours would be arranged for your child and which meals or care supplies fall within that arrangement.
• Dietary care. Meals are cooked on site and dietary requirements and allergies are catered for. Families managing an allergy should confirm the current preparation and serving arrangements before joining.

Ashbourne Day Nurseries at New Ollerton suits families seeking flexible attendance who can commit to at least two sessions, and who value a separate baby sleep space, direct preschool garden access and included everyday supplies. Community outings add another useful dimension to the day.

The March 2025 Good judgement is balanced by a clear question about consistency: how reliably staff turn individual learning targets into everyday support. For parents, that is the most useful point to explore alongside the room arrangements and attendance commitment.