Fernwood Day Nursery

A sheltered deck for babies and separate outdoor spaces for each age group give Fernwood Day Nursery a clear physical character. Children have their own base rooms, with resources they can choose independently. The progression through Caterpillar room, The Butterfly Room, The Squirrel Room and The Owls Room puts increasing independence into a practical sequence, from selecting toys to preparing for school.

At its December 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, with positive findings about children’s development and support for children with special educational needs and disabilities. There was also a specific teaching improvement to make: activities needed more careful adjustment to children’s ages and developing skills. That matters alongside the headline grade.

On Rubys Avenue in Fernwood, Newark, the nursery accepts children from birth to five and has 86 places in total. Its nursery attendance options include Core Day, Early Day, Full Day and Extended Day. There is also school-age care, with a separate room for children using the clubs.

Rooms and Ages

Caterpillar room gives the youngest children a sheltered outdoor deck, opportunities to choose toys and encouragement to play together in small groups. For a baby, the combination brings exploration and early social contact into the same base. Sleep and rest follow routines from home, so care can respond to the individual child’s needs.

The Butterfly Room combines resources children can select themselves with individual planning around their interests and learning aims. Children move into this stage between 15 months and two years, depending on their needs. The transition is therefore tied to the child as well as their age, a useful point for parents considering how a mobile baby will settle into toddler provision.

The Squirrel Room takes children from two to rising four, emphasising confidence and independence through accessible resources and supported play. The Owls Room serves the final 12 to 18 months before school, using independently chosen activities and repeated practical experiences to develop children’s thinking. These are stages of nursery life, rather than a promise that every child moves rooms on the same birthday.

Across the nursery, the rooms have air conditioning and underfloor heating. Each age group has its own outdoor play space as well as a base indoors. That gives parents concrete features to weigh alongside the learning approach: outdoor access belongs to each group’s environment, while temperature control is built into the rooms.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the required framework here; children’s learning includes choosing resources, developing independence and practising communication through play. In The Owls Room, school preparation emphasises listening, concentrating, negotiating and solving problems. These aims give parents a clearer picture of readiness than a narrow emphasis on pencil work.

In December 2023, staff combined activities they had planned with opportunities arising from children’s own play. Toddlers explored water moving between containers, while preschool children used outdoor group games to practise counting, taking turns and talking about time. The examples show how ordinary play could carry a specific learning purpose.

Communication had several routes. In December 2023, children were taught a weekly sign to support communication beyond speech, and staff had prompts to extend the vocabulary they used with children. A visual timetable and a sand timer helped children understand changes during the day. These are tangible ways to make both language and routines easier to follow.

In December 2023, some activities were shared across ages with insufficient adjustment, and babies were given puzzles that demanded skills beyond their stage. The improvement required more precise teaching intentions and better-matched resources. Parents should weigh the attractive environments against how staff adapt what happens within them.

Outdoor and Community Life

The sheltered baby deck is one useful detail; the separate outdoor spaces for other age groups are another. Children can explore beyond their indoor base, with the environment organised around their stage of development. The purpose-built nursery also gives children access to resources indoors and outside.

In December 2023, celebrations connected with the backgrounds of children attending included St Nikolaus day in early December and Hanukkah in mid-December. Their value lay in connecting learning about other people with experiences relevant to the children themselves. These are inspection-time examples of that work, rather than a current events calendar.

Relationships and Communication

Babies’ routines allow for individual sleep and rest patterns, and their activities include both free choice and adult-guided song time. This makes daily care and learning closely connected: a baby’s need to rest can be accommodated alongside opportunities to join in.

Partnership with parents is an explicit aim, including care that takes account of family wishes and values. In The Owls Room, parents and staff are expected to work together on learning and the move towards school. For families, the practical value is continuity between what matters at home and what staff are helping the child practise.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A designated SENDCo and a Language lead support early intervention. At the December 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that referrals were made promptly, staff used specialist advice to support children with additional needs, and safeguarding practice included appropriate supervision during eating and sleeping. The current roles provide a support structure; the dated findings show how it was working at that visit.

The nursery operates an inclusion policy. Its school-readiness approach also aims to accommodate children’s different needs, with independence, communication and resilience among the priorities. That is useful for parents looking for the detail of support, rather than a general promise that every child will follow an identical route.

Food is prepared fresh by an onsite cook, with babies’ meals and snacks arranged around their stage and dietary needs. For younger children, this connects meal provision with the individual care routine.

School transition includes completing documents and sharing information with schools so receiving teachers can understand the child. The emphasis is on carrying knowledge of the child forward. This is a practical part of preparation, alongside the independence and listening skills developed in The Owls Room.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Rubys Avenue, Fernwood, Newark, NG24 3RS. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm on weekdays, across 51 weeks of the year, with a Christmas closure lasting one week and closures on bank holiday Mondays. Closure days are not charged.

Four nursery day patterns offer different start and finish combinations: Core Day runs from 9am to 5pm; Early Day offers an earlier start and finish; Full Day runs from 8am to 6pm; and Extended Day from 7.30am to 6pm. Extra hours can be prebooked and are charged separately. The range matters for families whose working day starts early, finishes later or fits within the core window.

Visits can be arranged by telephone, and the nursery takes advance bookings. Enquiries can be made on 01636 701200 or by email to office@fernwooddaynursery.co.uk.

Breakfast and afterschool care are restricted to children attending Chuter Ede Primary School at its Fernwood site, with the journeys made on foot. Morning bookings run from either 7.30am or 7.45am until 8.45am; afternoon bookings start at 3pm and finish at either 5pm or 6pm. Attending the nursery does not guarantee a place at Chuter Ede Primary School.

Holiday Club accepts children aged four to eleven from all schools and uses a dedicated, air-conditioned room upstairs. Its day options run from 9am to 5pm or 7.30am to 6pm, with morning and afternoon options also offered. Electronic equipment cannot be brought into the club, and television is not used, so its activities centre on play, including outdoor opportunities.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered. In December 2023, funded early education covered children aged two, three and four; the current charge structure separates funded attendance from meals, snacks and additional hours. Meals and snacks for funded children carry a separate daily package charge, while extra hours used to complete a full day are charged separately.

A separately charged Breakfast Club from 7.30am to 8am applies to funded children attending 8am to 6pm during term time only. There is no separate charge for consumables or add-ons. For current prices, ask the nursery for a quotation.

• Age-appropriate teaching. The December 2023 improvement concerned matching activities to children’s stage and giving them opportunities to extend their skills. On a visit, ask how this now works across the baby and preschool rooms.
• Room transitions. Movement into The Butterfly Room depends on individual needs within the 15-month-to-two-year transition window. Discuss how staff decide that a child is ready and how the move is introduced.
• Funded-day extras. Funded attendance has separate meal and snack charges, with additional hours charged separately. The term-time Breakfast Club has its own attendance condition, so weigh the whole booking pattern against the family’s routine.
• School collection boundary. Breakfast and afterschool care serve Chuter Ede Primary School’s Fernwood site only. This is a concrete restriction for families planning care beyond nursery age, even though Holiday Club accepts children from other schools.

Fernwood suits families choosing between a core nursery day and earlier or later attendance, with Core Day, Early Day, Full Day and Extended Day offering clear alternatives. Babies’ sheltered outdoor space, individual rest routines and the progression towards independent learning give the provision substance beyond its opening hours.

The December 2023 Good judgement provides a useful quality reference, balanced by the specific need to improve activity planning across ages. For families using funded childcare, the meal package and additional-hours structure also deserve attention. The strongest fit is a family that values the room progression and outdoor access, and whose chosen attendance pattern works with those charges.