St Martin's Centre Nursery

A nursery inside a community centre gives family life a broader setting: St Martin's Centre Nursery shares its Roman Avenue base with parent groups, family services and The Avenue coffee shop. The appeal extends beyond the nursery day. Parents can find opportunities to meet other carers and access support in the same centre.

Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding at its 19 July 2022 inspection. Its current age range is 24 to 60 months, and it operates during term time. For families choosing early education alongside a school-term routine, that calendar is a central practical consideration.

The strongest detail from July 2022 concerned how practitioners used children's interests: water play encouraged participation, dough-making introduced mathematical language, and an ice-bound dinosaur activity prompted children to choose tools and explain their plans. These were concrete examples of learning through purposeful play.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children's learning, development and care. In parent language, it brings learning and everyday care together, with play providing opportunities to practise communication, explore ideas and build relationships.

In July 2022, children's interests shaped activities and the next steps staff planned for them. A fascination with water became a way into shared play; making dough gave children a reason to use mathematical words. Freeing toy dinosaurs from ice added a practical problem to solve. Children selected tools and explained their intentions through speech and signs, giving them different ways to contribute to the activity.

Conversation also ran through ordinary routines in July 2022. Practitioners joined children's play, introduced words and repeated language back to them. Adults and children chatted together over snacks. Picture-based schedules and signing accompanied spoken language, so participation did not depend solely on a child's confidence with speech.

Reading connected the nursery day with home in July 2022. Children borrowed books from the lending library, while regular stay-and-play sessions gave parents ideas for supporting learning beyond nursery. That combination made books something families could share, rather than an activity confined to the setting.

Outdoor and Community Life

A farm visit was part of the nursery's family experiences in July 2022. This was an example of an outing involving families, rather than a fixed promise of recurring trips.

The surrounding centre has its own Early Years programme, delivered with Children and Families Newcastle East, offering family activities and support. These are centre services alongside the nursery. Tots & Tea, a term-time gathering for parents and carers, provides an opportunity to talk with other families and meet people from different services. The community setting therefore has practical value for adults as well as children.

Relationships and Communication

In July 2022, welcome songs included words from children's home languages, and a bell marked the shared welcome routine. Familiar language and predictable signals gave children ways to recognise what was happening and join in. Practitioners also reminded younger children about sharing during play.

Individual time with an adult was used in July 2022 for children who needed help managing their emotions. Support for communication included personal plans and individual activities, while discussions about children's needs involved parents and, where appropriate, outside professionals. These details matter because they describe how support was organised around a child, rather than simply applying the same activity to everyone.

At the July 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and judged that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities achieved the best possible outcomes, with individual plans, additional adult support and interpreters helping families participate.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Pass it on Parents (monthly session) is a centre support group for carers of children with additional needs. It brings parents together to discuss support in Newcastle and share experiences. Its value is different from a child's nursery support plan: it gives carers a separate opportunity to talk with others facing related questions.

The Avenue is a bright, modern coffee shop within the centre, serving drinks and light food. It provides another place for adults to spend time together; its menu should be understood as the coffee shop's offer.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery's address is St Martin's Centre, Roman Avenue, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2RJ. It opens during term time and closes for school holidays, making the holiday calendar an essential part of planning childcare around work.

Opening hours are 8.30am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday. In July 2022, the nursery's session times also ran from 8.30am to 4.30pm. Opening hours describe the working day; families should use the attendance discussion below to establish how their child's booked hours fit within it.

General enquiries can be made on 0191 276 4002 or by email to info@stmartinscentre.org.uk. The centre also has a contact form for questions.

Funding and Paid Extras

In July 2022, the nursery provided funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-olds. That is a dated account of its funding provision, rather than a promise of an individual child's entitlement today.

• Term-time calendar. The nursery closes for school holidays. Families needing childcare across the year will need to account for those breaks when judging whether the arrangement fits their working pattern.
• Attendance and costs. With an 8.30am to 4.30pm opening day, what attendance pattern can be agreed for your child, and how would funded hours, meals and consumables be treated in a current written quotation?
• Support in practice. The July 2022 arrangements included individual communication plans, parent involvement and additional adult support. On a visit, discuss how your child's communication or support needs would be addressed now.

St Martin's Centre Nursery suits families seeking term-time early education within a centre that also offers parent contact and family support. In July 2022, children tackled practical problems, shared books with home and used speech and signs to communicate.

The wider setting is a meaningful part of the choice. Tots & Tea and Pass it on Parents (monthly session) give carers opportunities beyond their child's nursery attendance. The holiday calendar deserves equal weight: this is a choice to make around both a child's needs and the family's term-time routine.