Springfield Lodge Montessori Day Nursery and Pre School

A forest area on site, gardening club and regular library visits give Springfield Lodge a clear emphasis on nature, growing and books. Each of its three base rooms has an outdoor area, while a sensory room adds another space for children to use. For parents who value learning beyond the indoor playroom, these are concrete reasons to consider this Grimsby nursery.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good on 5 July 2022, with Outstanding judgements for behaviour and attitudes and personal development. The improvement priority was more precise monitoring of children's involvement in learning, especially when older children were working towards their individual next steps. That distinction matters: positive relationships and independence were strengths, but engagement still needed closer attention.

Springfield Lodge has capacity for 77 children, with a current age range spanning birth to five. Its address is Springfield Park, Springfield Road, Grimsby, DN33 3LE. Paid attendance includes daily and half-day patterns, alongside an hourly option.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the shared framework for children's learning, development and care. Through play, children develop language, social and physical skills alongside early literacy, mathematics, understanding the world and creative expression. Springfield Lodge adds concrete experiences through its forest school sessions, which involve learning about nature in its own forest area, and gardening club, where children begin exploring the food chain. These activities give children things to investigate and discuss rather than relying solely on indoor resources.

Regular visits to the local library extend the emphasis on books beyond the nursery. Together, the library outings and gardening club connect learning with places and experiences children can recognise outside their base room. Their value is practical: books, nature and food become subjects children can explore through experience.

In July 2022, babies practised movements of their tongues and mouths through imitation games with adults. Older children used Spanish with one another, including counting oranges and helping friends pronounce words. These were different experiences for different developmental stages, rather than a single activity delivered to everyone.

Remembering earlier experiences also featured in July 2022. Children talked about a visit to a maritime heritage centre and recalled turning beetroot grown in the nursery's allotment into cake. The examples linked conversation with something children had actually done. They also gave adults opportunities to revisit learning after the original activity had ended.

Outdoor and Community Life

Three base rooms organised around children's ages and development each have their own outdoor area. That arrangement gives outdoor play a place alongside the rooms themselves. The sensory room provides a further shared space, rather than being an activity attached to just one age group.

Forest school sessions take place on site and are led by staff trained for that work. Families drawn to nature activities therefore have an identifiable part of the nursery's offer to weigh alongside the gardening club and library outings.

In July 2022, outdoor play included toddlers following balls along drainpipes, while older children assembled structures from tyres and crates, climbed and used swings. Children also made artwork beneath trees in the forest school area. These examples show how the outdoor spaces were used for movement, construction and creative activity at that time.

At its July 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective, described babies seeking comfort from familiar adults, and found that staff worked with families and other agencies to obtain support for children with special educational needs, including extra funding where possible. Those findings give a dated account of both everyday reassurance and more targeted help.

Current support includes two deputy managers with training for the Early Years SEN co-ordinator role. This gives families of children with additional needs identifiable roles to discuss support with. All staff hold safeguarding and paediatric first aid certificates; these are care arrangements, rather than a substitute for the dated safeguarding judgement.

In July 2022, parents received information about their children's development and ways to continue learning at home. Younger children turned to familiar adults when tired, and toddlers settled for naps. For families choosing care for a baby or toddler, those observations are relevant to comfort and communication, though they describe practice at that visit.

Fresh meals are prepared daily. In July 2022, the cook took account of individual children's needs and preferences, while children served food, cleared their plates and practised looking after themselves. Independence was part of ordinary routines as well as organised activities.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates across the year, with closures for bank holidays and one week between Christmas and New Year. Families whose work continues through school holidays should allow for that Christmas closure when planning care.

Paid patterns include daily bookings of ten, nine or eight hours, five-hour half days and hourly care. These offer different lengths of attendance within the opening window. The ten-hour daily pattern includes all meals, the nine-hour pattern includes lunch and tea, and the eight-hour pattern includes lunch.

Admissions give priority in order to looked-after children, children known by the local authority to have SEND whose needs can best be met there, vulnerable children receiving specified support, siblings, and children living locally. A full-time booking may take precedence over part-time attendance depending on work commitments, occupancy and the room involved. The nursery operates a waiting list.

Before attendance begins, parents complete a contract and registration form covering matters such as emergency contacts, dietary needs, allergies, collection arrangements and consent. Direct enquiries go to springfield@forunderfives.co.uk or 01472 874583.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded early education is offered for three- and four-year-olds and eligible nine-month-olds and two-year-olds. The offer is 15 or 30 hours a week, depending on eligibility, over 38 weeks of the year. Funded bookings can be made a term ahead, with intake in the term after a child reaches the relevant age of eligibility; the nursery may restrict funded session patterns to meet its operating needs.

Meal charges depend on the paid pattern: specified meals are included in daily packages, and breakfast, lunch and tea also have separate charges. Booked meals remain payable if a child does not attend, and attendance beyond a session's hours is charged at the hourly rate. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Older children's engagement. The July 2022 improvement priority concerned closer attention to individual learning needs. During a visit, ask how staff recognise when an older child needs a different activity or more support to pursue their next step.
• Choosing the attendance pattern. Daily bookings and five-hour half days serve different routines, while full-time attendance may receive preference under specified conditions. Discuss how your intended pattern would work alongside the nursery's 5.30pm closing time and Christmas closure.
• Your child's first weeks. The sensory room, outdoor areas and SEN co-ordinator roles give useful starting points for a visit. Ask how settling sessions and the key-person relationship would be organised for your child, including any additional support they need.

Springfield Lodge suits families seeking either daily attendance or shorter half-day care, with nature, gardening and books forming recognisable parts of the offer. Outdoor areas attached to each base room and an on-site forest area give those interests a physical setting. The July 2022 Good judgement supports consideration, while its improvement priority makes individual engagement a useful subject for a visit. Families should weigh the attendance preference rules and annual closures alongside the activities that appeal to their child.