Windermere Day Nursery, Kettering

A construction zone, mud kitchen and music wall give outdoor play a clear identity at Windermere Day Nursery, Kettering. Children use the garden daily, with space for building, messy exploration and sound. Its Eco-Schools Green Flag Award adds an environmental strand: caring for the world is part of the nursery day.

Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding on 17 March 2022. The strongest examples from that period connect children's interests with practical learning, from investigating fish to growing vegetables. These are useful illustrations of the education behind the grade, while the judgement remains dated.

On Haweswater Road, the nursery has 116 places in total and accepts children aged 2 to 60 months. Attendance choices include term-time funded patterns, with additional paid mornings, afternoons or full days purchasable by children attending funded sessions, subject to nursery availability.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care; in everyday terms, play, conversation and practical activities sit alongside their care routines. Windermere's March 2022 examples show how these elements can connect. A child's interest in a shark seen in a book prompted discussion of the nursery's pet fish, followed by an investigation of real fish. Children explored bones and learnt vocabulary for parts of a fish. An interest brought from home became something to examine together.

In March 2022, children also revisited The Gruffalo through shared storytelling and role play. Staff varied the characters' voices, then children worked out roles as they retold the story themselves. Books became a starting point for talking and negotiating with friends, rather than simply listening to an adult read.

Music sessions take place on Thursdays. Alongside these sessions, the garden's music wall gives children another way to explore sound through sensory play. The construction zone and mud kitchen provide different starting points for imagination: making structures and experimenting with materials.

Outdoor and Community Life

Daily garden access makes outdoor play a regular part of attendance. The Eco-Schools Green Flag Award sits alongside teaching children to care for their surroundings. For parents who value environmental learning, the useful combination is the award and the opportunity to explore outdoors each day.

In March 2022, outdoor activities included children working together to move a tree trunk and discussing where to put it safely. Vegetable growing also connected with food preparation, as children helped chop produce for lunch. These examples brought cooperation, physical activity and everyday responsibility into play.

Relationships and Communication

In March 2022, new babies used family photographs displayed on a wall while receiving comfort from staff. The familiar images linked home with nursery during early settling. Staff also drew on information about children's experiences at home when planning activities, giving parents' knowledge a practical role in the day.

Regular Parent Partnership Meetings provide a current route for family involvement. In March 2022, parents received daily information about development together with ideas for activities at home. The combination matters: meetings create space for discussion, while everyday updates can help families continue a child's interests between nursery days.

Independence featured in small tasks in March 2022. Younger children used signs to communicate a need to wash their hands, and other children shared the work of preparing the lunch table. These were opportunities to express a need and take responsibility within familiar routines.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At its March 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well supported, with staff identifying additional needs, collaborating with outside agencies and helping children make rapid progress. For families considering additional support, the concrete mechanism was cooperation between nursery staff and other professionals, rather than support confined to the nursery alone.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Haweswater Road, Kettering, NN16 8LX. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, across 52 weeks, with public holidays and inset days excluded. Enquiries can be made by telephone or email, or through a callback enquiry form.

Children attending Free Entitlement Sessions can purchase additional paid mornings from 7.30am to 1pm, afternoons from 1pm to 6.30pm, or full days from 7.30am to 6.30pm, subject to nursery availability.

Term-time funded attendance has its own timetable. Two-year-old and universal entitlement sessions run from 8.30am to 11.30am or 12.15pm to 3.15pm, Monday to Friday, with a maximum of five sessions weekly. Extended entitlement attendance runs from 9am to 3pm on weekdays, also with a maximum of five sessions per week. These patterns cover 38 weeks.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funding choices need to be read alongside the attendance pattern. Term-time arrangements provide up to 15 hours weekly for two-year-old and universal entitlement, or up to 30 hours for extended entitlement, subject to eligibility and session availability. For funded attendance with additional paid care, the working parent, disadvantaged two-year-old, universal and extended entitlements are stretched across 51 weeks, with weekly maxima of 11 hours or 22 hours respectively.

Additional care beyond funded hours is charged separately. Funded-only and funded-with-paid-care arrangements cannot be combined within one booking pattern, and individual paid hours cannot be used to lengthen the term-time funded sessions. Families comparing patterns therefore need to compare the whole booking, rather than assume hours can be freely added or exchanged.

For extended term-time funded sessions, a separate voluntary contribution covers meals and snacks and non-food consumables such as sun cream; families may decline it in writing. This contribution is voluntary, with no expectation that parents agree to pay it. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Term-time or stretched funding. Term-time funded patterns cover 38 weeks, while funded attendance with additional paid care stretches entitlement over 51 weeks. At a visit, discuss which complete booking pattern fits your working year and your child's eligibility.
• Settling a young baby. Family photographs supported new babies in March 2022. Ask how settling sessions, comfort and home routines are organised for your child now.
• Additional support. Collaboration with outside agencies was a strength of the March 2022 findings. Families whose child needs support should discuss how that cooperation would work for their child's individual needs.

Windermere suits families who want daily outdoor play and term-time funded mornings, afternoons or days. Children attending funded sessions can also purchase additional paid mornings, afternoons or full days, subject to nursery availability. The garden's construction zone, mud kitchen and music wall give that outdoor offer substance, while Thursday music sessions add a recurring activity.

Its Outstanding judgement dates to March 2022, with memorable examples of learning built around children's interests and practical independence. The main decision is how the attendance and funding patterns fit family life: the term-time and stretched arrangements offer different ways to organise the week and year.