Footprints Day Nursery Wallsend

Separate gardens for the youngest children, a sensory room for quieter moments and park sessions for preschool children give Footprints Day Nursery Wallsend a character that extends beyond its playrooms. The outdoor provision is substantial: covered space for Hedgehogs and Ducklings, a garden for Badgers, and shared areas with grass and paving. Children have different places to explore, rather than a single outdoor space serving every age.

Based at Wallsend Childrens Centre on North Road, Wallsend, NE28 8RH, the nursery has capacity for 100 children, with a current age range of six months to five years. Four named rooms organise the nursery day around different stages of development. The progression runs from floor-level exploration and familiar home routines towards greater independence before school.

At its October 2021 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, with strong support for communication and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. That judgement is dated. Two improvement priorities from October 2021, early writing and the suitability of some preschool activities, remain relevant questions for families considering the educational offer.

Full-day, morning, afternoon and school-day attendance patterns are offered, alongside term-time options.

Rooms and Ages

Hedgehogs combines floor-based play, resources children can reach themselves and a cosy space for stories or rest, with care shaped around home routines.

Ducklings serves children aged 18 to 26 months, using play to develop skills and relationships, with direct access between the room and garden. That outdoor connection gives this age group another setting for exploration as their confidence grows.

Butterflies, for children aged two to three, brings together role play, messy activities and a cosy corner, balancing children's own choices with experiences organised by adults. Quiet time or a nap follows the child's home pattern.

Badgers takes children aged three and over towards a more structured day, with independence and confidence during the move to school as its central aims. Flexibility remains part of the approach. This is preparation through routines and everyday skills, rather than a claim about access to any particular school.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides planning across its seven areas of learning and development, with play and children's interests used to shape activities. In parent terms, learning is built into experiences such as sensory trays, water play and outings, rather than treated as a separate lesson timetable. Staff observe what interests children and use those observations when planning what comes next.

Badgers adds Forest Friends sessions in Wallsend park and correspondence with penpals around the world. Forest Friends takes some of the preschool experience into a named local outdoor setting; the penpal connection introduces contact beyond the nursery itself. Families can explore the rooms and learning approach.

In October 2021, children in Butterflies joined songs with movements, while preschool children created an outdoor fairy garden and talked together during play. Another activity involved painting with spray bottles: when equipment stopped working, children attempted repairs and then shared the functioning bottle.

October 2021 also brought two clear development priorities. Early writing needed a more deliberate progression through the nursery, and some preschool activities needed better matching to children's understanding. A dental-health activity, for example, was too advanced for the children taking part.

Outdoor and Community Life

The main garden includes paved and grassed surfaces, while Hedgehogs and Ducklings share a separate covered garden area. Badgers has its own accessible garden, and a smaller rear garden provides another shared space. This layout gives outdoor play several settings and allows the youngest children to use a separate area.

Indoors, the sensory room offers equipment and sensory experiences in a quieter space. Hedgehogs uses it, and it also gives children somewhere to spend short periods when they need less stimulation. It adds an alternative to the activity of the main playrooms.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who works with the family and communicates about development. An online learning journal sits alongside a daily diary, separating the longer picture of progress from everyday communication. Parents are invited to share their knowledge of their child and contribute ideas for planning, so information can travel in both directions.

The parent app allows families to view their child's day, exchange messages with staff, follow learning and see invoices from a phone or computer. Room notice boards also display activities and topics.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO, a SENCO assistant role and an SEN support practitioner form part of the staff structure. Individual play plans and targeted learning are used for children with additional needs, alongside collaboration with speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and the Early Years Communication Outreach Team. This describes practical routes for coordinating support, rather than relying on a general statement about inclusion.

In October 2021, Ofsted found that staff acted on early observations and involved external professionals, including health visitors, to support children with additional needs. Current arrangements include a designated safeguarding officer role held by the manager, while staff training covers areas such as safeguarding and paediatric first aid. Those roles and training arrangements are separate from the dated safeguarding judgement.

Room leaders are identified for Hedgehogs, Ducklings, Butterflies and Badgers, with senior roles in the youngest rooms. Staff development includes workshops, training discussions and meetings every six weeks to consider nursery needs and improvements.

A nursery chef and kitchen assistant prepare meals and snacks. The chef's training includes food hygiene and allergy awareness, making dietary arrangements a useful part of a family's discussion before joining.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm from Monday to Thursday, with a 5.30pm finish on Friday. The nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and Christmas. The shorter Friday matters when arranging a consistent collection routine across the working week.

Morning sessions run from 7.30am to 12.30pm. Full days begin at 7.30am; the normal finish is 6pm, with Friday's earlier closing time applying. The school-day pattern runs from 9am to 3pm, and term-time options are also offered. These choices serve different schedules, from a morning of childcare to a day aligned more closely with school hours.

The address is Wallsend Childrens Centre, North Road, Wallsend, NE28 8RH, also identified as the former Wallsend Sure Start building. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 0191 649 6262 or through a contact form that includes the child's proposed start date, required days and sessions.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government-funded childcare is offered to eligible children, with delivery either during term time or stretched across the year. That distinction matters when comparing a term-time schedule with care needed through the holidays. Eligibility remains a condition of the funded offer.

Private childcare is also offered. Families should obtain current prices in the nursery's written quotation and consider the attendance pattern alongside the funding arrangement when comparing costs.

• Early writing and preschool activities. October 2021 brought priorities around the progression of writing skills and activities matched to children's development. During a visit, ask how these now shape the Badgers day and learning across the rooms.
• Friday collection. The nursery closes at 5.30pm on Fridays, earlier than its Monday-to-Thursday finish. Families using afternoon or full-day care need a collection arrangement that accommodates that difference.
• Individual care arrangements. Hedgehogs follows home routines, while individual play plans support additional needs. Discuss how your child's sleep, dietary requirements and support arrangements would work together, including current allergy practice.
• Written costs. Funded attendance can be term-time or stretched. Ask for a quotation that separates private hours, food and non-food consumables for your chosen pattern.

Footprints Day Nursery Wallsend suits families considering morning or afternoon sessions as well as full days and school-day attendance. Its strongest practical features are the separate outdoor areas, the sensory room and the progression from home routines towards preschool independence. Forest Friends in Wallsend park gives Badgers a local connection beyond the building.

The Good judgement from October 2021 provides a dated assessment of quality. Early writing and the developmental fit of preschool activities deserve attention alongside the gardens and care arrangements. For families who value outdoor access, individual routines and several ways to follow their child's day, this is a nursery with concrete features to weigh against their needs.