The Links Day Care Centre

Acorn Room gives younger children a smaller base, while the interconnected Evergreen & Oak Rooms let preschool children explore more freely. That arrangement captures the character of The Links Day Care Centre: children can begin in a more contained space and move between learning areas as their confidence develops. An enclosed Outside Classroom extends that choice outdoors.

At its November 2025 inspection, Ofsted judged inclusion and leadership and governance to be at the Strong standard, the other four education and care areas to be at the Expected standard, and safeguarding standards to be met. The distinction matters: support for individual children was a strength, while teaching about emotions and the reasons behind self-care remained an improvement priority.

Links takes children from two until school age and has 52 places in total. It shares the Nathaniel Newton Infant School site in Hartshill, Nuneaton, but nursery attendance does not guarantee admission to the school. Morning, afternoon and school-day sessions sit alongside breakfast and afternoon wraparound care.

Rooms and Ages

Acorn Room is the smallest room, primarily used by younger children and by newcomers who need a more secure base before exploring elsewhere. Evergreen & Oak Rooms are the larger preschool spaces, with learning areas shaped mainly around children's interests. The rooms connect, allowing children to choose more of the nursery as they become ready.

Purpose-designed modular premises contain the indoor rooms and a covered outdoor area. The layout gives indoor exploration and outdoor play their own spaces, while the connections between rooms allow movement during sessions.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides the nursery day: children learn through play, exploration and activities that support their development across its areas of learning. Staff plan experiences, observe what children do and adjust the learning spaces in response. This is the framework for the provision; the named learning resources add more specific ways to practise skills.

Beat Baby uses rhythm to develop listening, spoken language and memory. Write Dance works on larger movements and coordination, while Letters and Sounds supports language, communication and listening.

In November 2025, staff assessed communication and language separately alongside broader developmental assessments. Visual prompts helped children communicate, vehicle-track activities drew on their interests, and dinosaur play introduced comparisons of size. These examples connect assessment with everyday activity: a child's interest becomes the starting point for language or mathematical learning.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outside Classroom is enclosed and available under adult supervision, with weather-appropriate clothing required. Children help direct the activities there.

In November 2025, children could choose how long to spend outdoors. Puddle play and exploration of rain changing sand brought weather into their learning, while pretend dinosaur movements linked physical activity with imaginative play. Outdoors was part of the nursery day, rather than simply a scheduled break from it.

Relationships and Communication

In November 2025, familiar adults helped children feel secure, songs signalled changes in the daily routine, and staff organised lunchtime departures and arrivals to avoid interrupting other children's experiences. Those are practical details of care: predictable cues and thoughtful handovers help a day remain understandable when children attend different session patterns.

At the November 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, made progress, with communication and language a particular strength, and that staff worked closely with families and other professionals to identify and address support needs. One-to-one key-person time included vocabulary and turn-taking work; sensory toys supported children who needed help to become calmer.

The nursery's current safeguarding arrangements include designated safeguarding lead roles, child-protection training for staff and written accident procedures. Parents are notified of accidents, asked to acknowledge the form and can receive a copy.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SEND coordinator oversees individual learning plans, with a cycle of planning, implementation, monitoring and review. The role includes advising practitioners and families, communicating children's targets to the team and liaising with other professionals. Transfer arrangements to other settings and schools form part of that work, so support can include the next stage as well as the nursery day.

Time to Talk training supports the speech-and-language champion role. Its emphasis is early language, complementing the nursery's named communication resources and individual planning.

The November 2025 improvement priority concerned emotional regulation and self-care. Children practised tasks such as washing hands and clearing plates, but explanations of why these habits mattered were inconsistent. Books and resources helped children name feelings; the next step was to make teaching about managing those feelings more consistent. Families should weigh that specific teaching issue alongside the stronger inclusion judgement.

Sessions and Attendance

Daycare opens Monday to Friday, from 7.45am to 5.45pm. The booking choices are a morning session from 9am to noon, an afternoon session from noon to 3pm, or a School Day from 9am to 3pm. Breakfast Club runs from 7.45am to 9am, with breakfast included.

After 3pm, nursery wraparound can finish at 4.15pm, 5.15pm or the 5.45pm closing time; the first session includes a snack and drink. Holiday playscheme choices include 7.45am to 4.45pm, 9am to 3pm and 9am to noon. Holiday care must be booked in advance, and the playscheme operates during school holidays apart from Christmas.

To join, families request a registration form by email. Receipt is acknowledged by telephone or email, and submitting the form does not confirm a place. The nursery's admissions procedure includes a decision after the Easter break and an invitation to an Open Day.

Getting There

The address is the Nathaniel Newton Infant School site, Victoria Road, Hartshill, Nuneaton, CV10 0LS. There is no parking on site, which needs to be factored into collection arrangements.

Sharing the school site does not confer a Reception place. School places are allocated by the School Admissions Team at Warwickshire County Council, independently of which nursery a child attends.

Funding and Paid Extras

Links accepts fee-paying and funded children. Funding includes 2 Help 15 hours and Expanded Working Parent 30 hours funding for two-year-olds, plus Universal Funded 15 hours and Extended Working Parent Entitlement 15 hours combined for three- and four-year-olds. Eligibility must be confirmed before funded sessions are allocated.

Funded attendance is term-time, Monday to Friday, using 9am to noon, noon to 3pm or 9am to 3pm sessions. This makes the funding pattern relevant to parents comparing a shorter session with the school-day option; breakfast and afternoon wraparound are separately priced services.

Breakfast is included with Breakfast Club, and a snack and drink with the first afternoon wraparound session; nursery snacks, including during funded attendance, have a separate voluntary termly contribution. Attendance and additional-service charges are itemised for families, and current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the admissions and fees page explains the structure.

• Emotions and self-care. The November 2025 improvement priority was more consistent teaching about managing feelings and understanding self-care. At a visit, ask how practitioners now explain these habits and support children through difficult emotions.
• School-site expectations. Links shares the Nathaniel Newton Infant School site, but attendance does not guarantee a school place. Nursery booking and the local authority's school admissions process are separate decisions.
• Funded hours and additions. Funded sessions fall between 9am and 3pm in term time, while breakfast and afternoon wraparound are separately priced and the nursery snack contribution is voluntary. Compare the written attendance quotation with the funded pattern you intend to use.
• The smaller starting space. Acorn Room supports younger children and newcomers needing extra security. Ask what the settling plan would look like for your child, including how they would begin exploring the connected rooms.

Links suits families seeking morning or afternoon nursery sessions as well as a school-day pattern with breakfast or afternoon wraparound. The interconnected rooms, smaller Acorn base and supervised Outside Classroom give its offer a clear physical shape. Beat Baby, Write Dance and Letters and Sounds add specific language and movement work.

In November 2025, inclusion and leadership reached the Strong standard, while the remaining education and care areas met the Expected standard. Individual support is the strongest reason to consider Links. More consistent teaching about emotions and self-care is the question to carry into a visit, and sharing the school site should carry no assumption about Reception admission.