The Treehouse Of Water Orton

Vegetables grown and turned into soup, a performance stage with a disco ball, and play shaped by trips to the farm and zoo: the July 2022 picture of The Treehouse Of Water Orton was full of practical learning. Its base within Water Orton Primary School gives it another clear identity, combining early-years rooms with care for children who attend the school.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good on 18 July 2022, finding effective safeguarding and good progress, including for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Staff needed to extend children's thinking further.

The setting has 120 places in total, covering its different services rather than the size of a nursery group. Early Learners has its own room, while Pre School occupies two classrooms. Morning, afternoon and full-day sessions sit alongside breakfast and after-school care, with a separate Easter and summer holiday offer.

Rooms and Ages

Early Learners serves children aged two to three, with a room cap of 24 per session. This is a maximum, not a daily group size.

Pre School has 48 places per session across two classrooms. Before and after nursery sessions, children use the learning street for activities and snacks, giving wraparound care its own setting.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care. In everyday terms, learning includes play, communication, physical activity and growing independence. The nursery's approach builds teaching around children's lives and social circumstances, with an emphasis on creativity, making choices and learning to interact with others.

In July 2022, children chose resources, and staff built activities around their interests, including farm and zoo visits. Outings supplied ideas for further exploration.

That July, children grew vegetables and prepared soup; younger children counted peas from pods with a number line. Gardening connected cooking and mathematics with tangible materials.

In July 2022, a stage and disco ball gave singing and dancing a physical home. Children shared their performances with families in an end-of-term talent show.

Outdoor and Community Life

During July 2022, outdoor play included large-scale sand activities using equipment for digging, shifting and mixing. Wheeled vehicles and a ramp supported repair-and-washing role play. These were opportunities to move, handle objects and invent a purpose for the activity, with both larger movements and more precise hand skills involved.

Family contributions also shaped learning that month. Parents shared clothing, food and stories connected with their home countries; a visit from a parent who was a midwife prompted interest in caring for babies through role play. Children could connect community themes with contributions from people they knew.

The seasonal events calendar includes World book day and an Easter fun day in spring, followed by Sports day, Summer Fayre and Teddy Bears picnic in summer. Parents Evening appears in both terms, alongside summer transition and visit days. These occasions give families several ways to take part, from discussing development to sharing celebrations.

Relationships and Communication

In July 2022, key persons used their knowledge of children to plan learning. Parents felt involved, and children separated confidently from carers: relationships helped shape the day.

That month's account also included an emotions board, which children used to express how they felt. Staff helped them recognise emotions and manage interactions with others. Stories, songs and signing supported communication, although the improvement action called for more skilful questioning and discussion to extend understanding.

Parents Evening runs in spring and summer, with transition and visit days in summer. In July 2022, families valued the support for starting school.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO and supporting colleagues work with health visitors, IDS and health and education professionals, giving families named roles and external connections for discussing support.

At the July 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that individual SEND support helped children access learning and make good progress, while safeguarding practice included knowledgeable staff and effective recording and reporting. Those are dated judgements about practice. Current family-support arrangements include Early Help and directing parents towards services that can assist them.

Illness has clear attendance consequences. Children who are unwell stay at home, and a fever must have been absent for a whole day before they return; an infectious illness requires a doctor's note confirming that the child is no longer contagious. Families need to allow for those rules when arranging care around work.

Sessions and Attendance

Early Learners and Pre School offer weekday mornings from 9am to noon, afternoons from noon to 3pm, and full days from 9am to 3pm. Lunch club is for full-day children.

Breakfast club runs from 7.30am to 9am, while nursery after-school bookings run from 3pm to either 5pm or 6pm. The opening window is 7.30am to 6pm on Monday to Thursday and 7.30am to 5pm on Friday, so the Friday closing time deserves attention when arranging later care.

Holiday Club operates during Easter and summer. Its bookings include 9am to noon, 1pm to 4pm, a 9am-to-4pm day and an extended 8am-to-5pm day, with breakfast and late-afternoon care also offered separately. Children aged two can attend only if they already attend Tree House and are settled there; the booking priority goes first to Tree House children, then children from Water Orton Primary School.

Registration is by telephone or contact form, and spring-term open days and evenings form part of the joining arrangements. Two weeks' notice is required to cancel nursery sessions. For privately paid preschool sessions, fees remain payable during absence and holidays unless the sessions are covered by nursery funding.

Getting There

The address is Water Orton Primary School, Plank Lane, Birmingham, B46 1SG. Before-and-after-school care includes taking school children into school and collecting them afterwards, a practical connection for families using both settings.

Sharing the school site does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still need to apply through the local authority admissions process; nursery attendance and the school application are separate decisions.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is delivered over 38 weeks. The arrangements include 15-hour funding for eligible two-year-olds and 15 or 30 hours for three- and four-year-olds; eligibility must be checked for the relevant entitlement. Private sessions can be added to funded hours, so the booking can combine entitlement with paid attendance.

Unused funded hours can cover the additional 8.30am-to-9am and 3pm-to-3.30pm drop-off and collection periods. Breakfast and after-school clubs cannot be paid for with funded hours, and families using their full 30 hours from Monday to Friday, 9am to 3pm, pay separately for those additional periods. This distinction affects the overall cost of a longer day.

Milk and fruit are included in paid nursery-session prices, while breakfast and snacks are included in the corresponding paid clubs. Lunch is either a packed meal from home or a separately charged school hot dinner, including when the main attendance is funded.

Optional preschool after-school activity clubs incur a charge when booked, and the annual school trip is charged separately. Families unable to meet trip costs are invited to discuss support with the nursery. Current prices should come in a written quotation, with the funding and charge structure distinguishing the different bookings.

• The preschool age boundary. The home information describes Pre School as serving three- to four-year-olds, while its room information gives three to five. Establish which room and attendance arrangement applies to your child's intended start date.
• Friday collection. Friday closing is 5pm, although an after-school booking ending at 6pm also appears in the session arrangements. Agree the days attached to any later booking before arranging work commitments.
• Depth of discussion. The July 2022 improvement action concerned extending children's thinking. During a visit, ask how practitioners now build on children's answers and interests, including in gardening, stories and imaginative play.
• The full cost of the pattern. Breakfast and after-school clubs sit outside funded hours, and hot dinners, optional clubs and trips have separate charges. Request a written quotation for your intended pattern.

The Treehouse Of Water Orton suits families choosing morning or afternoon nursery sessions as well as those combining a 9am-to-3pm day with care before or afterwards. Its school setting and Easter and summer Holiday Club also give it practical relevance for households with children at different stages.

The July 2022 account gives the nursery character: vegetables became soup, a stage supported performance, and family visits prompted new play. The balance is a dated Good judgement with a clear teaching improvement point, alongside current room, session and funding arrangements that allow parents to assess the fit in concrete terms.