Emmy Jayne's Nursery School

Weekly visits to Applegarth Forest school, a shared Sensory Room and gardens serving each area give Emmy Jayne's Nursery School a clear emphasis on exploration. This Northallerton nursery combines outdoor experiences with spaces for quieter sensory play. Children can investigate beyond their usual room as well as return to familiar surroundings.

At its March 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found its safeguarding arrangements effective. The current age range is 3 to 60 months, with capacity for 70 children in total. The setting occupies a two-storey building on Valley Road.

The strongest practical threads are continuity of care and learning through doing: a Special Carer works with each family, room changes happen gradually, and the Curiosity Approach uses authentic resources to encourage investigation. Full-day, morning and afternoon attendance patterns provide different ways to use the nursery.

Rooms and Ages

Harry’s caters for babies aged 0–24 months, combining opportunities to practise movement with cosy sleeping areas and an outdoor space of its own. The baby room works with one adult to three children. For families starting from the nursery’s accepted age of 3 months, the important distinction is that rest and outdoor exploration are both part of the baby provision. Babies also take local walks to the library, shops and nature reserve, extending their experiences beyond the building.

Squirrel’s serves toddlers aged two to three, with messy and creative play, music, a separate nappy-changing area and an easily reached garden. Singing, signing and dance give children different ways to join activities as their communication develops. The usual staffing ratio is one adult to four children, compared with the legal minimum of one to five for two-year-olds. That is an enhancement above the required staffing level.

Wise Owls is for children aged three and over, with an emphasis on independence, separate activity areas and open access to the garden. Children can choose materials themselves, including resources for water and sand play, drawing, writing and imaginative activity. Nature walks also bring collected materials back into nursery, linking an outing with further exploration indoors.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for children’s learning, development and care, covering communication, relationships, movement and the foundations of reading and mathematics alongside creative work and understanding the world. This is the shared early-years foundation. Emmy Jayne’s adds its Curiosity Approach through play spaces arranged with authentic resources and materials intended to invite investigation.

The practical value lies in what children can do with those resources. Staff combine activities they have planned with play that children initiate, and planning takes account of individual interests and routines. This gives a child’s current fascination a place in the day, rather than making every activity follow the same route. More detail about these arrangements is on the curriculum page.

Letters and Sounds introduces preschool children to phonics through speaking, listening and the relationship between letters and sounds. Activities include recognising and forming letters, giving preparation for reading a concrete place within play. For younger children, Baby Signing uses signs to help those who are not yet speaking express needs and feelings. The two additions serve different stages of communication.

The Sensory Room is shared across the nursery, with tactile materials, sound and lighting used for exploration in a calmer space. Resources change with children’s development, so its role extends beyond the youngest babies. It also accommodates soft play and group activities, giving staff another setting for experiences outside the main rooms.

Outdoor and Community Life

Applegarth Forest school is a weekly outdoor learning experience for children aged two and over, with activities planned around their interests. That regularity matters: outdoor learning has a recurring place in the week, alongside the nursery gardens. Seasonal planting includes herbs, bulbs and seeds, letting children take part in caring for growing things.

In March 2022, babies investigated water, rice and sand, while older children talked about a seed they had planted beginning to grow. Children also prepared fruit and followed recipe cards to make play dough. These were practical tasks with something to observe, handle or change, rather than learning confined to an adult’s explanation.

Relationships and Communication

A Special Carer is assigned when a child starts, acting as the family’s main contact and helping to meet the child’s care and emotional needs. The care plan is completed together during settling sessions, establishing a shared understanding of routines from the outset. For babies, that plan is updated and continues into subsequent rooms, helping important information travel with the child.

Settling follows a sequence: a tour with a senior team member, an hour with parent and child to work on the care plan, then a two-hour introductory visit before contracted sessions begin. Further visits can be arranged for children needing more support. The approach gives separation some preparation rather than treating the first booked session as the whole adjustment process.

Room changes are gradual too. Parents, staff and children contribute to the decision, and play visits introduce the new space, practitioners and friendships before the move. Readiness determines the transition. This is useful for families concerned that a birthday alone might trigger a sudden change of room.

Communication combines a spoken handover with application updates covering sleep, food and nappy changes. Development observations are shared through famly, while individual learning plans are shared within nursery and can accompany children when they start school. Parents can also telephone during the day, providing another route for contact while a child is settling.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that staff recognised possible special educational needs and/or disabilities promptly, helped families reach other services and worked with professionals on support plans. That finding concerns the practice at that visit. It gives parents a concrete account of how additional support was organised, rather than a general promise about inclusion.

In March 2022, the improvement priorities concerned the pace of adult questioning and participation in group activities: children needed longer to formulate answers, and quieter children sometimes had fewer opportunities than their more confident peers. Both points matter when considering how an individual child will join in. A child who needs thinking time should have space to respond; one who rarely volunteers should still get a turn.

The nursery supports staff development through regular training and opportunities for further study. Its management team works outside the usual room staffing, and the nursery supports its entire team towards paediatric first-aid qualifications. Those are arrangements for staff support, rather than a current assurance about safeguarding effectiveness.

Meals are cooked fresh on the premises by the kitchen team, using a 26-day menu rotation. The nursery supports weaning and has arrangements for discussing allergies, faith requirements and alternative dishes with families and the kitchen team.

Sessions and Attendance

Full-day attendance runs from 7.30am to 5.30pm; morning sessions run from 7.30am to 12.30pm and afternoon sessions from 12.30pm to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. These booking windows sit within opening hours of 7.30am to 6pm. The distinction matters when matching a booked session to work commitments.

The nursery opens for 51 weeks each year, excluding bank holidays. Funded hours can be taken through either a term-time arrangement or an offer spread across the year. General enquiries use enquiries@emmyjaynes.co.uk or 01609 771177.

Getting There

The address is Valley Road, Northallerton, DL6 1HY. Road links to the A1 are relevant for families travelling from surrounding villages as well as those based in Northallerton.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered from nine months through the older early-years age groups, subject to the applicable eligibility criteria. The funding arrangements include 15 or 30 hours a week over 38 weeks, or stretched allocations of 11.17 or 22.35 hours a week across 51 weeks. The term-time and stretched versions therefore give different weekly attendance allowances.

Additional sessions can be purchased privately. Meals and snacks are charged separately under the funded-place arrangements, so funded hours and food costs need to be considered separately when comparing attendance options. Additional voluntary services are dealt with on an ad hoc basis. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation; the fees page provides the funding information.

• Thinking time and quieter children. The March 2022 improvement priorities addressed rapid questioning and uneven participation. On a visit, ask how practitioners now make room for children who need longer to answer or are less likely to volunteer.
• The weekly outdoor experience. Children aged two and over attend Applegarth Forest school weekly. Discuss the practical arrangements and clothing needed for your child to take part.
• Your complete childcare bill. Funded attendance has term-time and stretched options, while meals and snacks carry separate charges. Ask for a written quotation covering your chosen sessions, food and the arrangements for nappies, wipes and sun cream.
• Dietary needs. The kitchen team supports weaning and discusses alternative meals with families. If your child has an allergy, confirm current preparation and serving practice before agreeing their care plan.

Emmy Jayne’s suits families who want outdoor exploration to recur through the week, alongside gradual settling and a clear main contact for their child’s care. Full-day attendance and separate morning or afternoon sessions serve different working and family routines. The shared Sensory Room, baby outdoor space and Applegarth Forest school add substance to the learning offer.

The March 2022 Good judgement provides a dated assessment of quality. Its questioning and participation priorities remain useful points for a visit, especially for families with quieter children. The decision rests on how those everyday interactions work for your child, as well as on the appeal of the spaces and activities.