Green Hedges Day Nursery

A climbing tree, an insulated literacy lodge and trips to the Stephen Joseph Theatre give Green Hedges a recognisable South Cliff character. The Victorian semi-detached building accommodates children from birth to five, with capacity for 69 children in total. Its outdoor spaces are divided by age, so the youngest children have an enclosed area while preschool children use a lower garden with digging space and log cabins.

At its 30 January 2026 inspection, Ofsted judged inclusion and behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines at the Expected standard, while achievement, curriculum and teaching, children's welfare and wellbeing, and leadership and governance were graded Needs attention; safeguarding standards were met. That is a mixed picture. The physical spaces and named activities give families plenty to consider, but the January findings make the substance of learning and everyday care as important as the facilities.

Attendance can be arranged across the year or during term time; full-day, morning and afternoon booking windows apply to Sweetpeas, Poppies and Sunflowers.

Rooms and Ages

Sweetpeas serves babies aged three to 12 months in a purpose-built room, where treasure baskets introduce objects to handle and investigate through the senses. Staff aim to follow each baby's own feeding and sleeping routines. For families starting childcare early, that approach puts familiar care patterns alongside new experiences rather than treating the nursery timetable as the only starting point.

Poppies, for children aged 12 to 24 months, combines sensory play with two connected rooms: one contains a den, a cosy corner and climbing equipment, while the other includes a kitchen, dining space and craft activities. Singing, movement and signing feature in group activities. The layout gives active exploration and mealtimes their own spaces, rather than making one room serve every purpose at once.

Sunflowers, for children aged 24 to 36 months, uses a base room, craft space, outdoor mud kitchen and the Literacy Lodge, with imaginative and physical play among its emphases. Bluebells begins at 36 months and runs to rising fives, pairing adult-led learning with a garden containing climbing rocks, a tree, a digging area and a log cabin. Those are different stages of provision, with spaces and experiences attached to each.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the framework for children's learning and care: here, its everyday expression includes play with materials, conversation, movement and opportunities to practise independence. Sand, painting, construction and baking are daily options. Dough and clay add tactile exploration, giving children different ways to manipulate materials and express ideas.

Ladybird Lodge is an insulated cabin used for small-group learning, with Letters and Sounds activities intended to develop listening and understanding. It also accommodates books and table activities between group sessions. This gives a specific purpose to the outdoor building: it is a place for concentrated work as well as play.

Within Bluebells, music groups run during term time and French groups take place in the summer terms. The Curiosity Approach is used to develop children's creativity and thinking alongside the EYFS. These additions describe the intended offer; the January curriculum concerns remain an essential part of judging how effectively activities connect to each child's next learning steps.

The Green Room provides another quieter space on the upper floor, used for listening games, movement and small-group activities. It also hosts termly parent workshops associated with the move into preschool. That combination makes it useful both for concentrated children's activities and for explaining the next stage to parents.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor provision has substance beyond a patch of grass. The front play space has rubber matting and room for bicycles and group games; Sweetpeas and Poppies share an enclosed side area, while Bluebells uses a tiered garden with a mini beast garden and digging areas. Different surfaces and equipment make room for movement, exploration and pretend play.

At the Stephen Joseph Theatre, preschool children attend a summer drama workshop using props and a Christmas show. Tesco's Fork to Farm programme brings a community officer into nursery to explain where food originates. These are concrete links between nursery activities and the wider world, rather than a general promise of outings.

Walks to Shuttleworth Gardens add another local destination. At Christmas, children decorate a tree for the Christmas Tree Festival at St. Martins C. E. Church, which also hosts the nursery's Christmas Performance. The theatre visits and church activities give families identifiable seasonal experiences to picture.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who handles day-to-day care and serves as the family's main contact. Settling is adjusted to individual needs, and the Sweetpeas approach explicitly takes account of feeding and sleeping routines. That gives parents a named role to work with, rather than leaving communication to whichever practitioner happens to be present.

At the January 2026 inspection, Ofsted found that targeted support included individual sessions, visual aids and signing, but also identified a curriculum that did not consistently build learning in sequence or sustain children's progress, uneven handwashing routines, inconsistent developmental information for parents and other settings, and leadership checks that had missed curriculum weaknesses. These concerns cut across learning and care. They deserve specific answers about changed practice, rather than reassurance based solely on children's enjoyment of activities.

The required actions concerned curriculum planning and hygiene, with deadlines of 20 March 2026, and collaboration with parents and other settings, with a deadline of 1 March 2026. These were past deadlines for the January actions, not future milestones.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The SEND arrangements include a trained SENCO, discussion of observations with the key person and room leader, and individual planning with parents. With parental permission, advice can be sought from the Area SENCO and Early Years Advisory Teacher. Reports from health professionals can also inform planning, linking nursery support to advice received elsewhere.

The team includes practitioners with qualifications extending to graduate level, alongside staff trained in Makaton sign language. In Poppies, Makaton sits within singing and signing activities, adding another way for toddlers to communicate. These are identifiable staff skills and support mechanisms; families can consider them alongside the January findings about information sharing.

A nursery cook prepares the meals, with seasonal summer and winter menus and provision for vegetarian and dairy-free diets. Allergen information can be requested, allowing dietary discussions to relate to the food actually being served.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 13 Crown Crescent, South Cliff, Scarborough, YO11 2BJ. Green Hedges opens Monday to Friday from 7.45am to 6pm, operating for 51 weeks, with bank holidays and a week at Christmas excluded. The opening window and the full-day booking for Sweetpeas, Poppies and Sunflowers are different: that full day ends before closing time.

For Sweetpeas, Poppies and Sunflowers, full-day sessions run from 7.45am to 5.45pm, morning bookings from 7.45am to 12.45pm, and afternoon bookings from 1pm to 6pm. Charged attendance can be booked across the year or for the nursery's 38-week term-time calendar, making both the session length and the annual pattern relevant to a family's working arrangements.

These rooms' booking terms require a regular weekly commitment. Sessions cannot occasionally be swapped, and holidays and sickness are charged within the relevant booking pattern; term-time contracts do not charge for non-term-time weeks. Permanent changes to regular bookings need four weeks' written notice, so families whose working days change frequently should weigh that rule carefully.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01723 503306. For these rooms, a deposit is required when booking and is credited against the final leaving invoice. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, with the attendance pattern and associated services considered together.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded early education is offered for eligible children from over nine months to four years. The entitlements include 15 term-time hours for three- and four-year-olds and qualifying two-year-olds, plus 30 hours for eligible working families with children aged nine months and over. Funding eligibility remains a condition, rather than a promise of a particular booking.

For Sweetpeas, Poppies and Sunflowers, the funded entitlement for two-, three- and four-year-olds runs during term time only. Under those terms, purchased sessions can be combined with funded hours, allowing families to distinguish the entitlement from additional paid attendance. The fees and booking terms set out the session structure and additional services.

Under the Sweetpeas, Poppies and Sunflowers booking terms, meals and snacks are included in purchased-session fees; for funded sessions, the relevant meals and snacks are charged separately. Parents supply formula milk and nappies, and may bring preferred specialist creams instead of the nursery's products; packed meals cannot be accommodated. Visits and special events can also carry charges communicated as they arise.

Links with local schools support transition work. This is preparation for moving on, rather than a stated admissions advantage.

• Learning after the January findings. Curriculum sequencing, children's progress and leadership oversight required attention in January 2026. On a visit, ask staff to show how an activity builds on what your child already knows and how that information reaches parents.
• Handwashing and shared care. The January actions covered hygiene and collaboration with other settings. Families using more than one childcare setting should ask how developmental information is exchanged and how handwashing is taught during everyday routines.
• Fixed weekly attendance. For Sweetpeas, Poppies and Sunflowers, regular sessions cannot be casually swapped, and permanent changes require four weeks' written notice. Compare that commitment with the stability of your working days before choosing term-time or year-round attendance.
• Dietary arrangements and funded extras. The Sweetpeas, Poppies and Sunflowers terms charge separately for funded-session food and exclude packed meals. Families managing allergies should confirm current kitchen practice and include the relevant food charges in their booking discussion.

Green Hedges suits families considering morning or afternoon sessions as well as full-day attendance in Sweetpeas, Poppies and Sunflowers, with either term-time or year-round charged bookings. Its age-related outdoor spaces, Ladybird Lodge and recurring theatre experiences give it a clear identity. The key-person and SEND arrangements also provide concrete mechanisms for care and support.

The decision needs to turn on practice as well as provision. January 2026 brought concerns about learning progression, hygiene and communication, despite safeguarding standards being met. How those everyday processes now work matters as much as the appeal of the rooms and activities.