Kiddiwinks Day Nursery

Six babies, space to crawl and a garden with a pirate ship: Kiddiwinks combines a small baby group with plenty of scope for physical and imaginative play. This Scarborough nursery cares for children from birth to five and has capacity for 36 children in total. Its accommodation is on one level, with a large outdoor area extending the play space.

At its May 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated Kiddiwinks Good, found safeguarding effective and highlighted the strength of support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Those findings give families a useful quality benchmark, although outdoor staff deployment and help with learning at home were areas requiring attention.

The baby provision is a clear practical attraction: a maximum of six, a key worker involved in handovers and written updates covering everyday care. For older children, connected play spaces allow movement between quieter activities and messier exploration. Flexible hours sit alongside weekday opening throughout the year.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room takes children aged birth to two, with a maximum of six babies; its emphasis combines sensory exploration, creative play and movement, supported by a black-and-white area and open floor space for rolling and crawling. Cushions and beanbags provide a quieter place to rest. Babies also have outdoor access with their key worker, so their provision extends beyond the indoor room.

Children aged two to four can move between the Ladybird Room and the Messy Room, with books, role play and sensory exploration forming part of the connected preschool provision. Books change to match children's interests or help with situations they are experiencing. That makes reading relevant to their lives as well as part of the nursery day.

The older children's activities include early maths and listening for sounds around them. School preparation therefore includes practical foundations for later learning, rather than relying solely on formal activities. The freedom to move between the two rooms gives children different ways to engage, whether through a story, pretend play or hands-on investigation.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for learning, development and care: children learn through play, exploration and creativity, supported by relationships with adults. Kiddiwinks builds its account of the day around children's individual interests and the role of adults and surroundings in helping them learn. The framework is the foundation, rather than a separate enrichment programme.

In May 2024, children investigated imitation frogspawn alongside a story about how tadpoles develop. Songs, rhymes and conversations supported language, and staff introduced vocabulary connected with children's play. These examples show how an activity can bring together handling materials, listening and learning new words. Staff had also undertaken Makaton training to support communication.

Outdoor and Community Life

A pirate ship, slide and mud kitchen give the outdoor area several different purposes: climbing, imaginative play and experimenting with materials. Lawn and hard surfaces sit alongside a small garden and a Wendy House for pretend play. Children can use the outdoor space when they choose, subject to the weather. Mark making and messy play continue outside, rather than being confined to indoor tables.

The animal enclosure contains two guinea pigs and two rabbits, which children can visit with a member of staff. In May 2024, outdoor experiences also included searching for insects, balancing on tyres and experimenting with water and mud. These are concrete opportunities for movement and investigation; the important qualification is that staff support outdoors was not consistently organised well enough at that inspection.

Relationships and Communication

Each practitioner has responsibility for key children. In the baby provision, the key worker takes part in handovers, helping care information and relationships remain connected. A daily written update covers meals, bottles, sleep and nappy changes. For parents of a baby, those details make the account of the day useful at home, where feeding and rest still need to fit together.

In May 2024, staff collected information from parents before children began attending. Communication included photographs online, stay-and-play opportunities and parents' evenings each term. These offered different ways to follow nursery life, from a quick visual update to a longer discussion. The next step identified then was to make support for each child's learning at home more firmly established.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO role provides a point of coordination for additional needs, linking practitioners, parents and outside professionals. The SEND arrangements use an assess, plan, do and review cycle: needs are considered with the family, support is agreed, the key person puts it into practice and its effect is reviewed. Parents are involved in planning and evaluating support, rather than simply receiving a finished plan.

Settling is shaped around individual needs. The behaviour policy also distinguishes a child's actions from the child themselves, with comfort for a child who has been upset and responses adapted to age and understanding. That gives families a concrete account of how difficult moments are handled. The staff team holds paediatric first aid certificates, an arrangement that supports day-to-day care but does not replace the dated safeguarding judgement.

Sessions and Attendance

Kiddiwinks is at Lady Ediths Park, Scarborough, YO12 5PB, just off Scalby Road. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, throughout the year, with closures for bank holidays and Christmas. Flexible hours are offered, giving families an attendance option alongside the nursery's opening window.

The contact form accepts enquiries about baby care and preschool provision, and can be used to arrange an appointment to visit. For families comparing routines, the distinction between the opening day and the hours they book matters: flexible attendance is an explicit part of the offer. It should be considered alongside the child's care routine, rather than treating the opening window as the only possible pattern.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes 30 hours for children aged nine months to four years, subject to eligibility criteria. The nursery also identifies the 15-hour early education entitlement for three- and four-year-olds over 38 weeks. Private childcare is offered too. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, allowing families to consider paid care alongside any entitlement for which they qualify.

Meals are cooked on the premises from fresh ingredients, with a menu rotating over three weeks; the nursery says it accommodates dietary requirements. Lunch and tea carry separate charges, so these need to be considered alongside childcare costs.

• Outdoor support. Ofsted's May 2024 inspection called for better staff deployment outside so that children received more consistent help to develop their play. With climbing equipment, animals and messy play all part of the outdoor offer, ask how practitioners now organise support across those activities.
• Learning beyond nursery. In May 2024, arrangements for helping parents support individual learning at home needed further development. Ask what practical ideas now accompany progress discussions, and how those ideas relate to your child's next steps.
• The youngest children's routine. The Baby Room has a maximum of six and daily care updates covering feeding, changing and sleep. At a visit, discuss how your baby's rest and feeding routines would fit the room's arrangements.
• Your attendance and charge package. Flexible hours and funded childcare are offered, while lunch and tea are charged separately. Ask how your intended hours would combine funded and private care, and what arrangements apply to nappies and other consumables.

Kiddiwinks will suit families who value a small baby group, practical care updates and substantial outdoor play within a nursery of 36 places. Flexible attendance is its clearest booking attraction. The Baby Room's cap and the older children's connected spaces give parents tangible differences to weigh as their child grows.

The May 2024 Good judgement supports that appeal, with SEND support a strength. The two improvement points deserve specific attention: the quality of adult involvement outside, and the connection between nursery learning and home. Families who place those alongside the rooms, routines and charge package will have a clear basis for deciding whether Kiddiwinks fits their child.