Seedlings Nursery and Pre-school

An eight-baby room and a separate Sensory Room give Seedlings Nursery and Pre-school a recognisable character: space for babies to move, and somewhere children can explore light, sound and texture. The Scarborough setting occupies a building once used to grow plants for the town's flower beds. Its name keeps that connection alive.

Seedlings has capacity for 48 children, with a current age range from birth to five. At its January 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that staff supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities worked closely with families and other professionals.

That judgement needs to be read alongside a later regulatory warning about delayed notification of a significant event. It also came with practical improvements concerning the exchange of children's learning information and the quality of feedback to staff. These matter alongside the appealing rooms and resources.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room accommodates eight babies from birth to two, with a wall mural, space for crawling, books, pretend play and a quieter area alongside messy activities. For parents choosing care for a very young child, that room cap is a useful measure of scale; it is separate from the nursery's whole-setting capacity.

The Threes Room combines a book area with puppets, a separate room for messy activities, role play and maths resources, giving children different ways to explore stories, materials and problems. Construction resources and small-world play add opportunities to build and imagine. These are concrete choices within the room, rather than a single activity space serving every purpose.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: play and everyday routines support communication, movement and growing independence. Here, the rooms supply practical resources for that work, from books and puzzles to materials children can handle and explore.

In January 2024, activities drew on children's interests and their stage of development, with additional themes extending what they encountered. Toddlers explored a sensory mixture by touch and practised describing it; older children chose painting and gluing resources and worked on cutting paper. The emphasis was on doing things themselves as well as taking part in an adult-led activity.

The Sensory Room adds something more specific. Children can change the colours of a bubble tube that responds to touch and sound, while a colour-changing table supports play with water or sand. A projector, large cushions, an infinity mirror and textured flooring create other ways to investigate or relax. Children across the nursery can use this shared room.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outside, a tarmac area supports pedal bikes, small motorbikes and mark-making, while grass provides space to run and play. The distinction is useful: wheeled play has a firm surface, and movement on grass has its own space. Neither needs to be dressed up as a specialist outdoor programme to have value in a child's day.

The building's former use gives Seedlings a local connection, but its everyday appeal rests on what children can use now: room-based play, the shared sensory space and outdoor movement.

Relationships and Communication

Babies have a keyworker, and Baby Room staff conduct the handover to parents. Daily written sheets cover sleep, food, drinks and nappy care, making the practical details of a baby's day part of the exchange between home and nursery. Tapestry is also used to share children's learning and progress with parents and carers.

Sleep arrangements include cots, sleep mats and bouncy chairs, with choices discussed around children's preferences and parents' wishes. That makes the sleep conversation individual rather than treating every baby as having the same routine.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The current team structure includes SENCO responsibilities at manager and deputy-manager level, with a SEND diploma within that leadership structure. A designated safeguarding lead role is also identified. These roles provide points of contact for discussing a child's additional needs.

In January 2024, some staff used Makaton training to help children express their needs. Babies' routines were followed individually, and stories and songs supported communication alongside activities encouraging them to pull themselves up. Smaller groups also gave children who needed less bustle a quieter setting, although the transfer of learning information between staff needed attention.

Meals are cooked on site by the nursery's cook, with a three-week menu for parents. The nursery caters for special dietary requirements, making the menu and the child's particular needs useful starting points for a dietary discussion.

Sessions and Attendance

Seedlings opens Monday to Friday, from 8am until 6pm, throughout the year. Bank holidays and a week between Christmas and New Year are closures, so families planning year-round childcare need to accommodate those breaks.

The address is Unit 15, Manor Road Industrial Estate, Scarborough, YO12 7BE. Enquiries can be made through the contact form, which also provides a route to request a visit appointment.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery accepts children using 15 and 30 hour funding, subject to the relevant criteria. Entitlement and participation are separate from the practical question of how a family's attendance will be arranged, so funding should be considered alongside the nursery's opening hours.

• Notification warning. In its compliance outcome dated 26 February 2026, Ofsted recorded that a significant event on 24 August 2025 was notified on 7 January 2026, outside the required timescale without reasonable excuse, and issued a warning letter. The outcome stated that the provider remained registered; families should discuss the notification arrangements now in place.
• Teaching continuity. In January 2024, staff covering for a child's key person did not consistently receive enough information about that child's learning goals, and leaders needed to improve feedback through observations of staff practice. At a visit, ask how these two areas have been addressed.
• Baby routines. The eight-place Baby Room offers several sleep arrangements and daily care sheets. Discuss which sleeping arrangement would be used for your baby and how their routine would be carried through the day.
• Funded attendance and charges. Acceptance of 15 and 30 hour funding is subject to criteria. Ask for a written explanation of the attendance pattern, how funded hours are delivered, and the arrangements for meals and non-food consumables.

Seedlings suits families seeking care from babyhood into the preschool years who value a capped baby room, practical daily communication and a shared space for sensory exploration. Its weekday opening window and year-round operation also give families a clear starting point for planning childcare.

The physical offer has substance: crawling space, separate messy activities, interactive sensory equipment and outdoor surfaces for different kinds of play. Balance that against the January 2024 teaching-continuity recommendations and the February 2026 notification warning. Both deserve a direct conversation before choosing the nursery.