Brooklands Private Day Nursery

A mud kitchen, grass for growing fruit and vegetables, and a playground with rubber surfacing give Brooklands Private Day Nursery a clear outdoor character. This Greenacres setting in Oldham has capacity for 40 children, accepting ages from 10 months to 5 years. Its outdoor spaces offer different kinds of play, from wheeled toys to climbing and digging.

At its February 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated Brooklands Good, found safeguarding effective and judged support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities positively. There were also two clear priorities: putting learning activities in a more consistent sequence and giving children consistent messages about behaviour. Those details matter more than the grade alone.

Nursery attendance is term-time, with full-day, morning and afternoon bookings; a separate Holiday Club provides activities during school holidays.

Rooms and Ages

Three age groups organise the nursery day: Toddlers for children aged 10 months to 2 years, Tweenies for ages 2 to 3, and Nursery class for ages 3 to 5. These are age-group arrangements rather than a promise that every child follows the same timetable. They give families a clear outline of how provision is divided as children grow.

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care. In everyday language, it means that play and everyday experiences support learning as well as care. At Brooklands, the February 2025 curriculum placed considerable emphasis on songs, stories and communication.

Learning and Activities

In February 2025, books were positioned across the rooms, and older children supplied missing parts of familiar stories. Listening games required children to respond to instructions, while bubble play gave them opportunities to take turns. These examples show language being used during shared activity, rather than confined to a single storytelling slot.

The learning sequence needed attention. In February 2025, colour-mixing activities sometimes came before children could confidently recognise primary colours. That is a useful distinction for parents: an engaging activity still needs to match what a child already understands. Everyday independence was also encouraged, including children peeling fruit for themselves.

Outdoor and Community Life

The playground's rubber surface supports wheeled play and group games. Elsewhere, children can grow produce on the top grass, while the front grass includes climbing equipment, play houses and a sand pit. Tyres, planks and milk crates provide further resources for imaginative play.

The mud kitchen occupies its own enclosed space on the front grass. A canopy shelters the decking, which has direct access from the nursery. Together, these spaces give outdoor play several different settings rather than relying on one play area. In February 2025, children practised balancing and climbing outside, with dancing and movement activities adding further opportunities to be active.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key worker who observes their learning and helps with the move from home to nursery. Parents can remain during settling until both they and their child feel comfortable. That gives settling a shared starting point, with the adult who knows the child involved rather than immediately stepping away.

Daily handover conversations sit alongside an app for sharing photographs, videos and written observations from home and nursery. Parents may also telephone during the day, and an open-door policy allows them to spend time with their child. Communication therefore has several practical routes, including brief exchanges about immediate care and a continuing picture of learning.

In February 2025, staff displayed family photographs around the setting, and children formed close relationships with the adults caring for them. Parents were also invited to events such as a Valentine Disco. The event illustrates parent involvement at that time; the more durable arrangement is regular communication between families and key workers.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The manager holds the SENDCO role and works alongside key workers and outside professionals to support individual needs. In February 2025, staff adjusted teaching and assessment and developed targeted learning plans with professional input. This gives parents a concrete support mechanism to discuss, rather than a broad promise about inclusion.

All staff are paediatric first-aid trained. In February 2025, staff had also undertaken safer-sleep training and understood the need to check sleeping children both physically and visually. Toilet training is supported once families have begun it at home, making communication about a child's current routine especially useful.

Sessions and Attendance

Brooklands is on Greenacres Road, Greenacres, Oldham, OL4 3EY. Nursery opening hours are 9am to 3pm, Monday to Friday, during term time. Bookings follow three patterns: Full day session runs from 9am to 3pm, Morning session from 9am to noon, and Afternoon session from noon to 3pm. The shorter options matter for families seeking a part-day routine as well as those wanting the whole nursery day.

Holiday Club operates in response to demand, with a 9am to 3pm day for children aged 1 to 8. Activities include large garden games, baking, crafts and outings to local attractions, parks or nature walks, with prior written parental consent for outings. A cinema room and open grass for ball games are also part of the club's offer. Club bookings are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

The setting closes for bank holidays and for two weeks at Christmas. Enquiries can be made by telephone, email or the contact form. Reducing sessions or leaving requires four weeks' written notice, so a changing work pattern needs some advance planning.

Funding and Paid Extras

Brooklands offers Nursery Education Grant funded childcare for children aged 2 to 4, alongside paid childcare. Nursery provision follows a term-time pattern. Private session fees include supplements, while funded sessions carry a supplement charge; families can request the supplement list and obtain current prices in a written quotation. Registration is free.

Parents supply meals, snacks and drinks to meet the setting's healthy-eating policy, including a suitable drinking bottle; fresh drinking water is freely accessible. Parents also provide nappies for children who need them and keep spare clothes at nursery, so food and those everyday supplies remain part of the family's preparation for both funded and paid attendance.

• Consistency in learning and behaviour. In February 2025, learning activities sometimes moved ahead of children's prior understanding, and staff gave differing messages about indoor running. During a visit, ask how learning sequences and shared behaviour expectations now work across the age groups.
• Term-time nursery and a separate holiday offer. The nursery day has full-day, morning and afternoon options, while Holiday Club operates in response to demand and allocates bookings first come, first served. Families needing holiday care should plan around that separate booking arrangement and the Christmas closure.
• Settling and individual support. Parents can stay during settling, and the SENDCO works with key workers and professionals. Use a visit to discuss your child's routines and how information will pass between home, the key worker and any professionals involved.
• Funded sessions and family supplies. Funded attendance carries supplement charges, while parents provide food and nappies where needed. Consider the supplement list alongside the practical task of preparing lunches, drinks and supplies.

Brooklands suits families looking for term-time nursery care with either a full-day routine or shorter morning and afternoon sessions. Its multiple outdoor areas, parent-supported settling and key-worker communication give the offer substance. Holiday Club adds a separate option for school breaks.

The February 2025 judgement was Good, but consistent behaviour messages and the order of learning activities were genuine improvement points. For families choosing this nursery, those are the most useful issues to explore alongside its outdoor provision and attendance patterns.