Oxford Gems Nursery

Patient turn-taking and determined dough play give Oxford Gems Nursery’s inspection-era picture its character. At its September 2021 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall, with Outstanding behaviour and attitudes, and found that children made good progress, including those receiving additional funding.

At 2 Clarendon Street, Preston, PR1 3YN, the nursery has capacity for 40 children aged 24 to 60 months. Its opening hours are 9am to 3pm, Monday to Friday, during term time, with school holidays closed.

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children’s learning, development and care: everyday play supports learning alongside practical skills and relationships. In September 2021, dough activities encouraged children to persist with a task, while spreading butter on toast gave them a chance to practise doing things for themselves. Small tasks carried real learning.

A building project outside the nursery supplied another starting point that September. Children watched work on a mosque, met builders and explored construction through a project indoors. New vocabulary connected their play with the work happening nearby, giving language a concrete purpose.

There was also a clear teaching limitation in September 2021: staff sometimes posed too many questions, leaving children too little time to consider their answers. Strengthening questioning techniques was the improvement required, so children could develop their responses with enough time to think.

At the September 2021 inspection, Ofsted judged safeguarding effective and found that children formed secure attachments to staff. Staff understood how to raise welfare concerns and concerns about colleagues, supported by training, recruitment checks and discussion of safeguarding scenarios.

In September 2021, settling drew on information about each child’s background, personality and existing abilities. Pictures helped children learning English understand the routine, and staff used words from their home languages. Those were practical ways to make the day easier to understand.

Communication that September included an application for sharing photographs, alongside information and advice to support learning at home. Staff development used supervision, observation and team meetings. Children’s cooperation was equally tangible: they listened to one another, waited for turns and reminded friends about considerate behaviour.

The address is 2 Clarendon Street, Preston, PR1 3YN. Term-time opening makes the school-holiday closure a central planning consideration for working families.

In September 2021, session windows ran from 9am to noon, noon to 3pm and 9am to 3pm, during term time. Funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-olds was also provided at that date. These attendance and funding details describe the arrangement at that inspection.

• Term-time calendar. The nursery closes for school holidays. Families needing care throughout the year will need to plan around those closures.
• Time to answer. In September 2021, questioning sometimes gave children too little thinking time. During a visit, ask how staff now encourage children to develop their own answers.
• Choosing attendance. The September 2021 arrangements included shorter windows and a day running from 9am to 3pm. Ask which booking patterns and funded-hour arrangements apply to your child now.

Oxford Gems Nursery suits families whose childcare needs fit a term-time calendar and a 9am-to-3pm opening day. Its September 2021 picture combines cooperative play, practical independence and thoughtful help with settling. Historically, both shorter sessions and a whole nursery day were offered. The dated teaching concern about questioning deserves attention alongside those strengths.