Kids Community Nursery

A water wall, a music wall and a mud kitchen give Kids Community Nursery a practical, playful character. At Cherry Tree Walk in Batchley, Redditch, its sensory garden turns outdoor time into opportunities to experiment with sound, water and imaginative play. Inside, language development receives close attention, from conversations during everyday care to books and stories that families can share at home.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good on 23 May 2024, finding that its education was good overall. That judgement has useful detail behind it: children joined activities willingly, staff encouraged independence, and books were part of the day rather than reserved for a single story session. Mathematics teaching and waiting between activities were the two areas requiring further work.

There are 47 places in total. Nursery care starts at three months and extends through preschool, while separate school-age provision includes collection from Batchley First School for children up to eight. Families can choose full-day, half-day and shorter school-day patterns, with term-time and all-year arrangements.

Rooms and Ages

Caterpillar is a bright, colourful baby room with sensory activities planned with parents. Its eight-child maximum gives families a room-specific limit, distinct from whole-nursery capacity.

Butterflies takes children aged two to three, with a maximum of 16, and emphasises imaginative play. PRE-SCHOOL serves children aged three and over, with a maximum of 20 and resources for exploration, investigation and preparation for school.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for learning through play across seven areas, bringing language, physical development, relationships and early mathematical ideas into the child's day. Kids Community's approach puts conversation into ordinary moments as well as planned activities. Staff identify talking hotspots, including construction, role-play and the book corner, where they can extend exchanges between adults and children.

Construction conversations introduce vocabulary, stories invite predictions, and visual prompts explain routines. Daily reading, rhyming, sound matching and mark making connect listening with early writing.

Physical learning includes yoga, dance and movement activities, while threading, puzzles and tools give children practice with smaller hand movements. Mathematics is brought into snacks, tidying and play through counting, comparing and exploring patterns. These routines create everyday opportunities to practise mathematical ideas.

In May 2024, the lending library enabled families to borrow books for reading together at home. Staff used singing and conversation during the day, and stories invited children to join familiar phrases and think about what came next. The same visit found that mathematical activities sometimes stopped short of extending children's existing understanding. That distinction matters: practising a familiar skill and learning the next step are different tasks.

Outdoor and Community Life

Behind the building, the purpose-built play area has fencing, a canopy and cushioned surfacing. The nursery also uses the adjoining school field. Its sensory garden adds artificial grass, a small world area and the water wall, music wall and mud kitchen, giving children several ways to explore outdoors.

In May 2024, community walks, action songs and shaping dough gave children practice in movement and hand control.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person, and staff generally stay with their own rooms, apart from cover such as lunchtime. Consistent routines and familiar adults make the care arrangement easier for children to understand. Adults also use stories, puppets and conversations about feelings to help children recognise emotions and work through disagreements.

Nursery in a Box combines care diaries, observations, messages and invoices online. Babies have learning stories; progress reports and parents' evenings support discussion, while preschool observations explain teaching intentions for families to follow at home.

Flower trackers record secure skills in communication, social and emotional development, and physical development. The key person establishes a baseline after a few weeks and reviews it termly, giving parents a recurring account of progress.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the May 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and SEND support effective, with timely referrals, work alongside outside professionals and appropriate support for children learning English as an additional language. Current arrangements include a SENCO, a Behaviour Officer and designated safeguarding lead roles, providing specific points of contact for concerns.

A communication toolkit covers interaction, speech sounds, attention, understanding and expression. Provision maps and Worcestershire county council's early support documents track additional needs and progress, giving families concrete support mechanisms to discuss.

Hot lunches come from Aspens catering on a three-week menu cycle, while the nursery records dietary requirements and allergies in food-preparation areas. Parents supply food and formula for children under one until they are ready for nursery meals and their parents understand their allergies.

Sessions and Attendance

At Cherry Tree Walk, Batchley, Redditch, B97 6PD, opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, for 50 weeks. Families need cover for bank holidays and the week-long Whitsun and Christmas closures.

Full Time and Full Day bookings each have all-year and term-time options. Half-Day bookings run from 8am to 1pm or from 1pm to 6pm. Short school runs from 9am to 2pm, while Long School runs from 9am to 3pm; both can be booked for term time or across the year. Hourly arrangements provide another pattern for families whose requirements differ from those named sessions.

For older siblings, collection from Batchley First School supports after-school care ending at 5pm or 6pm. Holiday Club runs from 8am to 5pm or 6pm, excluding teacher-training days.

Contact is available by telephone, email or the enquiry form. Additional hours on an existing daily pattern require 24 hours' notice. Term-time sessions are not guaranteed to stay unchanged between terms, because all-year attendance receives priority.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery accepts Working Family, Early Learning for 2 year olds and Universal funding. Universal provision is 15 hours for three- and four-year-olds from the term after their third birthday; Working Family funding provides up to 30 hours for eligible families, starting from the term after their child turns nine months. Funded hours can be taken over 38 term-time weeks or stretched across the nursery's 50 opening weeks.

Paid hours can sit alongside funded attendance. Breakfast, snacks and tea are included in the specified private full-day and full-time arrangements, whereas hot lunch and food on funded hours are separately charged optional extras, with families able to bring meals and snacks under the healthy eating policy. Non-food supplies include formula brought by parents for babies under one until they are ready for nursery meals.

A refundable registration deposit is required, and fees are paid monthly in advance. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. For funded bookings, distinguishing the chosen attendance pattern, paid hours and optional food makes the quotation easier to assess.

• Teaching the next step. In May 2024, mathematics did not consistently extend what children already knew, and some changes between activities left children waiting unoccupied. On a visit, ask how mathematical challenge and transitions now work in your child's room.
• Term-time continuity. All-year bookings receive priority, and term-time sessions may change between terms. Families needing a fixed weekly pattern should discuss that rule alongside the Short school, Long School and half-day options.
• Food for younger babies. Parents provide food and formula for children under one until nursery meals are appropriate. Families managing allergies should confirm current food-handling practice and how requirements are communicated to Aspens catering.
• Seeing the right room. Visits can be arranged, and informal visits are also welcomed outside the requested lunchtime avoidance period of 11.30am to 2pm. Use the visit to discuss the eight-child Caterpillar room and how its sensory activities and key-person care would suit your baby.

Kids Community Nursery suits families wanting a small-capacity baby room, conversation woven through the day and outdoor spaces with more than one kind of play. Its mix of half-days, shorter school-day bookings and full-day attendance gives it relevance beyond a single working pattern. School-age collection from Batchley First School adds a practical option for some siblings.

The Good judgement from May 2024 is supported by concrete observations of books, language and independence. The two improvement points deserve equal attention. For families choosing term-time care, the possibility of sessions changing between terms is also a material condition, rather than a minor detail.