Kids Planet Derby Street

Dough marked with toy dinosaurs, vegetables chopped with real tools and paint mixed to discover new colours: practical exploration gives Derby Street's inspection-era account its character. Today, Kids Planet Derby Street cares for children from three months to five years in a residential part of Heywood. It occupies the former Fisherfield Childcare's Derby Street Nursery, linking the current name with the setting inspected in December 2021.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good at its 2 December 2021 inspection. That judgement sits alongside two concrete improvement points: quieter children needed more consistent opportunities to participate, and some practitioners carried disproportionately large key-person workloads. Both matter when assessing how an individual child will experience group activities and personal attention.

Full-day, morning and afternoon bookings provide different ways to use the nursery. The practical attraction is that shorter sessions sit alongside care across the working day, rather than requiring every family to choose the same attendance pattern.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children's learning, development and care, with play providing opportunities to practise communication, movement and independence. The December 2021 activities illustrate what that can look like: children explored materials, tested ideas and made choices rather than simply watching an adult demonstrate.

In December 2021, younger children worked flour with their fingers before pressing toy dinosaurs into dough. Older children handled vegetables and learnt how to cut them safely. These were different experiences for different stages: early mark-making for younger children, and practical tool use linked to food for older ones.

Science also took a hands-on form that December. Children combined ingredients to see reactions and experimented with primary-coloured paint. The useful feature was the opportunity to try an idea and see what happened, giving children something concrete to discuss and investigate.

Songs and a book of the week formed part of language activities in December 2021. Repeated stories gave children opportunities to remember events and contribute to the telling; songs introduced unfamiliar words. Staff also used words from children's home languages to help those learning English understand activities. For families using more than one language, that is a relevant detail about the practice at the time.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor play was part of the December 2021 day, alongside indoor dancing and yoga. Children also encountered celebrations from different cultures. Physical activity therefore extended beyond time outside, while the celebrations introduced experiences beyond children's own households.

The current offer includes sports activities and outdoor learning. The group-wide outdoor approach presented at Derby Street uses practical experiences such as observing wildlife, growing vegetables and active play. These give the outdoor element a purpose beyond a change of setting: children can explore living things as well as move their bodies.

Relationships and Communication

Famly, the parent app included in the current offer, provides updates during the day. That gives families a way to follow nursery life between conversations with staff. It is a group-wide communication tool used here, rather than a programme unique to Derby Street.

In December 2021, staff used pictures to explain the sequence of activities, helping children understand what would happen next. They also talked with children about feelings and used mindfulness activities to practise calming down. These are useful examples of support embedded in the day, especially around changes between activities.

The key-person arrangement needs careful attention. In December 2021, staffing deployment left some practitioners responsible for larger key groups than colleagues, increasing their workload. This was an improvement point about how responsibilities were shared, rather than a finding that every child had the same experience. For parents, the relevant question is how a child's key person has time to maintain the relationship and communicate with home.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the December 2021 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities effective, including access to help from other professionals. Those are dated judgements, rather than assurances about every aspect of today's provision.

Daily care also had a practical health element in December 2021: children brushed their teeth regularly and discussed healthy food. Conversations during meals covered ingredients and how food changed during preparation, connecting eating with learning rather than treating it as an interruption.

Freshly prepared snacks and meals form part of the current offer, with dietary needs catered for. Private fees include food and everyday supplies; the separate treatment of funded days is important for the family budget.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Derby St, Heywood, OL10 4QJ. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm on weekdays, across 51 weeks of the year. Enquiries can go directly to the nursery by telephone or email.

A Full Day runs from 7.30am to 6pm. Morning bookings run from 7.30am to 1pm, while Afternoon bookings begin at 1pm and finish at 6pm. Full Time is also a booking label, and ad hoc hourly care provides another charging pattern. Morning and afternoon sessions offer a substantial shorter-day option, which may fit families sharing care with a relative or arranging activities around part of the day.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered alongside privately paid care. Private fees include snacks and meals, sun cream, formula, wipes and nappies, as well as sports activities and the parent app. This reduces the everyday items families need to supply and keeps those elements within the private fee.

On days when early years funding is applied, meals, consumables and activities carry separate charges. A funded booking and a wholly private booking therefore have different cost structures. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The useful comparison is the complete booking cost, including these categories, rather than childcare hours alone.

• Participation for quieter children. In December 2021, less confident children did not consistently receive the same chances to contribute. During a tour, ask how practitioners involve a child who watches first or rarely volunteers.
• Key-person workload. The December 2021 improvement point concerned uneven responsibility for key groups. Ask how that workload is shared now and who maintains communication when your child's key person is away.
• Funded-day charges. Food, consumables and activities are charged separately on days using early years funding. Request a written quotation for your chosen morning, afternoon or full-day pattern, with those categories separated.

Kids Planet Derby Street suits families considering either morning or afternoon sessions as well as full-day care. The younger starting age also makes it relevant to parents seeking childcare before their child's first birthday.

Its December 2021 account gives useful substance to the learning picture: materials to manipulate, ideas to test, stories to revisit and practical food preparation. The decision should also give proper weight to participation for quieter children and the allocation of key-person responsibilities. For families using funding, the distinction between included private-fee items and separately charged funded-day items deserves equal attention.