Old Co-operative Day Nursery

A separate Craft Room, a grassed garden and a baby room arranged for crawling give Old Co-operative Day Nursery a practical, recognisable character. This Gotham setting makes space for different stages of childhood, from babies exploring at floor level to preschool children choosing activities and serving their own meals. Independence starts with small things.

At its February 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective. That judgement belongs to that visit; the everyday offer includes a Tots Room between the baby and toddler stages, individual bedding for children who nap, and a separate preschool dining room. The current age range runs from birth to five years, with 65 places in total.

Full-day and non-funded half-day bookings sit alongside term-time funded attendance. The practical distinction matters: the nursery opens beyond the funded school-term period, but funded hours themselves are not spread across the year.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room welcomes children from six weeks, usually until around 18 months, and combines soft carpet for movement with changing and food-preparation areas inside the room, songs and stories, outdoor time and local strolls. Keeping these care areas nearby makes feeding and changing part of the same familiar space rather than a separate destination.

For children aged 18 months to two years, the Tots Room combines sensory resources and soft play areas with rhymes, movement, early drawing and messy activities, while a quiet sleeping area accommodates naps with each child's own bedding. The gently structured day leaves room for spontaneous exploration. That balance is useful at an age when routines and growing independence need to coexist.

In the Toddler Room, accessible toys support children’s choices, adult-led activities alternate with child-led play, and craft, water play, singing and stories sit alongside outdoor time. Practical help extends to toilet training, cutlery and putting toys away. These are everyday skills rather than separate lessons, giving children repeated opportunities to practise during the day.

The Pre-school Room serves children aged three to five and combines sand and water activities with a book corner, home corner and central rug, with creative work next door in the Craft Room and meals in a separate dining room. Resources are within children's reach. Choosing what to use and where to play gives them a real part in organising their own activity.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: play, communication, movement and growing independence belong together in the nursery day. The preschool School Readiness approach concentrates on practical preparation, including dressing, personal care, listening and taking turns. Preparing the table and serving meals gives that preparation a daily purpose.

In February 2022, shared stories prompted children to answer questions, discuss illustrations and recognise fruit. Parents also received story packs with ideas for reading together. Books therefore connected the nursery's activities with something families could continue at home.

There were two clear teaching priorities in February 2022: staff needed to identify more precisely which areas required extra help, and to allow children longer to consider questions before answering. These are useful distinctions for parents. Providing an activity is one thing; tailoring the interaction to the child is another.

Outdoor and Community Life

A large outdoor play area and a grassed garden provide different settings for play. Toddlers also walk around the village and visit the park or library, while babies have local strolls. The nearby Gotham hills and woods add to the setting's surroundings, although proximity alone does not establish a programme of visits.

In February 2022, outdoor activity included an obstacle course with stepping between bricks and taking turns. Some children also experienced their first bus trip. Those examples show how physical practice and unfamiliar experiences could sit alongside the indoor day at that time.

Past activities have made imaginative use of Gotham's name. A Batman mural in the rear nursery yard inspired children's street art, a visit to Wollaton Hall and village Local Hero Awards delivered in costume. Another past visit brought The African Ark Storytellers together with The Lion King Playgroup for storytelling, dancing and exploration of traditional African clothes and artwork from Ghana. These are examples of activities already undertaken, rather than promises of a recurring schedule.

Relationships and Communication

Babies' individual routines are supported, and the baby team builds relationships with families as well as children. In February 2022, babies sought comfort from familiar adults when uncertain, toddlers received cuddles when upset, and preschool children helped friends with their coats. These small interactions made care visible through ordinary moments.

The Tots team shares updates through the babydays app, giving families a channel for information about their child's day. In February 2022, staff also regularly discussed children's development with parents. For families, communication is most useful when it connects what happens at nursery with the routines and interests they recognise at home.

Sleep arrangements differ by stage. Tots can rest in a quiet sleep area using their own bedding; toddlers who need an afternoon nap have an individual bed and bedding. Baby-room staff have training in safer sleeping, alongside paediatric first aid and food hygiene. These are practical arrangements and training, rather than a substitute for discussing an individual child's routine.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The manager holds the Designated Safeguarding Lead and SENCO Lead roles, providing named responsibilities within the staffing structure. At the February 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that staff training in speech and language, alongside work with parents and other agencies, supported children whose speech needed additional help. The useful feature is the mechanism: recognising a need, adjusting staff knowledge and involving others.

In February 2022, children talked about feelings and practised slow breathing during a relaxation activity. Independence was encouraged through feeding themselves, washing hands and laying out items for dinner. Emotional support and self-care were therefore woven into ordinary routines at that visit.

A cook works at the nursery. The funded meals arrangement includes a policy against packed lunches for allergy management; families declining the meals option can instead agree funded sessions outside meal periods.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 7-9 Wallace Street, Gotham, Nottingham, NG11 0HJ. Opening hours are 7.30am to 5pm on weekdays, across 49 weeks of the year, with Christmas and Easter breaks and closure on statutory bank holidays. Those closures need to fit the family's working calendar.

A Full Day runs from 7.30am to 5pm. Non-funded Half Day bookings run either from 7.30am to 12.30pm or from noon to 5pm. Extra Hours can be added outside the booked session and are charged separately. The nursery fees page sets out these patterns; current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

For funded attendance without meals, examples include morning sessions from 9am to noon and afternoon sessions from 1pm to 3pm. These depend on an agreed booking pattern and availability. They should not be read as an unrestricted choice of hours.

Registration involves completing forms and emailing them to oldcoopnursery@aol.com, after which the team contacts the family about the next steps. Telephone enquiries go to 0115 983 0003.

The Batcave provides before-school and after-school care for children attending Gotham Primary, with staff escorting children between the school and nursery premises. Advance booking is required. It gives families with an older child an additional practical connection, but using the nursery does not guarantee a school place; families still use the local authority admissions process.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded provision includes entitlement for eligible children from nine months, 15 hours for eligible two-year-olds, the universal 15 hours for three- and four-year-olds, and the extended 30 hours for eligible working families. Eligibility and availability conditions apply. Funding runs during term time over 38 weeks and is not stretched across the full year.

Funded education and care carry no charge. Meals and snacks are separate from that entitlement and form part of a voluntary fee that also contributes to activities, events and experiences; paying it is not a condition of accessing funded hours. Participation in those activities and experiences is optional.

Packed lunches are excluded under the nursery's allergy-management policy. Families choosing not to take meals and snacks can agree attendance outside meal periods instead. Additional private hours are charged separately, and attendance during school holidays falls outside the funded period and attracts the full session rates. This makes the annual cost depend on both the attendance pattern and the family's choices about extras.

• The working-day fit. The closing time is 5pm, and half days are non-funded bookings. Compare the full-day, half-day and funded session patterns with your actual collection arrangements.
• Term-time funding and closures. Funded hours cover 38 weeks, while the nursery opens for 49 weeks with Easter and Christmas breaks. Holiday attendance is charged privately, so assess the whole year's pattern rather than a term-time week alone.
• Teaching interactions. February 2022 priorities concerned targeted support and giving children time to think. During a booked show round, ask how staff now identify the next learning step and adjust their questions for different children.
• Infant routines and meals. Babies' routines are individually supported, while the funded offer links meals to session choices and excludes packed lunches. Use the visit to discuss settling, sleep and current allergy practice alongside the timetable your child would follow.

Old Co-operative suits families seeking either full-day attendance or non-funded half days, as well as those whose funded care can follow a term-time pattern. Its strongest practical qualities are concrete: rooms organised by developmental stage, accessible preschool resources, separate spaces for craft and dining, and outdoor play in a large play area and a grassed garden.

The February 2022 teaching priorities remain relevant questions for a visit. For a family whose timetable fits the 5pm finish, the combination of daily independence, individual rest arrangements and different booking patterns gives this Gotham nursery a clear appeal.