Little Wendy House Day Nursery

Real insects, family-photo books and a room devoted to messy play give Little Wendy House Day Nursery in Wednesbury a recognisable character. Children can investigate living things, explore unfamiliar textures and keep familiar faces close during their nursery day. These are concrete experiences with a clear purpose: making learning accessible through things children can handle, recognise and talk about.

At its April 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding overall, with purposeful teaching, carefully supported communication and close working relationships with parents among its strengths. The detail behind that judgement matters more than the label. In April 2024, staff chose language deliberately, helped children express quantities and used their observations to plan individual next steps.

The nursery has capacity for 86 children, with a current age range of two months to five years. Its rooms include a baby room, Toddler room, Tweenie room and pre school provision. Paid attendance includes full days, mornings, afternoons and hourly bookings, while funded hours can be taken during term time or spread across the year.

Rooms and Ages

The baby room combines singing and conversation with construction play, instruments and sensory exploration; family photographs become books, giving babies familiar people to recognise during the day. Care follows individual needs, including parents’ feeding instructions. For children being weaned, food can be freshly liquidised or commercially prepared according to parental preference.

Toddler room links children’s choice of activities with growing independence, using a sensory area and an indoor climbing frame with a slide alongside creative and imaginative play. At least seven activities are set out each day. That gives children several ways into learning, whether they choose building, music, paint or water.

For children aged two to three, Tweenie room emphasises creative exploration, communication and emerging writing and mathematical skills, with feely boxes and sensory bottles providing materials to investigate. Children help make the bottles themselves. Their choices remain part of the day, so participation includes deciding what to explore as well as using the resources provided.

Pre school combines early writing, mathematics and role play with its own messy room and the care of snails, worms and ants. Daily messy activities can involve gloop, jelly, oats or play dough. The practical appeal is clear: children have things to manipulate and living creatures to observe, creating material for questions and conversation.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides learning here: children build communication, explore numbers, create with materials and develop physical skills through the nursery’s activities. Alongside it, in the moment planning follows children’s interests. This makes their curiosity part of the planning process, with staff adding opportunities to investigate what has caught their attention.

Wellcomm screening is used to track speech every six months, with additional screening when a child is below the expected level. Development is also reviewed every six months, with extra checks where concerns arise and a short report shared with parents. These arrangements give families a recurring point at which to discuss learning and development.

In April 2024, each room used a song of the week to support language recall. Children also explored caterpillar development through pretend play and cared for real caterpillars, connecting their imaginative ideas with observation. Magnifying glasses helped them examine insects more closely. The first words together programme involved parents in encouraging early communication, extending that work into family life.

A sports 4 kids session adds physical education to the activities. Its practical value is an additional opportunity for movement within the nursery offer.

Outdoor and Community Life

An outdoor play area and a large indoor playroom broaden the space children can use. Access to both is arranged at least twice daily, although babies’ outdoor access varies with the weather. Families supply suitable clothing, so outdoor participation needs preparation for changing conditions.

Pre school children take regular educational walks into town and to the library and park, with written parental consent beforehand. These outings extend their experiences beyond the nursery. At least two nursery outings are arranged each year, alongside an annual Halloween Disco, a Christmas party featuring santa and a Graduation fun day for children leaving pre school for full-time school.

Relationships and Communication

Written communication is built into care for the youngest children. Baby records cover activities, meals and sleep, while Toddler room uses individual diaries to keep parents informed about routines. That makes the day easier to follow and gives families practical information to carry into care at home.

Potty training in Toddler room begins through discussion with parents about readiness, with staff working alongside families. Tweenie room’s progress check at two includes a meeting before the child turns three, drawing on development both at nursery and at home. These are useful points for agreeing a shared approach, rather than leaving nursery routines disconnected from family life.

In April 2024, key persons exchanged information about children’s needs as they moved between stages. New key persons introduced themselves already knowing the child’s circumstances. The emphasis was on continuity: a room change involved passing on knowledge as well as introducing a different adult.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the April 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and identified prompt responses to special educational needs and/or disabilities, with additional funding used to address developmental gaps. Those are dated judgements about practice at that visit.

Current support arrangements include a trained special educational needs co-ordinator and assessments every three months within the special educational needs procedures. Where a need is identified, further observations follow and professional help is sought after discussion with parents. This gives families a defined route from a concern to a conversation and additional support.

Staff undertake ongoing training, and all staff have paediatric first aid training. Collection arrangements include a photograph and password when someone else is collecting a child. Parents and staff use biometric access, while visitors use an intercom and must be recognised before admission.

Sleep takes place separately from active play, with cots and other sleeping facilities available; children have their own bedding and are checked every ten minutes while sleeping. This separates rest from the play area while keeping monitoring part of the routine.

Meals are prepared in the nursery kitchen by a cook or supplied by N and N caterers, with breakfast, lunch, tea and snacks offered. Religious, cultural and medical dietary needs are discussed at enrolment so arrangements can be agreed for the individual child.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 23 Walsall Street, Wednesbury, WS10 9EL. Opening hours run from 7am to 6pm on weekdays, across 52 weeks apart from bank holidays. Enquiries can be made by telephone, email or contact form, and the enrolment process includes an invitation to see the facilities and meet staff.

Paid patterns include full-day attendance and full-time attendance from Monday to Friday. Morning sessions have two options, 7am to noon or 8am to 1pm; afternoon sessions are also offered. Hourly care has a minimum booking of two hours. Breakfast, after-school and holiday clubs are also offered for school-aged children.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered from nine months for working parents who meet the eligibility criteria, with 15 or 30 hours depending on eligibility. For three- and four-year-olds, 15 term-time hours are offered from the term following the child’s birthday until school starts; eligible two-year-olds of non-working parents can receive 15 term-time hours through ELT. Funding can also be stretched across the year, reducing the weekly funded allocation.

For eligible families taking 15 hours during term time, options are two full days of 7.5 hours, three morning or afternoon half days of five hours, or five shorter morning or afternoon sessions of three hours, subject to availability. The 30-hour term-time options are three full days of ten hours or five morning or afternoon sessions of six hours, also subject to availability. These choices make the funded booking pattern an important part of deciding whether attendance fits family routines.

On funded hours, meals and snacks are optional paid extras, and families can supply ready-to-eat food that meets the nursery’s food requirements instead. The funded consumables contribution is voluntary, with automatic inclusion unless parents request to opt out; it supports equipment, educational extras and additional activities, and opting out may affect participation in some extra activities.

Parents supply babies’ nappies, wipes and formula, and all families supply sun cream and suitable outdoor clothing. Those provisions sit alongside the voluntary funded contribution, so both need to be considered when preparing for attendance.

A deposit applies to paid placements, excluding funded-only attendance, and is deducted from the final month’s invoice. An induction charge applies except to wraparound school-club and holiday-club placements, covering induction sessions, a water bottle, uniform and a drawstring bag. Fees are paid in advance weekly or monthly; payment continues during illness, holidays and bank holidays to retain the place, and ending the contract requires four weeks’ written notice. Cancelling extras requires a month’s notice before new invoices are generated. For current prices, ask the nursery for a quotation.

• Choosing a funded pattern. Term-time funding comes with specific day and session options, while stretching reduces the weekly allocation. At a visit, discuss how the relevant pattern would fit the days and hours your family needs.
• Food and voluntary extras. Funded food extras can be declined, and the consumables contribution uses an opt-out arrangement. Agree the contract choices carefully, including food supplied from home and any effect on extra activities.
• Moving between rooms. The nursery separates baby, toddler, tweenie and pre school experiences, and its April 2024 practice included information sharing between key persons. Ask how your child’s routines and current interests would be carried into a room move.
• Continuing payments. Paid placements retain charges during illness, holidays and bank holidays, with written notice required to end attendance. Factor those terms into the family’s ongoing childcare budget.

Little Wendy House suits families wanting practical, sensory learning alongside a structured relationship with staff. Family-photo books, the pre school messy room and care of living creatures give its rooms recognisable content; diaries, development reviews and speech screening give parents regular ways to follow their child’s experience.

The attendance offer serves families seeking full days as well as those needing mornings, afternoons or shorter hourly bookings. Funded attendance adds term-time and stretched options, with specific booking patterns and choices about paid food and voluntary extras. The Outstanding judgement from April 2024 is a strong inspection position. The family decision rests on matching those room experiences, attendance arrangements and contract terms to the child and the household.