Scallywags Nursery

A glockenspiel for each child, gardens divided between different units, and football taught through imaginative stories give Scallywags Nursery a recognisable character. Music and movement have concrete resources behind them here. This Sheffield setting combines child-directed play with teacher-led activities, giving families several ways for children to explore sound, language and physical skills.

At the inspection beginning on 14 October 2022, with an additional visit on 31 January 2023, Ofsted judged the nursery Good overall. The setting has capacity for 101 children and accepts ages from 4 to 60 months. That total describes the whole nursery, rather than the number sharing an individual room.

Care centres on a key worker who helps plan settling and follows each child's development. Attendance runs across the year, with different contract arrangements for enhanced private care and funded-only days.

Rooms and Ages

Snowdrops and Buttercups use the smaller garden, where grass and cushioned surfaces sit alongside decking, a sheltered sand pit and equipment for balancing and movement. Daffodils, Sunflowers and Pre-school use the larger garden, which combines grass and hard surfaces with space for gardening, reading and performance. These are different outdoor settings for different units, rather than one shared description applied to every room.

The reading nook and staging area give the larger garden uses beyond energetic play. Children can spend time with books or perform as well as move around. In the smaller garden, rocking horses, push-along vehicles and a balancing platform provide practical choices for children developing control of their bodies.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the educational framework: children develop communication, physical skills and understanding through play and everyday care. Scallywags adds specific activities to that foundation. Open-ended equipment lets children decide what to make and how to use materials, so their play can follow an idea rather than a predetermined finished product.

Music has substance. Children sing, move, listen and play percussion, with individual instrument kits and glockenspiels giving them something to handle themselves. A dedicated music teacher prepares plans for different age groups and trains staff. That connects the specialist input with the practitioners who spend the rest of the week with children.

Yoga includes babies as well as older children, using simple stretches and movements to explore what their bodies can do. For preschool children, Spanish lessons teach basic vocabulary on Thursdays during term time and carry an additional charge. Kixx, the separately charged football activity for Sunflowers and Pre-school, uses imaginative stories to engage children in the sessions. These additions differ in both age group and payment arrangement.

Jolly Phonics supports preschool work on letter sounds and forming letters, with silly soup and Binky Bunny games making that work playful. Parents receive the week's chosen sound at the beginning of each week, providing a specific connection between nursery learning and conversations at home.

During October 2022 to January 2023, babies practised crawling on low ramps and used furniture to support their first standing and cruising movements. Toddlers chose songs through picture prompts, while older children practised taking turns with basketball. The examples show how physical activity and communication were adapted to developmental stages at that time.

Outdoor and Community Life

Children go into the gardens at different points throughout the day. Sheltered sand play, gardening space and equipment for movement make outdoor time part of the daily offer rather than simply a break from indoor activities.

Local outings on foot require permission through the enrolment agreement. Other trips are arranged ahead of time, with separate parental consent. This gives families a clear distinction between nearby walks and more planned excursions.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key worker, with the relationship able to change if the child forms a closer bond with another practitioner. Settling visits and a care plan developed with parents are part of that role, alongside following development and discussing it at parents' evenings. The practical value is a familiar person who connects day-to-day care with the family's knowledge of the child.

A welcome pack introduces routines, activities and staff, while a familiar blanket, teddy or dummy can accompany a child into nursery. Those arrangements give settling something tangible: familiar objects and advance preparation, rather than expecting a child to adapt immediately.

During October 2022 to January 2023, communication included an app and spoken handovers, with learning next steps shared with families. Children's achievements appeared on a proud cloud display and were photographed for parents; activity bags and stay-and-play sessions extended that connection. These were specific ways for parents to see and join in with nursery life at that time.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the October 2022 to January 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and SEND support good, including work with outside professionals and visual timetables, but identified inconsistent use of children's home languages and insufficient thinking time before staff expected answers. The inspection also recorded that, following an accident, managers investigated and revised risk assessments; they took immediate precautions to stop children reaching hot radiators. Those improvement points matter for families whose children need time to formulate a response or use more than one language.

The key worker's care plan provides a current mechanism for discussing individual needs. Staff training includes first aid, food hygiene and safeguarding, and the team includes early years teachers and practitioners with early childhood studies degrees. These describe the team's preparation rather than guaranteeing any particular outcome for a child.

Sleep arrangements include staff monitoring and logs for parents, with annual training on safe sleep. Parents must notify the nursery about allergies and complete an allergy management sheet for the child's room. The food policy excludes food brought from outside because of allergy and hygiene requirements; allergy-affected families should discuss current practice during their visit.

A loanable Toilet Training Pack includes a portable potty, a children's storybook, reward materials and guidance for parents. It offers practical equipment for families working on toilet training at home, helping make this stage a shared task rather than a nursery-only expectation.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 11 Moncrieffe Road, Nether Edge, Sheffield, S7 1HQ. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates throughout the year, closes at weekends and on bank holidays, and finishes at 4pm on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Enquiries can be made by telephone or email to the nursery manager.

Contracts cover 52 weeks, with no term-time or reduced-week option. Under the Enhanced Private Fee Contract, using the 15-hour entitlement requires at least two days each week; using 30 hours requires at least three. The Funded Only Contract instead uses an 8am to 6pm day: one day weekly for the 15-hour entitlement, or two for 30 hours. These are contract requirements, not a promise of eligibility or a place.

Funded-only sessions may change at half-term intervals. Additional hours or sessions are excluded from that contract, whereas the enhanced contract permits requests for extra attendance, subject to space and staffing. Contracted sessions cannot be swapped, and bookings cannot be reduced during the first 12 weeks. Families needing a changeable weekly routine should weigh those terms carefully.

Funding and Paid Extras

Scallywags accepts the government-funded 15 and 30 hours, spreading entitlement across the year. The enhanced contract combines funding with private payment; the funded-only contract covers the hours attended and invoices contributions for meals and consumables separately. Funding Loop is the online portal for completing funding declarations, giving parents a practical way to submit the paperwork.

Under the enhanced contract, meals, snacks and drinks are included in the weekly fee; on funded-only attendance, meals and snacks carry separately invoiced voluntary contributions, while water and non-formula milk are included. Parents supply formula, and the policy does not permit food from home.

Nappies and cotton wool are included under the enhanced contract and listed as optional, separately charged items for funded-only attendance. Families also supply bottom or nappy cream and pull-up nappies. Music is included in the enhanced package and optional with a separate charge on funded-only attendance; Spanish and Kixx carry separate charges; trips can incur additional charges. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

The admission charge is non-refundable if an enhanced-contract place is not taken up, while the funded-only admission charge is refundable. Four weeks' written notice applies to funded hours; private hours within the enhanced contract require a full term's notice. Fees remain payable for contracted absences, including illness and holidays, so the commitment extends beyond the days a child actually attends.

• Year-round commitment. Funding is stretched across 52 weeks, and term-time contracts are excluded. Families following school holidays need to account for the continuing attendance and payment terms.
• Different funded contracts. Enhanced attendance has different minimum days from funded-only attendance, whose sessions can change half-termly. During a visit, establish which contract fits the family's routine and how contributions and extra activities will be recorded.
• Language and response time. The October 2022 to January 2023 findings identified uneven home-language support and adults moving on before children had enough thinking time. Ask how practitioners now gather useful words from home and give children space to answer.
• Food and personal care. Outside food is excluded, formula comes from home and consumables differ between contracts. Families managing allergies should confirm current practice and how the room's allergy management sheet is used.

Scallywags suits families wanting year-round care with tangible musical resources, varied garden spaces and a key worker involved in settling. It serves enhanced multi-day attendance as well as one- or two-day funded-only patterns, although both involve fixed contractual commitments.

The strongest reasons to consider it are specific: instruments children can use themselves, Kixx football through stories, and preschool phonics linked to home. The balancing considerations are equally concrete: different extras under each contract, restrictions on changing attendance, and dated improvement points around language and thinking time.