Hampton Nursery

Thursday mornings take older preschool children beyond Hampton Nursery to trees, rabbits and chickens at Bentley Heath School. Back at the nursery, a Baby Unit capped at nine children gives families a concrete measure of the youngest room's size. Outdoor learning has a regular weekly slot.

Hampton Nursery, at 26 Browns Lane, Knowle, Solihull, B93 9BE, has capacity for 38 children from birth to five years. At its November 2025 inspection, Ofsted judged children's welfare and wellbeing to be at Strong standard, the other evaluated areas at Expected standard, and safeguarding standards met. The strongest inspection position concerns children's care; the educational findings also carry specific work to do on language interactions and targeted funding.

Attendance spans full days, shorter days and morning or afternoon sessions, with the latter beginning after children move out of the Baby Unit. This is an all-year nursery rather than a term-time-only arrangement.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Unit accommodates up to nine children and combines freely chosen play with sensory experiences; staff work regular days to support continuity. This is a room maximum, not a daily attendance count.

Children move to Tweenies at approximately 18 months, where adult-guided activities sit alongside children's own play, sensory experiences and outdoor play twice daily when weather allows. Familiar staff help with the move from the baby room. Parents are also invited to Stay and Play Sessions, giving them a way to join their child's nursery experience.

The Pre-school group combines group learning, technology and a large outdoor area used twice daily to extend activities. Learning through play helps prepare children for school.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the learning framework: children learn through play, with adults planning experiences around their development and what they are ready to learn next. A key person follows each child's progress and uses an Individual learning plan with Next Steps Assessments. Planning follows individual development.

Rhythm Time adds music-making, singing and age-related musical activities. Toddlers explore percussion and movement, while preschool activities include musical signs, conducting and simple pieces. It gives music a recognisable place alongside everyday play, with different content for different stages.

Spanish classes for preschool children use stories, songs, dance, rhymes, puppets and mime. Word sheets and stickers go home each week, creating a practical connection between the lesson and family life. Sessions take place within the nursery and connect with preschool planning.

In November 2025, sand play was selected around children's next learning steps: pouring and emptying containers provided an opportunity for exploration and conversation. Language teaching was less consistent, however. Some practitioners did not develop vocabulary or maintain exchanges with children sufficiently, including opportunities to introduce mathematical language. Conversation during play needs attention.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School adds practical outdoor learning in a setting with trees. Older preschool children attend on Thursday mornings at Bentley Heath School, where encounters with rabbits and chickens add opportunities to learn about animals and their care. The regular slot gives this more substance than an occasional outing.

These visits take a maximum of 12 children, supervised by four staff, and Forest School is included in fees. The visit limit applies to this outing, not to the preschool room as a whole. Tweenies also have outings during the year, while both older areas use the nursery's outdoor spaces as part of their ordinary day.

Relationships and Communication

Settling begins with an induction discussion about the child's preferences and sleeping and feeding routines. Optional short sessions can build towards the family's requirements, subject to availability before the start date. Staff can use those familiar routines in everyday care.

A named role, the key person, connects care, observation and parent contact. Families have an initial six-week check and termly progress meetings. Those conversations provide regular points to discuss development and concerns, alongside the ongoing learning plan.

Tapestry is the online learning journal through which parents can see photographs, videos and observations, add comments and contribute observations from home. Two accounts can be set up for each child, accessible to the family and nursery staff. Home observations can inform nursery care.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the November 2025 inspection, Ofsted found secure relationships between children and key persons, sleep routines adjusted to individual needs, and a graduated approach to identifying and supporting special educational needs and/or disabilities, with children making progress from their starting points. Those findings connect emotional care with practical adaptations, rather than treating inclusion as a separate activity.

In November 2025, families received daily conversations, meetings and written updates, and external professionals worked with the nursery around individual needs. Support funding was applied unevenly for children with present or past social-care involvement, including the early years pupil premium and funding for looked-after children. That is a material qualification to the otherwise positive account of individual support.

Meals and snacks, nappies and wipes are provided. For funded children over two, the separate food charges and the additional consumables charge for three- and four-year-old funding need to be considered alongside that provision.

Sessions and Attendance

Full days run from 8am to 6pm; short days finish at 3.30pm after an 8am start. Morning sessions run from 8am to 1pm, and afternoon sessions from 1pm to 6pm. The Baby Unit does not offer morning or afternoon sessions; half days begin when children move to the Tweenie room. That age-stage restriction matters as much as the clock times when planning a return to work.

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Hampton operates for 51 weeks each year, with three working days closed around Christmas and New Year and two further days for staff training and transfer-document work. Those closures need a place in a family's childcare calendar.

Enquiries can be made by telephone, email or contact form. Children can also return during school holidays in their first year at school, allowing a familiar childcare setting to continue beyond their move into school.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers government-funded entitlements of 15 and 30 weekly hours for nine-month funding, two-year funding and three- and four-year-olds. It does not offer term-time-only attendance; the grant is deducted from monthly fees for children attending across the year. Participation in funding should be kept separate from a family's individual eligibility.

For funded children over two, meals and snacks attract a separate charge; three- and four-year-old funding also carries a consumables charge covering items such as gardening resources, baking ingredients and educational supplies. These charges are voluntary: parents who opt out supply healthy food appropriate to the booked session, following the nursery's healthy-eating policy. Opting out means planning food from home.

Forest School is included in fees. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the funding and fees information explains the attendance choices and funded-place charge structure.

• Baby attendance. Morning and afternoon sessions start only after the move to Tweenies. On a visit, discuss how the Baby Unit's day and settling sessions would fit your child's routines and your working hours.
• An all-year commitment. Term-time-only attendance is not offered, and Christmas and training closures interrupt the annual pattern. Families seeking school-term childcare need to weigh that arrangement against their calendar.
• Teaching and targeted support. In November 2025, language exchanges needed greater consistency, and additional funding for children known to social care needed more precise use. Ask how practitioners now extend conversation during play and translate additional support funding into individual provision.
• Governance responsibilities. In November 2025, leaders needed a stronger understanding of the nominated individual's responsibilities and prompt notification of changes to Ofsted. This is a separate leadership issue from the safeguarding standards being met; ask what action followed.

Hampton suits families seeking year-round care who value a small, capped baby room, regular parent conversations and outdoor learning that extends beyond the nursery. Its attendance choices accommodate full and short days, plus morning or afternoon sessions once children reach Tweenies. Preschool families also gain Thursday Forest School visits and Spanish activities with material to use at home.

The November 2025 inspection position is strongest on welfare and wellbeing. The qualifications are concrete: consistency in language teaching, better use of targeted funding and clearer governance responsibilities. Parents weighing Hampton should give those points the same attention as the nine-child Baby Unit and the weekly outdoor programme.