Honey Pot House Day Nursery, Shirley

Two gardens give outdoor play a substantial place at Honey Pot House: younger children have an outdoor classroom and sun shade, while older children have vehicles, mud play and a log cabin. That separation matters. Babies can explore outside in a space designed for their stage, while older children have resources for more expansive, imaginative play.

Honey Pot House Day Nursery, Shirley cares for children from 3 months to 5 years at 2 Jacey Road, Shirley, Solihull, B90 3LH. At its 9 November 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and judged that children made good progress, with additional needs identified promptly and supported through links with external agencies. This is a dated assessment of practice, rather than a description of every aspect of the nursery today.

The current offer centres on age-based rooms, individual key-person relationships and outdoor experiences, with full-day and term-time attendance serving different family routines. For parents of babies, the most useful detail is the commitment to following home patterns for feeding, sleep and comfort. For older children, play gradually brings in storytelling, early number work and greater independence.

Rooms and Ages

Five play rooms organise the nursery day by developmental stage, rather than treating the whole age range as one group. The progression moves from sensory exploration and early movement towards choices, friendships and preparation for Reception.

Little Explorers 1 serves children aged 3 to 18 months, combining songs and sensory play with space for rolling, crawling and cruising, plus natural materials and quiet areas for rest. Little Explorers 2, for 18 months to 2 years, brings together imaginative play, early problem-solving and physical activities, with open-ended resources and places to pause. Adventurers caters for 2-year-olds, using small-world play, construction and creative experiences alongside a garden where children can dig, balance and experiment with water. Little Scholars serves children aged 2½ to 3 years, combining storytelling, mark-making and early number experiences with garden activities involving natural objects and loose parts. Pre-School, for 3–4-year-olds, introduces phonics games, sorting and patterns through play, while outdoor construction and investigation give children further chances to collaborate.

These are different emphases, rather than a rush towards formal lessons. The room descriptions connect learning with things children can handle, build, represent and talk about. That gives parents a concrete sense of how the day changes as their child grows.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning and care: children develop communication, movement, social skills and early literacy and numeracy through play and everyday experiences. It is the shared foundation for nursery education. Here, the room activities show how that foundation translates into sensory exploration for babies, role play for toddlers and playful work with words and numbers for older children.

In November 2022, books and storytelling had a substantial role in daily life. Children used costumes to represent story characters, giving them a reason to try newly learned words, while a core books for life bundle revisited familiar stories and extended what children already knew. Learning also returned to previous experiences: an animal-shelter construction activity drew on earlier exploration of zoo animals. The useful principle is continuity, with a new activity connected to something a child remembers.

At its November 2022 inspection, Ofsted asked staff to leave children longer to think before answering questions, because some exchanges moved on before they had formulated a response. This is a specific qualification to the positive picture of language activities. Stories and conversation matter, but so does allowing a child space to answer.

Outdoor and Community Life

Our Gardens consists of two AstroTurf outdoor spaces for use across the year. The younger children's outdoor classroom and shade create another setting for exploration; the older children's log cabin, vehicles and mud play support movement and make-believe. Garden use is daily when the weather permits, rather than reserved for an occasional special activity.

Adventurers' outdoor experiences include a mud kitchen, building with loose parts and manageable physical challenges such as stepping up or jumping down. Those activities make the garden useful for more than running around: children can test balance, manipulate materials and work out how something fits together. In November 2022, outdoor play included tunnels, climbing and sliding, while early maths appeared in comparing blocks, measuring height and counting steps.

Relationships and Communication

A dedicated key person is part of care from the youngest room onwards. In Little Explorers 1, personalised routines follow the family's approach to feeding, sleeping and comfort; sleep is supervised and rest sits alongside play. For a baby beginning nursery, this makes the connection between home and daytime care a practical arrangement, rather than simply a reassuring phrase.

Older rooms retain that relationship while encouraging children to do more for themselves. Adventurers supports self-feeding and simple choices, with quiet periods available when needed. Little Scholars and Pre-School extend independence into self-care, sharing ideas and managing feelings. The progression is gradual: adult support continues as children take on more responsibility.

Tapestry is the secure online portal for communication with families, carrying staff updates and a personalised Learning Journal of milestones and experiences. It gives parents a continuing account of nursery life beyond a brief conversation. In November 2022, parent meetings and regular discussions also contributed to planning children's experiences, connecting home knowledge with the activities staff prepared.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The deputy manager also holds the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) role, working with families and professionals to understand individual needs and arrange support. Designated Safeguarding Lead roles sit within the management team. These are identifiable responsibilities within the nursery's organisation; the dated safeguarding judgement belongs to the inspection outlined above.

An in-house chef makes food from scratch in the nursery kitchen each day, with multi-week menus changing seasonally. The nursery's allergy arrangements cover medical allergies and intolerances alongside vegetarian, vegan and religious dietary requirements, with an allergen-management policy governing food preparation and dedicated options.

Mealtimes also have a developmental purpose. Children eat together and practise using cutlery, serving themselves and pouring drinks, so care routines provide opportunities for independence as well as eating. Families managing an allergy should discuss their child's requirements and current kitchen practice before attendance.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Full-day care and term-time attendance are both catered for, and families can collect or bring their child at any point within their chosen slot. The nursery operates over 51 weeks, with closures for bank holidays and Christmas.

Term-time attendance has a financial condition: retaining a child's place during the holidays attracts a reduced fee. Fees otherwise continue across the year, including bank holidays, except for three days between Christmas and New Year. This makes the distinction between attendance and billing important when comparing arrangements for a working week or a school-term routine.

The nursery can be contacted by telephone on 0121 744 3180 or by email at info@honeypotnursery.net. Its address is 2 Jacey Road, Shirley, Solihull, B90 3LH. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes the working-parent entitlement of 30 hours for eligible children aged 9 months to 4 years, universal funding of 15 hours for 3–4-year-olds and 15 hours for disadvantaged 2-year-olds. Funding can be taken during term time or stretched across the year. Stretching distributes the entitlement over up to 51 weeks, reducing the weekly allocation; the allocation can vary between terms.

Hours beyond a child's weekly entitlement are paid for separately. Funded hours cover childcare and delivery of the EYFS, while meals, snacks and non-food supplies are charged separately through a voluntary consumables charge; families choosing to opt out are asked to supply the relevant items. The charge also covers services and resources such as Tapestry access, cooking ingredients, tissues, soap and nappy sacks, so the funded-hours arrangement needs to be considered as a whole.

Optional day trips carry a voluntary charge, while French lessons and dance classes are paid directly to the company. Children who do not join optional activities continue to receive EYFS provision. The funding and charges information sets out this distinction between the entitlement, additional hours and extras.

Funding administration has continuing requirements. Families complete a declaration before funded attendance and each term afterwards, and entitlement codes need reconfirming every three months; failure to renew means normal fees apply in the following term. Unused funded hours do not transfer to another term, days cannot be swapped, and funded sessions are not exchanged for absences or bank holidays.

• Time to answer. The November 2022 improvement point concerned children needing longer to respond to questions. During a show-around, ask how staff now give quieter children time to think and contribute.
• The move between rooms. Little Explorers 1 follows home feeding and sleep routines, while later rooms place more emphasis on independence. Ask how room changes are timed and how the key-person relationship is carried through them.
• Term-time costs and funded extras. Term-time attendance includes a holiday place-retention charge, and funded hours have separate meal and consumables arrangements. Request a written quotation for the intended pattern, including the opt-out arrangements where relevant.
• Allergy arrangements. Meals are prepared on site under an allergen-management policy. Families with medical dietary needs should confirm the current preparation and serving arrangements for their child.

Honey Pot House suits families seeking either full-day attendance across the year or a term-time routine, provided the holiday retention terms and funded extras work for their budget. Its clearest practical strengths are the progression between named rooms, care that follows babies' home routines, and separate outdoor spaces for younger and older children.

The November 2022 Good judgement gives a positive, dated assessment, with a precise language-development improvement point to pursue. The current room and garden arrangements give families plenty to assess on a show-around: how a child plays, rests, communicates and gradually becomes more independent.