Opportunity Group Frome & District

Individual planning gives Opportunity Group Frome & District its character: a key playworker follows each child's development, while communication can involve photographs, objects and signing as well as speech. This is a term-time nursery on the Hayesdown First School site in Frome, independent of the school, with a garden and a covered outdoor area. It accepts children aged two to four and has 24 places in total.

At its October 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that the manager and special educational needs coordinator sought early support for children who needed it. That dated judgement sits alongside an offer built around children's individual next steps and close involvement from their families.

Morning and afternoon sessions can be combined with a lunchtime session. This gives families a choice of attendance patterns within the term-time day.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides planning and assessment here: children's play, observations and next steps shape what they learn. Key playworkers plan for their own children, with an optional shared theme alongside group activities, stories and smaller organised activities for preschool children. The emphasis is on starting with the child, rather than expecting everyone to follow an identical programme.

Inclusive Communication makes that individual approach concrete. Objects, photographs, gestures, signing and spoken language give children different ways to express themselves. Resources stored at children's height and labelled with pictures help them make choices; photographs can also help a child communicate what they want. For a child whose speech is still developing, participation need not depend entirely on talking.

In October 2022, children constructed pictures and models using reclaimed materials, scissors and tape. Adults encouraged them to work out how to join materials and make openings in cardboard. Those practical problems gave creative play a purpose beyond producing a finished picture.

Mini athletics also featured in October 2022, with running, jumping and ball-throwing activities. Outside, children tended herbs and explored water, including trying to raise a ball through a tube. Physical activity and hands-on investigation were part of the same nursery day.

Outdoor and Community Life

A garden and covered outdoor space extend play beyond the building. The SEND offer also describes wheelchair access and an accessible children's toilet, with a quieter room useful for children with hearing difficulties. These are practical features that matter when considering how a child will use the setting.

Being on a school site brings opportunities to use the hall and library and become familiar with Reception spaces. These experiences support the move towards school routines; attending the nursery does not guarantee a Reception place.

Relationships and Communication

A key playworker is the child's main adult for play and personal care, with another member of staff providing backup when needed. Home visits before starting allow families to discuss their child's needs and help staff plan ahead. For children with significant identified special educational needs, a Pre-School Entry Planning Meeting brings the nursery together with other professionals already involved.

Parents contribute observations to their child's Learning Journey and can borrow it. Reviews of next steps take place every six to eight weeks, and the SEND offer provides for a meeting with the key worker each term. This gives families a role in deciding what comes next, rather than simply receiving a finished account of progress.

For children who cannot communicate verbally, a take-home photobook uses pictures of activities and resources, together with emotion faces, to help families discuss the day. Feeding and toileting records are used where a child needs them. Communication is adapted to the child, rather than relying on one format for everyone.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A Provision Plan sets out how a child's needs will be addressed, linking nursery planning with advice from other professionals. The nursery can seek help through the Area SENCo and therapy services, and its SEND offer describes experience of working with speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists. The plan identifies the support and resources relevant to that child.

There is an important condition: some individual support depends on additional funding, which the nursery can apply for in the following term. Families considering substantial one-to-one support should discuss how that timing fits their child's start.

In October 2022, staff helped children identify feelings and practise managing their behaviour; some had undertaken emotion coaching training. Children also practised handwashing and dressing for outdoor play. Those everyday routines gave them opportunities to develop independence alongside social skills.

The team includes a deputy manager with the SENCo role and key playworkers. Training includes inset days and workshops, while children's needs are discussed at weekly staff meetings. The SEND offer describes training for specific medical needs and a backup adult for personal care and medication; its medication policy permits prescribed medicines only and requires a witness when they are administered.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is at Hayesdown First School, Wyville Road, Frome, BA11 2BN. Opening hours are 9am to 3.15pm, Monday to Friday during term time, with five inset days each year.

There are three bookable parts to the day: morning, 9am to noon; lunch, noon to 12.45pm; and afternoon, 12.45pm to 3.15pm. Families can choose combinations, subject to the nursery being able to accommodate them. The lunchtime booking is a separate session, rather than an implied extension of either morning or afternoon attendance.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01373 472731. Term-time attendance is central to the offer, so the annual pattern matters as much as the daily session choice.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers Early Years Entitlement or EYE, described as up to 15 funded hours a week from the term after a child's third birthday, and 2 year funding for eligible children from the term after their second birthday. Two-year funding requires an application and eligibility criteria apply; the nursery needs a copy of the birth certificate to claim EYE.

Hours beyond funded entitlement are paid for, as are hours for two-year-olds who do not qualify for funding. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. Funding and private attendance therefore need to be considered together when choosing a session combination.

Moving on to School

Transition support includes individual Going to school books, attendance at school entry planning meetings and support for school stay-and-play arrangements. Attending this independent nursery on a school site does not guarantee a Reception place; families still use the local authority admissions process.

• Term-time rhythm. The day ends at 3.15pm, and there are five annual inset days. Consider how morning, afternoon or combined sessions fit your family's working week and school holidays.
• Support planning. Some one-to-one provision depends on additional funding for the following term. At a visit, discuss the proposed Provision Plan and how support would work from your child's first sessions.
• Learning priorities. In October 2022, staff needed to make more use of counting and measurement during play and involve older children more consistently in larger group activities. Ask how these two areas now feature in the nursery day.
• Lunchtime arrangements. Lunch has its own booking window between morning and afternoon sessions. Ask what families should supply for lunch and personal care, and how dietary needs are handled.

Opportunity Group Frome & District suits families seeking morning sessions, afternoon sessions or combinations that include lunch, within a term-time routine. Its individual planning, Inclusive Communication and school-transition arrangements give the offer a clear identity.

The October 2022 Good judgement provides a dated quality benchmark. For families weighing additional support, the strongest decision detail is the Provision Plan process, balanced against the funding condition attached to some one-to-one provision. Session choice and support planning deserve equal attention.