Tops Day Nurseries: Musgrove Nursery

A hospital-site nursery with practical learning woven into its inspection-era day: babies chose books, while older children prepared vegetables and served their own lunch. Tops Day Nurseries: Musgrove Nursery occupies purpose-built premises at Musgrove Park in Taunton. It has capacity for 122 children, with a current age range of three to 60 months.

At its April 2022 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective. The strongest examples concerned children doing things for themselves, alongside sensitive relationships with staff. The improvement priorities concerned how consistently teaching supported routines and behaviour, and whether group activities matched older children's understanding.

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care: here, the April 2022 examples included language through shared books, physical exploration and practical tasks.

In April 2022, babies selected books for adults to share with them, with staff naming and discussing objects. Younger children experimented with balls of different sizes on a slide, retrieving them to try again. These were concrete opportunities to make choices, explore movement and practise taking turns.

Older children had practical responsibilities in April 2022. They poured drinks, served lunch and prepared themselves for outdoor play; vegetable preparation involved using knives safely and working out how to extract squash seeds. Preschool children also played football outside. Independence had an everyday purpose rather than being confined to an organised activity.

The April 2022 teaching concerns deserve equal attention. Children were not consistently helped to distinguish capital letters from lower-case letters when working on their names, and group activities needed better adjustment to older children's understanding.

At the April 2022 inspection, Ofsted found sensitive emotional care and effective support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, while identifying inconsistent use of strategies such as visual aids for daily routines.

In April 2022, emotion stones and books helped children recognise feelings, while the bite box gave older children a carrot to collect when frustration built. Staff also sought children's permission before hugs or removing clothing for nappy changes. These examples put emotional language and respect into ordinary care.

Communication in April 2022 included involving parents in room changes, introducing the next key person and offering home learning bags. However, explanations about behavioural expectations were uneven: redirecting a child towards a suitable object to throw did not always include a consistent explanation.

The address is Taunton and Somerset Hospital, Musgrove Park, Taunton, TA1 5BZ. Opening hours are 6am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, across the year, with closures on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day. That opening window has practical value for families whose working day starts early or ends late.

In April 2022, the nursery received funding for early education for children aged two, three and four. This is a dated participation fact, rather than a promise of a particular funded attendance arrangement.

• Teaching consistency. April 2022 improvement priorities included routines, behaviour and matching group activities to older children's understanding. On a visit, ask how staff now adapt these activities and use visual prompts consistently.
• Hospital-site hours. The weekday opening window stretches from 6am to 8pm. Ask which booking pattern and funded-hours arrangements would fit your working week, including how meals and consumables are handled.

Musgrove suits families seeking a nursery on the hospital site with an early start and late finish to its weekday opening hours. Its April 2022 examples give substance to the Good judgement: practical independence, shared language activities and thoughtful emotional care. Consistency in teaching remains the key issue to explore when judging how that experience would work for your child today.