Stanley's Daycare at Riverside Children's Centre

Mud marks on a large screen, vegetables grown for eating and toy cameras used by children: in October 2021, practical exploration gave Riverside's nursery day its character. Learning involved hands, movement and conversation.

Stanley's Daycare at Riverside Children's Centre serves children aged 24 to 48 months in South Shields, with 55 places in total. At its 4 October 2021 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding overall. That judgement belongs to that visit.

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning and care, bringing together play, communication and physical development. In October 2021, children practised hand movements by squeezing and pumping ingredients into dough, while making marks on a large screen with mud and sticks involved stretching and balancing. These were practical foundations for later writing.

Mathematics also took physical form that month. Measuring tapes helped children explore the height of sunflowers and the size of building bricks; outdoor hammering introduced counting through the number of blows. Toy cameras, torches and remote-controlled cars gave children opportunities to experiment with controls and sequences.

A vegetable plot connected growing with eating in October 2021: children raised carrots and potatoes, then ate them. Caring for caterpillars before releasing butterflies brought changes in living things into their experience. Outdoors, children also arranged equipment into obstacle courses, exploring how pieces fitted together and where to position them.

The nature table supplied further opportunities for conversation in October 2021. Staff added vocabulary during investigations of conkers and magnets, and children compared pumpkins by size. These objects gave children something concrete to discuss: language learning accompanied exploration rather than sitting apart from it. Outings, stories and food also introduced languages and communities beyond children's own experience.

Group games using long pieces of elastic explored direction and position that month. Children also measured one another with tapes, extending their comparisons beyond plants and building materials. Steering remote-controlled cars through arches required attention to a route, while constructing outdoor courses involved decisions about scale, order and connections between pieces. The activities linked mathematical ideas to actions children could try for themselves.

At the October 2021 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and praised support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including communication through signs, images and gestures and close collaboration with education and health professionals.

Relationships mattered in October 2021. Children formed close connections with staff, and newcomers settled readily. Interpreters helped staff exchange information with parents, while English and children's home languages both received attention. This gave families ways to contribute even where language could complicate communication.

Independence was practised in small, useful steps that month: children prepared crackers and cut their chosen fruit at snack time. Staff encouraged consideration for others and turn-taking, making everyday routines part of children's social learning.

In October 2021, staff used ordinary play and exercise to discuss safety and health. They discouraged running indoors and treated the pretend cooker as hot, teaching children to pause before touching it. Feeling their heartbeats after exercise helped children notice what movement did to their bodies. These were understandable examples for young children, linking safety messages to familiar actions.

Staff attended safeguarding training in October 2021 and understood how to recognise concerns, follow procedures and contact the appropriate people. Alongside those responsibilities, practitioners knew children's stage of learning and planned their next steps. Parents felt informed about their children's learning. That combination connected the activities children experienced with conversations about their development, giving families a picture of what their child was learning as well as what they had done.

The address is Riverside Children's Centre, Garrick Street, South Shields, NE33 4JT. Opening hours are 8.30am to 3.45pm, Monday to Friday, during term time. The afternoon finish and holiday pattern are central to whether attendance fits a family's working arrangements.

In October 2021, the nursery provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four.

• Term-time timetable. The 3.45pm finish and term-time opening need to fit your work and holiday childcare arrangements.
• Learning today. The detailed account of activities dates to October 2021. On a visit, ask how growing food, physical exploration and communication support feature in the current nursery day.

Riverside suits families seeking term-time nursery attendance for children aged 24 to 48 months who can accommodate an afternoon collection. Its October 2021 activities provide a concrete picture of practical learning: children measured, built, grew food and experimented with technology. The dated judgement offers a strong starting point for considering the setting, with the timetable a decisive practical consideration.