Bambino's Nursery

Vegetable growing, a playground overlooking countryside and rooms called Jelly Babies, Jelly Tots and Jelly Beans give Bambino's Nursery a clear character. This Blythe Bridge setting combines care for babies and preschool children with clubs for older children, making it relevant to families whose childcare needs span different stages. It has 60 places in total. That is whole-setting capacity, rather than the size of any individual room.

At its June 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that communication screening helped children with emerging speech delays receive targeted support. The practical detail behind that judgement matters: language, independence and relationships run through the account of children's day, alongside a specific improvement needed in the breadth of books children encounter.

Attendance choices include a full day, a 9am to 3pm pattern and hourly bookings with a minimum of four hours. The nursery also provides transport for its school club, so its usefulness extends beyond the preschool years.

Rooms and Ages

Jelly Babies, for children aged 0 to 2, adapts feeding and sleeping to home routines, combines rhymes and actions with sensory play, and provides outdoor trikes and slides for movement.

Jelly Tots, for ages 2 to 3, combines daily circle time, shapes and letters with supported eating and toilet training; nearby toilets and washing facilities and individual rewards support that transition.

Jelly Beans, for preschool children aged 3 and over, builds concentration and independence through group activities and introductory phonics, with a computer and movable creative boxes supporting exploration.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS guides planning: children choose what and where to play, alongside adult-led activities planned around their interests and next developmental steps. Choice and guided learning both shape the day.

Each room has sand, water and art materials for experimenting and making. All rooms can also use the outdoor area, extending play beyond indoor space.

In June 2024, staff used signing, questions that invited fuller answers and repetition of children's phrases during conversations. Number learning also took place through games and counting before outdoor play. These examples make the curriculum tangible: words and numbers were being used in situations children could recognise, rather than confined to a separate lesson.

Books deserve a more qualified assessment. In June 2024, rooms had accessible reading areas, children could borrow books to take home and additional funding bought books for disadvantaged children. However, opportunities to encounter factual books, different cultures and more than one language were narrower than opportunities to hear fictional stories. The improvement sought was a broader daily reading experience that better represented children's backgrounds and the wider world.

Outdoor and Community Life

The enclosed playground sits alongside a grassed area overlooking countryside. Vegetable patches bring planting and growing into children's activities, giving them a practical connection between caring for plants and seeing them change. Outdoor learning takes place throughout the year, with meals or snacks sometimes taken outside when weather allows.

Community experiences also featured in June 2024: children visited a local bakery and practised purchasing their snacks. For older children, Holiday Club includes outings such as Trentham Gardens, museums and bowling, run with partner nursery Wise Owl Nursery, Ashbank, with transport between the club arrangements and Bambino's. These are separate school-holiday activities, rather than a promise of the same trips for babies or preschool children.

Relationships and Communication

Each child's key person maintains a Learning Journal that parents can view at any time. Younger children's daily diaries record food intake, nappy changes and activities, giving families both a picture of progress and practical care updates.

In June 2024, parent communication included termly reports, stay-and-play opportunities and evenings for discussing progress. Room moves were prepared through visits at important points in the day, with the eventual move based on developmental readiness. A birthday does not therefore have to be the only consideration in preparing a child for a different room and routine.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Baby care accommodates individual sleep and bottle timings, and the baby room asks adults to remove outdoor footwear. The emphasis is practical: familiar routines support continuity between home and nursery, while the footwear rule is a specific hygiene arrangement. As children develop, routines become more structured and eating becomes more independent.

In June 2024, the special educational needs coordinator worked with practitioners to recognise emerging difficulties, and families could be directed to additional agencies. Communication screening was one concrete mechanism within that work. This gives parents a useful subject for discussing their child's circumstances, rather than a broad promise that every support need will be met in the same way.

The resident cook prepares meals and snacks on site, using a seasonal menu that rotates over four weeks. Families supply formula and any jarred or packaged baby food their child still needs before moving onto nursery meals; parents also provide nappies and sun cream.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 222 Uttoxeter Road, Blythe Bridge, Stoke-on-Trent ST11 9JR. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, and the nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and Christmas week.

Booking choices are Full Day, 9am to 3pm and Per Hour, with a four-hour minimum for hourly attendance. The shorter patterns provide alternatives to full days.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01782 397624, by email to info@bambinos-nursery.co.uk or through the contact form. Joining requires an application, a copy of the child's birth certificate and two identification documents from each parent or legal guardian: one photographic and one showing the current address, dated within the previous three months.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered for two-year-olds and children aged 3 and 4. For the latter, funding starts the term after their third birthday: 15 hours weekly in term time or a stretched alternative of 12 hours across 48 weeks. Private childcare is also offered.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. Parents supply formula, nappies and sun cream. Fees are invoiced monthly and may be paid weekly or monthly in advance; absences and bank holidays are charged at the full rate. These terms matter when comparing the cost of an attendance pattern with the number of days a child will actually attend.

The deposit is returned after a place ends where four weeks' written notice has been given and payments are up to date; changing or cancelling days makes it non-refundable. The joining form also describes a registration payment, so the payment question below belongs in the joining discussion before an application is submitted.

Moving on to School

The nursery describes St Filumena’s and William Amory as its local feeder schools, with daily school-club transport to and from them. Nursery attendance does not guarantee admission to either school; families still use the local authority admissions process. School-club provision includes breakfast before school and a meal afterwards, giving the transport arrangement a practical role for families with school-age children.

• Breadth of reading. In June 2024, factual, cultural and dual-language books received less attention than fictional stories. At a visit, look at how today's book choices represent your child's language, background and interests.
• Hourly attendance. Hourly bookings have a four-hour minimum, alongside the full-day and 9am to 3pm choices. A family needing a very short period of care should weigh that minimum against its actual routine.
• Joining payment. The application uses both registration-payment and deposit terms, with refund conditions tied to leaving and changing days. Ask whether these describe the same payment before committing.
• School transport and admission. Daily transport serves St Filumena’s and William Amory, but nursery attendance does not secure a school place. Plan the school application separately from the childcare arrangement.

Bambino's suits families choosing between Full Day, 9-3 and Per Hour attendance, and those whose older children need the Before and Out of School Club transport arrangement. The rooms have clear developmental purposes, while vegetable growing, outdoor space and practical parent communication give the offer substance.

The June 2024 Good judgement provides a dated quality benchmark, balanced by the need for broader reading choices alongside the lending library.