Shiny Stars Day Nursery Trentham

Bubbles for babies, balancing beams outdoors and language games with toy hippos give Shiny Stars Day Nursery Trentham a recognisable character. These were features of its March 2023 nursery day: children explored materials, followed their interests and practised communication through play. The detail matters more than a curriculum slogan.

Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding on 23 March 2023, finding that children made exceptional progress from their starting points. That is a dated judgement, rather than a description of every child's experience today.

This Trentham setting accepts children from two months to five years. Its three named rooms span baby, toddler and preschool stages, with overlapping age bands. Attendance options include mornings, afternoons, full days and hourly care, giving families several ways to arrange their week.

Rooms and Ages

Twinkle Stars caters for babies from birth to 24 months; Bright Stars is the toddler room for 18 to 36 months; Shooting Stars serves preschool children aged 30 to 50 months. Those are room bands, distinct from the nursery's overall accepted ages. Their overlap gives families a useful starting point for discussing a child's next room rather than treating each birthday as a fixed boundary.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets requirements for learning, development and care: children build language, explore numbers and learn to cooperate through play and everyday routines. Shiny Stars also follows the Curiosity Approach, encouraging children to share ideas, cooperate and work both independently and in groups. This adds an emphasis on how children explore and interact, alongside the statutory framework.

In March 2023, learning took its direction from children's interests and developmental needs. Materials with several possible uses let children decide what to do with them. Babies caught and popped bubbles during group activities and joined number songs, with opportunities to anticipate the next number and sustain their attention.

Language had a deliberate place in the day. In March 2023, daily group work supported communication, while interactive stories invited children to listen and participate. Toddlers practised positional language by placing toy hippos in response to instructions. An abstract word became something they could act out.

Outdoor and Community Life

In March 2023, crates and timber beams became balancing routes outdoors. Children planned their play and tested how to move safely; flowers supplied petals for pretend food and perfume. These examples show exploration through ordinary materials rather than activities with a single prescribed result.

An outdoor classroom was also in use by March 2023, providing extra space for individual attention and one-to-one work. Outings followed children's interests, including a trip to an airport to explore aeroplanes. The connection between an interest and a real place gave learning a purpose beyond the nursery room.

At its March 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and praised the progress of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, supported through individual learning plans developed with families and other agencies. This puts specific support mechanisms behind the judgement: planning involved people who knew the child in different contexts.

Relationships shaped care in March 2023. Each child's key person got to know the family and adapted settling arrangements accordingly. Children shared meals with their key group, creating familiar company for conversation as well as eating. Their key person also supported personal care, connecting everyday routines with an established relationship.

Support extended to home routines. In March 2023, staff worked with parents on sleep and toilet training, helping the adults around a child take a consistent approach. Parents were also invited to first-aid training. These are practical examples of partnership rather than a general promise of communication.

Behind the children's day, room teams reviewed their work each week in March 2023 and used visual boards to set out the experiences they wanted children to have. Staff training accompanied that reflection, linking plans for learning with discussion of how children develop.

Sessions and Attendance

Full days, shorter days, morning and afternoon attendance, and care by the hour are offered. These are different booking patterns: a family needing part of a day has an alternative to booking a whole day. Enquiries can be made by telephone or through the contact form.

The nursery operates across the year, closing on bank holidays and for a week at Christmas. Its contact details give opening hours of 7am to 6.15pm, Monday to Friday; the repeated footer gives a 6pm finish. The closing-time difference matters for families whose working day runs late.

Getting There

The nursery's address is Shiny Stars Day Nursery, 5 and 11a Chivelstone Grove, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 8XR. The contact address uses 5 Chivelstone Grove in Trentham.

• End-of-day collection. Opening information gives both 6pm and 6.15pm finishes. Confirm the closing time that will apply to your booking before planning collection around it.
• Room progression. Twinkle Stars, Bright Stars and Shooting Stars have overlapping age bands. On a visit, discuss how staff decide when a child is ready to move and how they introduce the next room.
• Part-day care. Morning, afternoon and hourly arrangements sit alongside full and shorter days. Ask how your preferred pattern would work in a typical week, including its start and finish times.
• Funding and the total bill. In March 2023, the nursery received early-education funding for children aged two, three and four. Request a current written quotation covering your entitlement, extra hours, meals and consumables before committing.

Shiny Stars suits families considering morning or afternoon care as well as full days or hourly attendance. Its strongest quality evidence is the Outstanding March 2023 judgement, supported by concrete examples of language work, individual care and child-led exploration. The Curiosity Approach and three named rooms give the current offer a clear identity. For parents, the decision rests on matching that offer to their child's stage and their chosen attendance pattern, with the collection time settled before booking.