New World Nursery

Two gardens, a specialist baby nursery and resources children can use in different ways give New World Nursery in Washington a clear emphasis on exploration. Its purpose-built, single-storey building includes a large preschool area, giving younger and older children separate spaces suited to their stage of development.

At its 19 June 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding overall and across education, behaviour, personal development and leadership. That is a dated judgement, but the detail behind it is useful: children investigated floating and sinking, chose songs and explored their own reflections, with staff extending the ideas that interested them.

The nursery accepts children aged 3 to 60 months and has 72 places in total. Morning, afternoon and full-day bookings sit alongside term-time places and recurring shift patterns, making this a setting with several ways to organise attendance.

Rooms and Ages

A specialist baby nursery sits within a building organised into rooms for different age groups, while preschool children have a large area of their own. This arrangement gives children spaces alongside peers at a similar developmental stage. The two gardens add room for outdoor exploration.

Resources are deliberately open-ended: children can use them to express ideas rather than work towards a single predetermined result. The practical value is the opportunity to make choices, try an approach and change it when it does not work. This sits comfortably with the nursery's emphasis on creativity and solving problems.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care, with play and exploration contributing to their learning. Early Excellence EEXAT system supports that framework here. Parents contribute knowledge of their child alongside staff observations and termly assessments, connecting experiences at nursery with what happens at home.

In June 2023, staff used children's interests as starting points for activities. Two-year-olds studied their reflections and drew what they noticed; preschool children selected objects to test in water outdoors. Questions encouraged them to predict an outcome and then investigate it. These examples show how an everyday activity could become an opportunity to describe, compare and reason.

Language also ran through the day in June 2023. Staff introduced words connected to children's activities, while younger children chose songs and decided how they should be sung. Shared books and expressive reading gave children further opportunities to hear and use language. The interest lay in conversation around the activity, as well as the activity itself.

Outdoor and Community Life

The gardens provide space for exploration beyond the indoor rooms. Occasional walks and visits away from the premises require parental consent, so outdoor experiences can extend beyond the nursery grounds. The frequency remains occasional, rather than a fixed weekly commitment.

Relationships and Communication

Settling is organised around the individual child rather than a uniform timetable. A complimentary one-hour settling visit precedes the start, and the All About Me meeting brings together information about the child, permissions and family routines. These arrangements give the keyworker a starting point for understanding the child before regular attendance begins.

Parents' knowledge contributes to termly assessments as well as staff observations. That makes communication about interests, routines and changes at home useful to the nursery's planning. For children beginning toilet learning, families update their keyworker so that nursery can follow the routine used at home; spare clothes and underwear are part of that preparation.

In June 2023, children received advance warning before an activity ended, with a one-minute sand timer helping mark the change. Staff offered comfort when needed and supported children in sharing resources. For a child absorbed in play, a visible warning gives the transition a clearer shape than an abrupt instruction to stop.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the June 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and SEND support excellent, with two special educational needs coordinators working with families and professionals on individual plans, and funding used for one-to-one help and resources. These findings describe support at that inspection, rather than a guarantee about any child's present arrangements.

Meals and snacks are included in the private fees, with a two-course lunch and afternoon tea among the food provided. Vegetarian choices and special dietary requirements are accommodated, and the nursery's nut policy aims to keep the setting nut free with families' support.

Parents supply nappies, wipes, any required creams and powdered formula; staff prepare bottle feeds according to family instructions and can use expressed breast milk with written directions. This keeps familiar feeding arrangements part of the child's care while making the family's packing responsibilities clear.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.45am to 5.45pm, Monday to Friday. Morning sessions run from 7.45am to 12.15pm, afternoons from 1pm to 5.45pm, and full days from 7.45am to 5.45pm. Full-day bookings can cover one to four days, or five full days each week.

The minimum weekly booking is one full session or two half sessions. Term-time places are accepted, along with limited recurring shift patterns over three or four weeks. These options matter for families whose work arrangements do not fit the same full-day pattern throughout the year.

The nursery opens for 51 weeks annually and closes on bank holidays. At Christmas it closes at 12.15pm on Christmas Eve and reopens at 7.45am on the first working day after the bank holiday. Families using a morning booking should also account for the gap before the afternoon session begins.

Getting There

The address is West View, Manor Road, Concord, Washington, Tyne & Wear, NE37 2DU. Enquiries and visit bookings can be made by telephone on 0191 416 2550 or by email at info@newworldnursery.com.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered for eligible families seeking 15 or 30 hours. For three- and four-year-olds, this entitlement starts from the term after the child's third birthday: 15 hours each week across 38 weeks, or a stretched option of 12 hours each week across 48 weeks. These attendance arrangements sit alongside privately paid childcare.

Private fees include food, while families provide the nappies, wipes, creams and formula described above. A registration charge applies when reserving a private childcare place, but does not apply to funded places. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

A booking pattern can be reserved no more than six months before the start date. Increasing attendance requires five working days' notice; reducing attendance or ending the contract requires 30 days' written or emailed notice. Fees remain payable during sickness and holidays, so the contracted pattern has financial consequences even when a child is absent.

• Session boundaries. Morning care ends at 12.15pm and afternoon care starts at 1pm. Compare those boundaries with your working day, particularly if a half session is the preferred pattern.
• Settling and assessment. Use the one-hour settling visit and All About Me meeting to discuss familiar routines and how Early Excellence EEXAT system contributes to observations and termly assessments.
• Food and funded attendance. Families managing allergies should confirm current practice against the nursery's aim to remain nut free. For a funded booking, request a written breakdown of food and other charges before choosing the attendance pattern.
• Changing childcare needs. Attendance reductions and contract termination require 30 days' notice, and sickness or holidays do not remove the fee obligation. Factor that commitment into plans involving variable work or changing family circumstances.

New World Nursery suits families considering morning or afternoon sessions as well as full days, with term-time and recurring shift arrangements broadening the choice. The gardens, specialist baby provision and open-ended resources give its approach a practical shape; individual settling and family contributions to assessment add useful continuity between home and nursery.

The June 2023 Outstanding judgement provides a strong dated reference point. For a family choosing now, the most useful next step is matching the session boundaries, funded attendance arrangement and contractual notice periods to the pattern they actually need.