The Yellow Door Day Nursery

Clay, reclaimed timber and rainwater for the garden give The Yellow Door Day Nursery its character. This Godley setting takes its inspiration from Reggio Emilia, with children’s interests shaping activities and the surroundings treated as part of the learning experience. The Atelier, an open space for experimenting with materials, makes that approach tangible. Children have room to try an idea, change it and try again.

The nursery occupies the former St John's Church hall on High Street, with an outdoor area extending along the building. It accepts children aged 12 to 60 months. At its 14 October 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall. That dated judgement sits alongside a current offer built around natural materials, creative exploration and practical experiences such as growing vegetables.

Attendance can follow full-day, morning, afternoon or school-day patterns. The choices matter: this is a nursery with shorter sessions as well as a longer working-day option, rather than a single timetable for every family.

Rooms and Ages

Buttercups Room, for children under two, combines a naturally lit baby area with loose parts, open-ended resources and movement between indoor and outdoor classrooms, putting exploration alongside the relationships that help young children adjust to nursery life.

Primrose Room, for ages two to three, emphasises speech and understanding, uses crockery and tablecloths for sociable meals, and opens onto an outdoor area with scooters, trikes and a mud kitchen, linking conversation with practical play.

Sunflower Room serves preschool children, with a wet-play area for measuring and filling, natural construction materials and The Atelier for experimenting with tools and creative media, giving children different ways to develop and express an idea.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for children’s learning, development and care: play, conversation and practical tasks become opportunities to build language, physical skills and independence. Reggio Emilia inspiration adds a child-led approach, with staff developing experiences around children’s questions and interests rather than expecting every child to follow the same idea. The curriculum page connects that philosophy explicitly with the EYFS.

The materials make the approach concrete. Recycled logs, timber furniture, pine cones and wooden number slices become resources for imaginative play. Clay, paint and tools feature in The Atelier. These are materials children can rearrange and investigate, so the activity can develop as their thinking changes. A finished product is only one possible endpoint.

Hygge, an approach centred on warmth, simplicity and wellbeing, shapes the rooms through gentle lighting, natural resources and comfortable corners. That gives quieter activity a physical place alongside messy exploration. Books and materials sit within a design that favours neutral colours and natural textures.

In October 2022, children explored number and size through counting objects and making differently sized circles in sand. Musical activities included identifying an instrument by its sound while it was hidden from view. Babies took turns selecting objects during a singing activity. Those examples show the different routes through which children encountered early concepts at that time.

There were also limits to the learning environment in October 2022. Instrument noise and loud adult conversation interrupted storytelling, while toddlers sometimes had personal-care tasks completed for them rather than being helped to attempt them. Concentration and independence were the two areas requiring further work. They are useful points to explore during a visit.

Outdoor and Community Life

Rainwater collection, vegetable growing and making habitats for insects and bees bring sustainability into practical activity. Children can connect what happens in the garden with the care it needs. Reusable nappies are welcomed, and recycled, reusable and natural resources form part of the nursery’s environmental approach.

In October 2022, outdoor play happened daily and a sports coach visited weekly. Preschool books went home for shared reading, and a link with a nursery in Africa introduced discussion about how people obtain food and water elsewhere. These are dated examples of the nursery extending learning beyond an individual room.

Relationships and Communication

A key person gives parents a first point of contact, while staff share responsibility for children’s care. Relationships with the wider team also matter when a child moves between rooms: support is not intended to depend entirely on one familiar adult. The Buttercups Room places particular emphasis on relationships as children move from home-based care into nursery life.

Families receive support from their initial enquiry onwards. The approach is informal, using first names and avoiding stiff uniforms. For parents, the practical value lies in being able to build a working relationship with the adults caring for their child, alongside the child’s own relationships with staff.

In October 2022, parents received updates through an online programme and joined nursery celebrations, including a summer fair. Staff asked babies whether they were ready for a nappy change, and children could choose how to spend their time. Those examples put communication and children’s preferences into everyday interactions, rather than treating them as separate activities.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the October 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and children with SEND making good progress, including through sensitive support for children who found mealtimes difficult. One practical example was eating near the main group, allowing participation with a little more separation. That is an inspection-era example of adapting an ordinary routine to an individual child.

Current arrangements include a designated safeguarding officer role held by the manager, with the deputy providing cover. Paediatric First Aid training extends to kitchen and administrative staff as well as childcare staff. Regular safeguarding and food-hygiene training, plus participation in Tameside Early Years Consortium training events, form part of the staff-development arrangements; these are arrangements, rather than a fresh inspection judgement.

Food is cooked on the premises each day, with a pescatarian menu and meals planned around dietary needs. Breakfast, brunch, lunch, an after-sleep snack and tea spread eating opportunities through the day, while water remains accessible.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 55 - 57 High Street, Godley, Hyde, SK14 2PU. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across the year, with closure on Bank Holidays. Enquiries and viewing arrangements can be made by telephone, email or the contact form.

The full-day session runs from 7.45am to 6pm. Morning sessions run from 8.30am to 1pm, and afternoons from 1pm to 5.30pm. The school-day options are 9am to 3pm or 8.45am to 2.45pm. An early drop-off period from 7.30am to 7.45am carries a separate charge, so the opening time and the start of the ordinary full-day session are different.

Term-time attendance is also offered, with opening hours of 7.45am to 6pm for that option. The 38-week term-time option is capped at four places per room. Bookings are allocated first come, first served each July, and parents must submit the school calendar they want their booking to match. This is a specific booking process for families coordinating nursery attendance with an older child’s school year.

Four weeks’ notice is required to cancel a place. Absence for illness or holidays remains chargeable, and Bank Holidays are charged at the full rate. These terms affect the cost of maintaining an attendance pattern even when a child is away.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers 15 funded hours over 38 weeks for eligible two-year-olds, alongside a 30-hour funded option for eligible families. The two-year-old offer permits combinations of set sessions: full-day periods of 8.30am to 2.30pm or 9am to 3pm, mornings of 8.30am to 11.30am or 9am to noon, and afternoons of 11.30am to 2.30pm or noon to 3pm.

The 30-hour arrangement includes 8.30am to 2.30pm or 9am to 3pm patterns, with separately charged lunch. Wraparound care runs from 7.45am to 6pm. Funding is applied against the bill for that arrangement, leaving the additional attendance to be paid for.

Private fees include food, snacks and drinks, together with nappies and wipes. Nappies and wipes are also included under the funding terms; lunch is charged separately under the 30-hour arrangement. Optional Enhanced Curriculum provision, tailored around children’s needs and interests, is included in the fully flexible offer and charged separately on the enhanced 30 and 15 options. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

• Concentration and independence. October 2022 observations identified distracting noise during stories and missed opportunities for toddlers to practise personal care. During a viewing, ask how quiet activities are protected and how Primrose Room children are helped to attempt these tasks themselves.
• Term-time coordination. Bookings follow a July allocation process and require the school calendar a family wants to match. Establish which attendance pattern fits that calendar before committing.
• Funded attendance and extras. Lunch is charged separately under the 30-hour funded arrangement, while private fees include meals, nappies and wipes. Ask for a written quotation distinguishing funded hours, additional care and any Optional Enhanced Curriculum charges for the chosen offer.
• Materials and environment. The Atelier, wet play and natural resources are central to the nursery day. A viewing is a useful opportunity to discuss how those spaces and activities would work for your child’s preferences and support needs.

The Yellow Door suits families who want children’s ideas to shape their day, with creative materials, garden activity and practical exploration taking a substantial role. The Atelier and the different room environments give that philosophy substance. Its attendance choices also suit different routines: morning or afternoon sessions, school-day care and full-day attendance all have a place.

The Good judgement from October 2022 provides a dated quality assessment, with concentration and toddler independence supplying clear questions for a visit. For families drawn to child-led learning and natural materials, this is a coherent offer with useful flexibility in how the nursery week is arranged.