ABC Day Nursery, Hollinswood

Cots and treasure baskets for babies, sand and water for toddlers, and writing tables for children preparing for school: ABC Day Nursery, Hollinswood gives its age groups separate spaces within Hollinswood Primary School. The school setting shapes the offer, with outdoor activities in the grounds and information sharing with the adjoining school nursery.

Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding on 22 August 2025, finding that its carefully organised learning supported excellent progress and preparation for children's next stage. The useful detail lies beneath that judgement: babies joined in storytelling, older children used factual books to investigate sharks, and toddlers turned broccoli and sticks into an imaginary birthday cake. Play had purpose.

The nursery caters for children from 3 months to 5 years and has 66 places in total. Full and part-time care sit alongside term-time-only attendance, while an after-school club serves children aged 5 to 11.

Rooms and Ages

Explorers, for children from 3 months to 2 years, combines a light-filled, self-contained room with treasure baskets, messy play and a carpeted space for exploration, plus separate feeding and changing facilities and a sleep area with cots, mats and individual bedding.

For children aged 2 to 3, Discoverers divides its space between imaginative exploration and messy activities, including sand and water, with access to outdoor play in the school grounds.

Adventurers, for ages 3 to 5, supports play and preparation for school through computers, role play, a cosy area, writing tables and equipment children can select themselves.

These are useful differences for parents comparing stages of care. The youngest room brings feeding, sleep and exploration into its own space; toddlers have room for wet and messy activities; older children can choose resources and begin using writing tables. Each stage has a different practical emphasis.

Learning and Activities

The nursery follows the early years foundation stage, the framework for children's learning, development and care: learning through play sits alongside communication, physical development and everyday independence. Here, the concrete activities explain more than a curriculum label could.

In August 2025, staff built conversation around children's interests, adding vocabulary and helping them take more responsibility during daily routines. Natural materials and everyday objects gave children scope to decide what their play would become. The broccoli birthday cake was a good example: children chose sticks, created their own pretend celebration and drew friends into the game. An ordinary object became something to talk about together.

Books served different purposes across ages. In August 2025, babies explored a caterpillar story through props, colours and counting, while older children looked up information in factual books. Toddlers and preschool children also experimented with torches, moving beams and investigating shadows. These examples connect early language, number and science to activities children can handle and explore.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School activities, an approach to learning through outdoor exploration, take place in the school grounds. The outdoor area gives this nursery a practical connection to its school site, extending children's experiences beyond the three indoor rooms.

In August 2025, children spent time outside daily, with trikes and games providing physical challenges. Babies had surfaces to crawl across and opportunities to practise standing and walking. Soil, sand, water and simple instruments supplied different textures and sounds to investigate.

Recycling and composting also formed part of daily life that August. Children explored what happens to discarded food and how compost helps plants grow. Environmental learning was attached to something they could do, rather than left as an abstract idea.

Relationships and Communication

In August 2025, practitioners knew children's interests and individual needs, helping them settle into the day. Staff used songs, pictures and simple language to help children identify feelings, alongside calming techniques such as breathing slowly or seeking comfort. This made emotional learning part of ordinary interactions.

Communication with families was regular that August, with parents involved in their children's learning. For a parent, the value is continuity: staff can connect what happens at nursery with a child's experiences at home, rather than treating the two as separate worlds.

The team comprised 10 childcare practitioners in August 2025. Leaders adapted training to individual staff needs and gave attention to staff wellbeing. Those are dated staffing facts, separate from the current room arrangements and whole-setting capacity.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At its August 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and SEND support exceptionally strong, with needs identified early, individual plans developed with families and professionals, and funding directed towards resources, staffing and targeted help. That is a substantive account of how support worked, rather than a general promise of inclusion.

Books, displays and resources represented different cultures, languages, abilities and family structures in August 2025. Alongside this, staff helped children recognise emotions and respond kindly to others. Representation and day-to-day relationships worked together.

For babies, Explorers provides individual bedding and a designated space for rest, alongside its feeding area. These physical arrangements matter when care must accommodate sleep and meals as well as active play.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Hollinswood Infant School, Dale Acre Way, Telford, TF3 2EP, within the Hollinswood Primary School site. Opening hours are 7.47am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates across the year, closing on bank holidays and for one week at Christmas.

Attendance includes full and part-time day care and school-term-time-only places. An after-school club caters for children aged 5 to 11. This makes the offer relevant both to families organising year-round childcare and to those whose routines follow school terms.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01952 289168. The site's Biometric Entry System uses a finger or thumb reading to control access by designated people; this is an access arrangement, separate from the dated safeguarding judgement.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government-funded childcare was offered in August 2025. Fresh meals come from Telford & Wrekin Council’s catering team, menus are shared regularly with parents, and the nursery's catering arrangements accommodate dietary requirements.

The nursery works with the adjoining school nursery to share information and support transitions. Attending ABC does not guarantee a Reception place at Hollinswood Primary School; families still apply through the local authority admissions process. Shared premises and transition work should be understood separately from a school's admissions decision.

• Baby care in Explorers. The room brings together cots, sleep mats, individual bedding and separate feeding facilities. On a visit, discuss how your baby's usual sleep and feeding routines would fit the day.
• Attendance and the total bill. Full, part-time and term-time-only care serve different family schedules. Request a written quotation for your intended pattern, covering funded hours, meals and consumables, so the arrangement and total charges are clear together.
• A shared school site. Adventurers benefits from information sharing with the adjoining school nursery. This supports transition, but families must make a separate application for Reception.
• Dietary requirements. Meals are supplied by the council's catering team, with menus shared with families. If your child has an allergy, confirm the current preparation and serving arrangements before agreeing care.

ABC Hollinswood suits families choosing either full or part-time childcare, including those who need term-time-only attendance. Its strongest practical assets are the separate age-group rooms, baby sleep and feeding facilities, and outdoor provision within the school grounds.

The August 2025 judgement adds weight to the choice, while the examples of storytelling, torch investigations and imaginative play make the educational offer tangible. For families considering the adjoining school, transition support is useful, but the Reception application remains a separate decision.