Headstart Nursery

A separate baby garden and dedicated spaces for different ages give Headstart Nursery a clear practical identity. This South Ockendon setting operates from a ground-floor building, with another garden for older children. The separation matters: outdoor provision for babies has its own space, rather than simply sharing the older children's garden.

Headstart has capacity for 55 children, with a current age range of 2 to 60 months. At its November 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall, while identifying two priorities: reducing distracting noise and strengthening practitioners' understanding of learning in the youngest age group. Those priorities deserve attention alongside the positive judgement.

All-day, morning and afternoon bookings give families different ways to organise attendance, with afterschool sessions also offered.

Rooms and Ages

Baby Room caters for children aged 0-2 years, with sensory experiences and care organised around individual feeding, changing and sleeping routines. Maintaining familiar routines from home is central to its approach, giving parents a practical connection between nursery care and the rest of their baby's day.

Bear Room and Piglet Room serve the 2-3 age group, with play supporting language, early number skills, growing independence and relationships with other children. Choice, creative activities and opportunities to share sit alongside support with toilet training and other daily routines. The emphasis is on learning to do more for themselves while developing the words and social skills to manage it.

For children aged 3-4, Owl Room and Tigger Room combine child-chosen play with activities led by adults, building communication, early literacy, numeracy and problem-solving. Indoor and outdoor movement also forms part of their preparation for school. Each age group has a dedicated space with resources suited to that stage.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care. In everyday terms, play and exploration support learning alongside the practical business of becoming more independent and communicating with other people.

In November 2022, activities connected familiar tasks with new ideas. Children preparing vegetable salad compared the size and weight of pieces as they practised cutting. Younger children shared pretend food, bringing simple counting into play. These examples show how a practical activity can carry several kinds of learning rather than treating number work as a separate exercise.

Painting also involved close observation: older children studied flowers and represented their stems and petals. Spontaneous singing let children join in while continuing their own play. The same November 2022 account described planning shaped by children's interests and what they needed to learn next, although staff development did not give enough attention to how the youngest children learn.

Outdoor and Community Life

The ground-floor layout includes a baby garden and a larger garden for children aged 2-5. Separate outdoor spaces make the age divisions useful beyond the indoor rooms.

In November 2022, babies explored outdoor soft-play equipment and a see-saw, while older children used bicycles and balancing obstacles, including tyres. Trips to a local European supermarket involved buying unfamiliar fruit and vegetables. This connected food with the wider community, giving children something concrete to explore beyond the nursery.

Familiar routines are an important part of baby care. Staff work with parents on feeding, nappy changes and sleep, while the toddler provision extends that partnership to toilet training and mealtimes. These are useful details for families managing a developmental change: nursery and home can work towards the same daily habits.

In November 2022, individual family books contained familiar people from children's lives, and personalised pegs carried each child's photograph and name. Staff stayed nearby when children needed reassurance. Settling arrangements drew on information from parents, who were kept informed about their children's learning.

At the November 2022 inspection, Ofsted judged safeguarding effective and found that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities received good care and education, with needs identified and support introduced promptly. These are dated findings, rather than a substitute for understanding how support would work for an individual child now.

Recruitment arrangements include DBS checks and references, and staff receive paediatric first-aid training. In November 2022, children practised everyday hygiene, including washing their hands after garden play and before eating. Healthy-food discussions also formed part of the day, and staff understood children's food preferences and allergies.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is on Darenth Lane, South Ockendon, Essex RM15 5LY. It opens on weekdays from 7am to 7pm throughout the year, closing on public bank holidays.

All Day runs from 7am to 7pm. Morning sessions are 9am to 1pm, and Afternoon sessions run from 1pm to 5pm. These are different booking options, so a family can consider a shorter block of nursery attendance as well as the full opening day.

Afterschool Club has two finishing options: 3pm to 6pm or 3pm to 7pm. The separate finishes give families a concrete distinction to consider when arranging care after school. Enquiries can be made by telephone or email, and visits can be booked.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government-funded childcare is accepted, including schemes starting from 9 months old, and the nursery also accepts childcare vouchers. Funded sessions sit alongside paid childcare bookings; participation in funding does not establish an individual family's eligibility.

The fees page separates morning and afternoon charges from the main daytime block and the early and late parts of an all-day booking. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. For families comparing attendance patterns, the useful distinction is between the session selected and the parts of the day being charged.

• Learning for the youngest children. In November 2022, staff development needed to address how babies and younger children learn. During a visit, ask how this now shapes activities and practitioner support in Baby Room.
• Noise and communication. The November 2022 findings identified occasions when staff volume made listening and communication harder. Ask how practitioners manage noise during play and group activities.
• The complete cost of attendance. Morning, afternoon and all-day bookings have different charging structures, and funded sessions are offered. Ask for one written breakdown covering funded hours, paid hours, meals and non-food consumables for the pattern you are considering.

Headstart suits families choosing between all-day attendance and shorter morning or afternoon sessions, with afterschool care adding another practical option. Dedicated age-group spaces, a baby garden and continuity with home routines give its offer substance.

The Good judgement from November 2022 sits alongside useful examples of practical learning and family communication. The decision for parents of younger children should also take account of the two development priorities from that visit: how practitioners support early learning and how they protect opportunities to listen and communicate.