The Old Library Day Nursery

Mixed-age play, pets to care for and outings into the surrounding community give The Old Library Day Nursery its character. This Leamington Spa setting has 23 places in total, with a shared learning environment for children aged two to five. For families who like children learning alongside older and younger companions, that arrangement is a central part of the choice.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good on 4 March 2022, recognising a carefully sequenced curriculum while identifying the need for better adaptation of activities for younger children and more opportunities for children to direct their play. That balance matters. The educational approach has structure, but families should also consider how much freedom children have to take an activity in their own direction.

Montessori inspired Busy Work sits alongside individually planned play, while community outings bring shops, a care home and a library into children's experiences. A dedicated resting area gives children somewhere to pause during the day. Full-day and half-day attendance are both offered, with the detailed arrangements set out below.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care, with play supporting language, physical skills and social development. Activities here are planned around Birth to Five Matters, covering learning from communication and mathematics to creative expression. Montessori inspired Busy Work accompanies continuous and individually planned activities alongside the EYFS requirements for learning, development and care.

Role play, creative materials, water and sand give children different ways to explore. Individual next steps shape the learning planned for them, so the mixed-age arrangement does not mean every child has identical goals. The practical question is how those activities are adjusted for children at different stages.

In March 2022, children used animal figures, toy bricks and sticks while listening to a familiar story, turning the narrative into something they could act out. Language activities also involved placing objects in different positions, helping children connect words with actions. These examples show how stories and everyday concepts can become active experiences rather than listening exercises alone.

The same visit identified two development points: younger children needed more help to participate at their own level, and children needed greater access to materials they could use in different ways to shape their own play. Both are relevant to a mixed-age setting. A well-planned activity still needs room for a younger child's way of joining in.

Outdoor and Community Life

The outdoor space allows exploration and supported decisions about risk. In March 2022, children practised balancing and climbing outside, alongside movement activities indoors. Physical learning therefore extended beyond seated activities, with opportunities to use the whole body.

Community experiences include shopping and visits to a local park, library and care home. The current activity arrangements also include trips to cafés and shops where children choose from menus and use money. These give everyday language and number skills a practical purpose, connecting nursery learning with familiar places beyond it.

Bilinguasing provides French classes, with French also brought into activities during the rest of the week. Little Kickers adds football, while yoga, ballet and mindfulness broaden the physical and expressive experiences. Responsibilities for the nursery's pets provide another kind of participation: caring for something living, rather than simply using a resource. The funded-hours charge arrangements for activities need to be considered alongside this programme.

Relationships and Communication

Children choose their key person during their first few weeks, and that practitioner works with parents around the child's interests and needs. This gives the relationship time to develop around the child, rather than making the connection only an administrative assignment. Individually planned activities draw on children's interests and needs.

Paper learning journals, photographs and daily diary cards form part of the communication arrangements. Parents can request an individual meeting with their child's keyworker to discuss the journals and raise questions. That offers a way to look beyond a quick account of the day and discuss how a child's learning is developing; these resources also sit within the consumables arrangements described below.

In March 2022, staff gathered detailed information from parents when children started and used it to plan from what each child could already do. Support for children learning English included pictures, signing, words from home languages and multilingual books. Those were concrete ways of helping children participate while developing their English.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

An experienced SENDCO supports work around additional needs, including speech and language needs and autism-related needs, and the team has experience of working with local authority and multi-agency professionals. At its March 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and children needing additional support making good progress. These are dated findings; the current support mechanisms are the SENDCO role and work with other professionals.

The nursery's policy requires staff to hold a valid first aid certificate, and a dedicated resting area accommodates children who need a break. In March 2022, everyday independence included putting on outdoor clothing, pouring drinks and using cutlery. Care and learning overlapped in these ordinary routines, rather than independence being confined to a planned activity.

Nursery Kitchen Catering company supplies freshly prepared lunches and teas each day, using seasonal menus on a three-week rotation, while breakfast is prepared by the nursery. Dietary requirements and allergies are accommodated within its catering arrangements.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is on Cubbington Road, Lillington, Leamington Spa, CV32 7AB. Contact is available by telephone, email or the contact form.

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks of the year. Closures cover bank holidays and a Christmas week that includes Christmas Eve. The nursery does not offer term-time-only places, so its year-round attendance model needs to suit the family even when funding applies during term time.

Full-day sessions run either from 8am to 6pm or from 7.30am to 5.30pm. Half days run from 8am to 1pm or from 1pm to 6pm. An early start from 7.30am to 8am can be added to the morning session or the full day beginning at 8am. These are different booking choices within the opening window, rather than a requirement for every child to attend from opening until closing.

Funding and Paid Extras

The April 2026 arrangements offer Early Education Funding for eligible children from nine months, for two-year-olds and for children aged three and four. Funding is delivered over 38 weeks, with up to 30 hours a week depending on eligibility; private charges apply during the other 13 weeks. Funded attendance can use morning, afternoon or full-day patterns, and parents must keep their eligibility code valid.

Meals, snacks and consumables are included in private session fees. For funded sessions, food, non-food consumables and activities have separate voluntary charges; parents who decline those charges must provide alternatives under the nursery's policy. Funded care therefore needs to be considered separately from the extras accompanying it, rather than assuming that the private-session inclusions apply to funded hours.

The non-food arrangements cover items such as wipes, nappy sacks, sun cream, learning-journal materials and resources for sensory play. Cooking ingredients, gardening materials and pet care also feature in the resource provision. The practical difference is between paying for these additions through the funded-session arrangements and supplying the alternatives required when opting out.

A deposit secures the booking and covers settling sessions. Where no additional private hours are taken, it is refunded on the first invoice, but requesting its refund means settling sessions are not provided. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees page provides the session structure.

Reducing or cancelling funded hours requires a full term's notice. A reduction to booked sessions before the place begins requires eight weeks' notice to avoid losing the booking. Opting out of voluntary charges requires written notice within 14 days of receiving the fee sheet; the terms also require at least a term's notice to opt out of food, non-food consumables or activity charges.

• Mixed-age learning. Children aged two to five share their learning environment, and the March 2022 development points concerned younger children's participation and child-directed play. During a visit, ask how a younger child joins an activity designed for the group and how children choose what to explore independently.
• Year-round commitment. Term-time-only places are not offered, although funded hours run over 38 weeks. Consider the private hours during the remaining weeks alongside the notice needed to change the booking.
• Funded extras. Food, resources and activities carry voluntary charges on funded sessions, with parent-provided alternatives for families opting out. Discuss the alternatives and notice arrangements before choosing that route, so the practical responsibilities are clear.
• Allergies and settling. Catering accommodates dietary requirements and allergies, while the deposit arrangements link its refund to whether settling sessions are provided. Confirm current allergy practice and discuss how settling will work for your child before committing.

The Old Library suits families seeking either half-day or full-day attendance within a year-round, mixed-age setting. Its appeal lies in the combination of individually planned play, community experiences, French sessions and practical responsibilities such as caring for pets. Children have opportunities to connect learning with ordinary life.

The decision rests on fit: the shared age group, the year-round booking commitment and the funded-hours extras all have practical consequences. The March 2022 development points also make younger children's participation and opportunities to lead their own play useful priorities for a visit.