Flore Day Nursery

A garden slope, paint experiments and children building their own obstacle course give Flore Day Nursery a practical, hands-on character. In August 2022, children explored materials, tested ideas and helped one another with physical challenges. These are useful examples of learning through doing, rather than activities organised simply to fill the day.

At its 31 August 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective. The improvement priorities were equally concrete: give children more opportunities to do things independently, and make sure staff extend the learning of children who are absorbed in their own activities.

Flore has capacity for 54 children, with an accepted age range of three months to five years. Its Bricketts Lane setting serves the village of Flore, Northampton, NN7 4LU. Morning, afternoon and longer daytime bookings give families several ways to arrange attendance.

Rooms and Ages

Baby Room and Two's Room are named spaces, alongside Pre-School provision. The whole-setting age range runs from three months to five years; that is different from the age boundaries or size of an individual room.

In August 2022, babies made marks with chalk at a low table, while outdoor wheeled toys and a small ramp gave them opportunities to practise movement. Two-year-olds used a steeper garden slope and explored soil through digging. Older children created an obstacle course together, combining physical play with decisions about how to balance and move through it.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for children's learning, development and care. At Flore, this means a curriculum shaped around children's interests and the areas where they need support, with observation helping staff decide what to offer next. The framework itself is the shared starting point for early years provision.

In August 2022, staff drew on what children already knew to plan further experiences. Paint was a material to investigate: children felt it, made handprints and compared their sizes. In another experiment, they explored how paint affected a rolling ball, then introduced other objects. The practical value is clear. Children can notice a change, explain an idea and test it again.

There is also a history of more specific projects. In January 2019, Pre-School children tried Nuts & Bolts, a mechanical activity involving matching fixings, working with wood and using spanners. It gave fine finger movements a practical purpose. These dated examples describe past activity rather than a recurring timetable.

Outdoor and Community Life

During June 2018, the two-year-old group took part in 30 Days Wild, a challenge to explore nature outdoors each day of that month. Activities included making artwork with natural materials, caring for plants and investigating herbs through sensory play. Nature became something children could handle and investigate, rather than simply look at.

Another project connected nursery life with the surrounding village. Get walking for Grandparents Day brought grandparents into an autumn walk around Flore Village in October 2018. That event offered children a shared experience with their families beyond their usual play spaces.

Relationships had a practical role in settling. In August 2022, each child's key person used interests and experiences from home when planning, and settling arrangements were adapted to the child. Older siblings could join a younger brother or sister's baby-room settling session. Room changes also received staff support, so settling was treated as more than the first days of attendance.

At the August 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that children had strong relationships with their key people and that staff supported their emotional wellbeing. This matters for families weighing how a child will cope with separation and unfamiliar routines, although the judgement belongs to that visit.

Independence was already part of daily care in August 2022. Older children handled their own toileting, collected tableware and served food, while babies received help to feed themselves. However, adults sometimes took over tasks children could manage, including cleaning hands and faces. The distinction matters: helping a child feel comfortable and allowing them to practise a skill need to work together.

Staff development also received attention in August 2022. The manager spent time observing interactions in different rooms, gave feedback and held individual meetings with staff about their development. The remaining challenge was translating that support into consistent attention to children's learning, including those playing quietly on their own.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm on weekdays. Attendance runs across the year, with closures on bank holidays and between Christmas and New Year.

The daytime choices include 7.30am to 6pm, 8am to 6pm, 8am to 4pm and 9am to 4pm. Shorter bookings include a morning from 8am to noon, an afternoon from 1pm to 5pm, and an afternoon from 1pm to 6pm. The earlier opening time and the 8am full-day pattern are separate options, so families can match their booking to the hours they need.

Enquiries can be made using the nursery's enquiry form, by emailing flore@climbinghighnurseries.co.uk or by calling 01327 349762. The address is Bricketts Lane, Flore, Northamptonshire, NN7 4LU.

Funding and Paid Extras

Meals are included in the session price where applicable. Breakfast, lunch and tea also have separate charges listed, making the relationship between the chosen session and its meals an important part of the written quotation.

In August 2022, the nursery provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four. Families considering funding should use the funding question below when discussing a booking. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees page sets out the session structure.

• Independence in everyday care. In August 2022, adults sometimes completed tasks children could do themselves. During a visit, ask how staff now balance helping with opportunities to practise self-care.
• Attention during independent play. In August 2022, children measuring and making potions sometimes struggled to attract staff attention. Ask how practitioners notice and extend the ideas of children working on their own.
• Funding and what to bring. Funded early education was offered for two-, three- and four-year-olds in August 2022, while daytime prices include applicable meals and also list meal charges. Ask which funded entitlements and attendance arrangements apply to your child, how meal charges work, and which consumables you supply.

Flore suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as longer daytime care, with provision spanning babies through to children approaching school age. Its strongest examples involve practical exploration: testing paint, tackling garden slopes and using mechanical materials.

The August 2022 judgement provides a positive assessment, with two useful points to examine closely: everyday independence and the attention given to children pursuing their own ideas. Those details make a visit more purposeful than a general discussion about whether children are happy and busy.