St Matthews Nursery and Pre-school

An enclosed grassed garden for toddlers, a canopied outdoor area for preschool children and vegetable growing give St Matthews Nursery and Pre-school a practical, outdoors-facing character. Play extends beyond the rooms, with outings to Abington Park and the library adding places to explore. This Northampton nursery combines those experiences with stage-based rooms and regular communication about each child's day.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good on 17 October 2022 and found its safeguarding arrangements effective. That is a dated judgement: the most useful detail beneath it concerns children's independence, staff relationships and two specific weaknesses in how adults supported conversation and creative ideas.

Children are accepted from three months to five years, with capacity for 40 children in total. Morning, afternoon and full-day sessions give families different attendance patterns rather than a single daily commitment. The rooms progress from Baby room through Toddler room to Pre-School room, allowing the emphasis and physical surroundings to change as children develop.

Rooms and Ages

Baby room is arranged to stimulate early development, with an emphasis on growing confidence and independence and familiar staff supporting children's routines. For a baby beginning nursery, that combination makes continuity of care an important part of the room's offer.

Toddler room encourages curiosity and independence through an enclosed grassed garden, free movement between indoors and outdoors, and accessible coat pegs. These are useful, concrete opportunities to practise doing things for themselves rather than waiting for an adult to organise every change of activity.

Pre-School room introduces more structure and school preparation, while its separate secure outdoor area has an all-weather canopy and remains accessible alongside indoor play. The canopy gives this room a sheltered outdoor space, so the physical offer is more than an uncovered playground.

Beyond the main rooms are a large secure playground with a protective soft-play surface, an independent community/parent room and a separate first-aid room.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the shared framework for learning, development and care: children practise language, movement and relationships through play. St Matthews also involves children in activity choices and draws on parents' knowledge of their interests, connecting nursery learning with home.

Music and movement include instruments, while gardening gives children opportunities to grow vegetables. Construction, sensory exploration and creative play sit alongside group times intended to build confidence in speaking. Mud kitchens are offered across the ages: another hands-on activity alongside the planting and outdoor physical play.

In October 2022, children counted cups during pretend café play, and staff helped them work out how many plates and biscuits were needed. Number work was connected to a recognisable purpose. Dinosaur stories also introduced new vocabulary, showing how an existing interest could become an opportunity to learn unfamiliar words.

There were limits to that approach in October 2022. Questions about numbers and colours sometimes broke the flow of children's conversations, and adults occasionally made construction models instead of helping children pursue their own designs. The improvement priorities were therefore specific: give conversation more room to develop and support children's ideas rather than taking over.

Outdoor and Community Life

Abington Park and library visits take learning beyond the nursery, alongside outings to other local destinations. These complement the grassed garden and outdoor play areas with experiences in shared public places. Festivals and performances are celebrated during the year, adding occasions for children to take part together.

In October 2022, a book lending library and seasonal and cultural activity packs gave children and parents practical ways to continue learning together at home.

Relationships and Communication

A key person system gives each child an identifiable adult connection. Each main room has a room leader, with familiar staffing and attention to children's routines supporting continuity of care.

Communication has several layers. Baby and toddler families receive daily feedback sheets, parent consultations take place during the year, and a monthly picture-and-observation snapshot brings together recent learning. Daily conversation can cover immediate needs; the longer view helps parents follow development across successive weeks.

In October 2022, children showed attachment to staff and confidence in choosing resources for themselves. Toddlers practised hanging up coats and selecting cutlery, while preschool children served themselves additional lunch. These small tasks made independence part of ordinary routines, rather than a separate lesson.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO co-ordinator is on site, alongside designated safeguarding, health-and-safety and first-aid roles. These are practical arrangements for support and oversight; a family discussing additional needs has a clear role to involve. Supervised tooth brushing programme sessions add an everyday health routine, with staff overseeing children as they brush.

Nursery Kitchen supplies the food menu, and the nursery's allergy information uses dish-level allergen guidance covering ingredients a dish contains or may contain. Mealtimes encourage conversation and shared routines, while children have access to drinks throughout the day. The combination gives care an everyday shape: eating, drinking, talking and gradually managing more for themselves.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is St. Matthews Preparatory School, 100 Park Avenue North, Northampton, NN3 2JB. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, with year-round operation and closures for bank holidays, Christmas and New Year.

The booking patterns have their own times: morning sessions run from 8am to 1pm, afternoons from 1pm to 6pm, and full days from 8am to 6pm. Early day sessions start at 7.45am. These session times matter separately from the opening window when matching attendance to work or family routines.

Breakfast Club runs from 8am to 9am. Before-and-after-school provision and a holiday club extend the offer to school-age routines; the holiday club provides activities outside term time. The nursery also offers collection and drop-off at Cedar Road Primary school. That is a transport service, rather than an admissions advantage.

The online enquiry form covers session preferences and funding; telephone contact is on 01604 712647. Requests for alternative session times are considered.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes working-parent entitlement from nine months, two-year-old funding and the universal entitlement for three- and four-year-olds. Extended entitlement is also offered for eligible families, with funding codes requiring verification before the first funding block begins. The universal three- and four-year-old entitlement starts in the funding block after the child's third birthday.

The all-year funding patterns are 11 or 22 hours each week. For families considering stretched attendance, the important practical feature is that funded hours can run across the year rather than being confined to term time. Eligibility and the chosen attendance pattern still matter.

Paid sessions include meals in their price; funded sessions have a separate meal charge requested. Private childcare is therefore part of the offer alongside funded attendance, and the meal position changes with the type of session. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, with the sessions and fees page explaining the structure.

• Conversation and creative ownership. In October 2022, adults sometimes interrupted children's talk or took over model-making. On a visit, ask how practitioners now help children sustain conversations and develop their own designs.
• Early starts and session boundaries. Opening begins at 7.30am, while the early day session starts at 7.45am and the main morning session at 8am. Discuss the precise attendance arrangement needed for your working day.
• Allergies and funded-session meals. The menu's allergen guidance includes ingredients dishes may contain, and funded sessions request a separate meal charge. Allergy-affected families should confirm current food-handling practice and how meals would work for their child.
• Baby-room routines. The Baby room emphasises familiar staff and continuity. Ask how settling, sleep and your baby's home routine would be managed during the sessions you choose.

St Matthews suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as full-day attendance, with outdoor access and practical independence prominent in the nursery day. The toddler garden, preschool canopy and outings to Abington Park give the experience concrete variety; daily sheets and monthly snapshots give parents several ways to follow it.

The October 2022 Good judgement supports a positive assessment of that period, but its conversation and creativity concerns deserve attention when choosing today. This is a nursery to consider for its stage-based surroundings, everyday learning opportunities and communication arrangements, with the child's actual session pattern and care routines guiding the decision.