Springfield Day Nursery

Hens hatched from eggs, garden fruit used in cookery and a separate garden for each room give Springfield Day Nursery a practical, hands-on character. Children help gather eggs and grow things in raised beds. These are useful ways to connect play with the living world, rather than leaving nature as a topic in a book.

At its November 2021 inspection, Ofsted judged Springfield Good overall and safeguarding effective, while identifying a need for more consistent teaching challenge and better help for families supporting English language development at home. That is a dated judgement. The current offer includes visiting music and language teachers, individual learning records and a preschool preparation group.

At 61 Springfield Road in Bury St Edmunds, the nursery has capacity for 43 children, accepting children from birth to five years. Baby, Toddler and preschool provision occupy separate rooms, with a dedicated sleep room for babies. Full-day and shorter funded sessions serve different attendance needs, subject to a minimum booking of two full days or the equivalent.

Rooms and Ages

Three rooms organise the day by developmental stage: Baby, Toddler (middle) and the main Pre-school room, each with its own garden and toileting facilities; the Baby room also has a dedicated sleep room. For a baby needing rest, that separate space is a useful practical distinction from the busier play room.

Resources are arranged for children to choose independently. Sand, paint and water remain accessible throughout the day, so children can return to an activity rather than encounter it only during an adult-directed session. The gardens extend that choice outdoors. Families who value frequent outdoor play should expect to supply clothing suitable for changing weather.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage sets the areas of learning and development that guide the day, from conversation and movement to early number work and creative play. It is the framework beneath the nursery's activities, rather than an extra programme. Springfield's In the Moment planning follows children's interests and uses the opportunities they present to introduce or extend learning.

The practical examples are concrete. Story sacks support storytelling, while sorting, puzzles and Numicon provide materials for exploring numbers. Balance beams, ride-on toys and threading offer different kinds of physical practice. Children can work with larger movements outdoors and smaller hand movements through playdough, pegs and similar resources.

Weekly activities bring adults with specific skills into the routine. A visiting teacher introduces Spanish through songs, games and activities; music includes a visiting pianist and percussion. Dance takes place in-house, and yoga is led by a trained practitioner. Baby Gym uses equipment to support physical development. These activities are included in childcare fees, giving families more than room-based free play within the booked day.

Springers is the preschool preparation group, using additional resources and activities in a separate area. Parents have termly opportunities to discuss development. The useful emphasis is preparation for the next stage, with local-school relationships supporting transition rather than a claim about admission to any particular school.

Outdoor and Community Life

Gardening has a clear place in the routine. Fruit trees and bushes supply ingredients for cookery, raised beds give children somewhere to grow plants, and established trees provide shade. Cookery sessions involve measuring and mixing as well as eating the result, connecting garden produce with practical learning.

Butterfly Kits demonstrate life cycles, alongside the hens that children help care for. There is a visible sequence to explore: eggs, living animals, growing plants and food. The garden therefore supports more than exercise, although its equipment also gives children opportunities to develop larger movements.

Christmas brings a Church of England representative to explain the nativity, followed by Christmas parties with a Father Christmas visit and a complimentary present for each nursery child. Other festivals are explored through artwork and drama. Families are encouraged to share their own celebrations, giving staff something specific to draw into activities.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who maintains their Learning Journey, an account of development with photographs and observations in the Famly App. Parents can contribute information and pictures from home. That makes communication a two-way exchange: a new interest or change in family life can inform what happens at nursery.

For children in the Baby and Toddler rooms, the app also carries daily information about feeds, sleep and nappy changes. Termly assessments sit alongside these everyday updates, and the nursery shares a written developmental check at age two. The combination helps parents distinguish immediate care information from the longer view of their child's development.

Two hours of settling sessions are free, with further settling time charged at normal rates. The All about me form asks about feeding and sleep routines, comforters, languages spoken at home and ways to help a child settle. Families can give staff a practical starting point before nursery routines become familiar.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SEND Co-ordinator oversees early identification, assessment and monitoring of individual needs, working with families and other professionals. With parental agreement, the nursery seeks outside support for emerging additional needs. At the November 2021 inspection, Ofsted found effective support for children with SEND, including prompt collaboration between the coordinator, parents and professionals.

Current arrangements include individual care plans and prescribed medication administered with written parental consent. A practitioner trained in paediatric first aid is on duty, while collection arrangements use an agreed safe word when someone unfamiliar collects a child. These are practical procedures families need to understand alongside the settling process.

Safeguarding lead and deputy roles are designated, safer recruitment checks apply to staff, and personal phones and non-nursery cameras are restricted in areas used by children. Those arrangements describe how responsibilities are organised; the dated safeguarding judgement remains the inspection position given above.

Lunch is supplied by King Edward VI school as a two-course meal and charged separately; families may instead provide lunch for children in Baby nursery. Dietary needs are catered for, and the nursery operates a nut-free policy, with snacks and drinking water provided during the day.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.45am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. Springfield operates throughout the year, closing for bank holidays and the period between Christmas and New Year. The booking minimum is two full days or an equivalent combination, so the offer needs to fit a recurring weekly routine.

Funded sessions run from 7.45am to 5.30pm, 7.45am to 12.45pm, or 12.45pm to 5.30pm. Funding covers 38 weeks and is used during the nursery's term-time weeks. Attendance beyond those weeks attracts private childcare charges. The distinction matters for families seeking year-round care: the nursery's opening calendar and the funded calendar are different.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by email or by telephone. The address is 61 Springfield Road, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 3AS. The form takes a proposed start date and intended attendance pattern, allowing the discussion to begin with a concrete booking request.

Funding and Paid Extras

Springfield accepts 15- and 30-hour funding for eligible families. Its funding arrangements cover eligible working families from nine months, the universal entitlement for three- and four-year-olds, and eligible two-year-olds. Funding starts in the term after the relevant age is reached, and eligible working families must keep their funding code reconfirmed every three months.

Funding is delivered in term time rather than stretched across the year. Additional private hours and attendance in non-funded weeks are charged separately, as are lunches, including on funded bookings. A weekly additional services charge also applies. Families receive a termly allocation letter setting out dates, extra hours and lunches, which helps distinguish funded care from the items still billed.

Parents supply nappies, nappy sacks and wipes for children who need them, along with formula or breast milk and sufficient bottles for babies requiring feeds. These supplies also remain the family's responsibility during funded attendance. Sun cream must be applied before nursery because staff do not apply it.

The registration charge does not apply to children taking fully funded places. Fees are paid in advance, with weekly or monthly payment arrangements; current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. Leaving or changing booked days requires four weeks' paid notice, with a separate agreement governing funded hours. The fees and funding information sets out the main charge categories.

• Teaching and language support. More consistent extension of learning and stronger support for practising English at home were November 2021 improvement priorities. At a visit, ask how staff now build on children's existing knowledge and involve families using other home languages.
• Term-time funding within year-round care. Funded attendance covers 38 weeks, while the nursery opens across the year. Compare the allocation letter with the weeks you need, including lunches and the additional services charge.
• The weekly commitment. The minimum is two full days or equivalent, and changing attendance requires four weeks' paid notice. This suits a regular pattern more readily than frequent changes to booked days.
• Allergy arrangements. A nut-free policy sits alongside externally supplied lunches and food used in cookery. Families affected by allergies should confirm current practice and agree the food risk assessment and care plan before starting.

Springfield suits families choosing full-day care or shorter morning and afternoon funded sessions who want gardening, music, language activities and practical play within the nursery week. The separate gardens, baby sleep room and Springers preparation group give different stages their own arrangements.

Its November 2021 Good judgement provides a positive inspection baseline, with specific teaching and home-language priorities to discuss. The financial decision is equally concrete: term-time funding, year-round private attendance, separately charged lunch and parent-supplied consumables need to work together within the family's routine.