Banana Moon Day Nursery Ashmore

A purpose-built setting, a natural adventure area and a separate place for babies to sleep give Banana Moon Day Nursery Ashmore a clear practical character. Based on Griffiths Drive in Ashmore Park, Wolverhampton, it welcomes children from three months to five years. Its three spacious rooms provide the physical setting; play, outdoor time and attention to individual routines shape the day.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good on 25 February 2025, with mathematics and opportunities for children to work through problems identified as areas for further development. Those are useful points to weigh alongside the facilities. Full-day, morning and afternoon sessions serve different family schedules, rather than a single attendance pattern.

Rooms and Ages

Three physical rooms sit alongside Banana Moon's group age-stage descriptions: Baby Moons, Teenie Moons, Mini Moons and Full Moons. These describe progression through nursery life rather than four separate rooms at Ashmore. Movement through the youngest stages depends partly on children's mobility, so the progression is more individual than a simple birthday timetable.

Baby Moons begins at three months and continues until children move confidently, with sensory play introducing textures, colours and shapes. Teenie Moons is the next stage for confidently mobile children up to two, with singing, painting and messy play among its planned experiences. Mini Moons covers ages two to three, emphasising choosing activities and developing independence, including support with toilet training. Full Moons covers three to five, combining children's own activity choices with learning followed by their key person.

For babies, the dedicated sleep room is a substantial practical feature. Soft lighting and wooden cots create a space separate from active play, while individual bed linen is washed at the nursery. This gives sleep its own setting rather than making it compete with the activity of the main room.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the shared framework for learning and care: here, children practise developing skills through play, while staff observe their interests and plan what comes next. Alongside it sits the group-wide Banana Moon Early Learning & Development Programme, which uses children's fascinations to shape teaching and provides resources that can be explored in different ways. It is an approach to delivering learning within the EYFS, with play as the starting point.

The curriculum page explains the programme's emphasis on observation, communication with families and playful experiences. For parents, the useful distinction is between a planned learning direction and activities driven entirely by adults: children's existing interests contribute to what staff prepare.

In February 2025, babies explored a farmyard toy, toddlers worked with flowers and paint, and preschool children mixed coloured, glittery water. Staff introduced vocabulary during play and children shared books in quieter spaces. These examples show how ordinary experiences can bring together language, sensory exploration and conversation.

There were also missed opportunities. In February 2025, counting, estimating and talking about shapes were not developed consistently, and adults sometimes stepped in before children had enough time to find their own solutions. The improvement points concern the interaction around an activity as much as the activity itself: attractive resources need teaching that extends children's thinking.

Outdoor and Community Life

A secure playground and natural adventure area give outdoor play a defined place in the setting. Children use the outdoors daily across the year, adding space for movement and encounters with changing seasons to indoor play. That is a useful counterweight to a day spent inside.

In February 2025, outdoor activity included running, jumping and climbing. Conversations about dental care and healthy food also formed part of the day. Physical activity and everyday care were connected with learning, rather than treated solely as breaks between other experiences.

Relationships and Communication

Settling is flexible, with parents participating in sessions and discussing their baby's requirements with staff. Home routines inform care, including established sleep patterns. For a young baby, that makes continuity between home and nursery a concrete part of the arrangement, rather than simply an aspiration.

The key person follows learning and records progress in the preschool stage. The group Parent App, used here to share routines and learning, adds a practical communication channel: it covers snacks, sleep and activities, with individual learning journals and photographs. Parents can respond from home, and access can also be extended to named relatives such as grandparents.

That two-way exchange matters because children's development does not happen solely at nursery. A family can contribute information from home while seeing what has occupied their child during the day. The app brings care routines and learning into the same conversation, rather than giving parents only a collection of pictures.

In February 2025, families received spoken updates, online communication, newsletters and meetings about development. Staff also supported toilet training. These were different ways of keeping parents involved, from immediate practical information to a fuller discussion of how their child was getting on.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the February 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described prompt recognition of possible special educational needs or disabilities, with staff involving external agencies to support children's progress. That is a dated assessment of practice, supported by specific mechanisms rather than a general promise that every need can be met.

In February 2025, staff helped children recognise feelings, supported sharing and turn-taking, and offered reassurance when babies sought comfort. Emotional development was part of everyday interaction. This matters for children learning both to express a need and to manage playing alongside others.

Current access arrangements include fingerprint entry for enrolled parents and staff-controlled admission for other visitors, alongside CCTV. Sleeping babies have camera monitoring and regular staff checks, with an intention to follow the family's established routine. These are practical arrangements; the inspection judgement is the evidence for safeguarding effectiveness.

A CardiAid automated external defibrillator is installed in reception and is accessible to the local community through the ambulance service; a LifeVac anti-choking device is also installed. The associated arrangements include attention to food preparation and supervision during meals. The equipment is a tangible feature, while daily prevention remains part of the care described.

An on-site cook prepares two hot meals each day, and younger babies have their own weaning menu. The nursery's dietary policy covers allergies and other requirements, while older children are encouraged to serve themselves, making meals another opportunity to practise independence.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Griffiths Drive, Ashmore Park, Wolverhampton WV11 2LJ. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks, with closure on bank holidays and for a Christmas week. Families needing care across the working year should factor those closures into their plans.

The booking patterns are a Full Day from 7.30am to 6.30pm, AM from 7.30am to 1pm and PM from 1pm to 6.30pm. A morning or afternoon booking therefore provides a different arrangement from attending for the whole day. The nursery recommends two half-day sessions or one full day each week; this is a recommendation, rather than a stated compulsory minimum.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01902 735432 or through the callback form. Fees remain payable during a child's sickness or holiday, with payment terms covering 51 weeks and including bank holidays. Those terms affect the cost of the attendance pattern even when a child misses a session.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered alongside paid childcare. Snacks and meals are included in the session fee, so food forms part of the paid attendance arrangement rather than a separate meal charge.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. Its fees page provides the enquiry route for fees and funded childcare. Families comparing arrangements should use the quotation for their intended pattern, especially where funded and privately paid attendance are combined.

• Mathematics and independent thinking. The February 2025 improvement points concerned extending number learning and giving children more time to solve problems. During a visit, ask how staff now develop counting and how they decide when to step into children's play.
• Age stages within three rooms. Ashmore has three physical rooms, while the group describes four age stages. Ask how Baby Moons and Teenie Moons are organised here, and what determines a child's move between stages.
• The funded-place quotation. Food is included in paid session fees and funded childcare is offered. Ask for one written breakdown covering your funded hours, any additional hours, food and non-food consumables.
• Dietary arrangements. The nursery caters for dietary requirements and offers a separate weaning menu. Families managing an allergy should confirm current preparation and serving arrangements for their child before joining.

Banana Moon Ashmore suits families seeking either full-day attendance or shorter morning and afternoon sessions, with care extending from early babyhood to preschool. The dedicated sleep room, daily outdoor play and Parent App give it practical appeal across those stages, while flexible settling keeps individual routines in view.

The February 2025 Good judgement provides a positive inspection position, tempered by specific weaknesses in mathematics and the time children were given to think independently. This is a nursery with useful facilities and clear care arrangements. The most valuable visit discussion is how the teaching now makes fuller use of them.