Burnholme Day Nursery

A separate room for babies, an adjoining sleep room and a covered outdoor play space give Burnholme Day Nursery a clear practical character. Within the grounds of Centre@Burnholme, its purpose-built premises combine shared play with areas suited to different stages of childhood. The nursery has capacity for 30 children, accepting ages from 3 months to 5 years.

At its 26 August 2021 inspection, Ofsted rated Burnholme Good overall and judged safeguarding effective. That assessment belongs to 2021. The current offer includes a key person for each child, learning journeys families can contribute to, and outdoor resources that extend from a mud kitchen to musical instruments.

Morning, afternoon and full-day bookings provide different attendance patterns. For parents, the more revealing distinction is how the shared nursery space works alongside the quieter provision for babies: children can spend time together, while their resources and activities also reflect their stage of development.

Rooms and Ages

Baby Room has treasure baskets, books, musical instruments and messy play, with a separate space for babies to explore alongside children of a similar age and build a relationship with their key person. An attached sleep room can operate separately, so rest need not depend on the main play space becoming quiet. Children of any age can use it for a nap or a break.

Toddler/ Pre-school combines age-appropriate areas with shared play, using construction materials, imaginative play, songs and creative activities to support children's interests and next steps. The larger open space also allows children to play alongside siblings or friends at other stages. Shared mealtimes bring the age groups together.

Individual drawers give preschool children somewhere to put their work themselves. This is a small but useful physical detail: independence has a practical place in the room, rather than being confined to an activity planned by an adult.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets out children's learning, development and care, with play, relationships and experiences supporting development. It is the common foundation for nursery education. Here, staff combine activities they lead with play children initiate, adjusting what they plan to each child's age, development and interests.

Books, role play and construction materials give children different ways to explore an idea. Children can choose activities indoors and outside through free flow play, while staff change resources to extend what they are doing. The key person's observations feed into an individual learning journey, linking everyday play with the next steps planned for that child.

In August 2021, babies practised early communication as adults named objects and repeated words; older children used puppets and props to revisit stories. Water play involved filling and emptying containers, while drawing and supported scissor work exercised hand control. These examples show the learning beneath familiar nursery activities.

There were limits to that approach in August 2021. Some activities followed children's interests too closely and missed chances to stretch their learning; monitoring of activity delivery and staff development also needed greater attention. The useful question is how an enjoyable activity becomes a sufficiently challenging one.

Outdoor and Community Life

The covered outdoor area accommodates sand and water play when the weather is less favourable. Beyond it, a fairy and dinosaur garden, mud kitchen and integrated musical instruments offer imaginative and sensory play, while scooters, balancing equipment and tunnels support movement. Outdoor time has several purposes here, rather than being solely a break from indoor activities.

In August 2021, children took turns outside, and older children cared for plants and made labels. Opportunities across the curriculum were less consistent for some other children, who sometimes struggled to settle into outdoor learning. Extending learning outdoors was an improvement priority.

Past visitors have included North Yorkshire Police and the Fire Service, giving children contact with organisations beyond the nursery. Planned trips also form part of learning about the surrounding world. These are experiences to discuss alongside the everyday indoor and outdoor provision, rather than assuming a fixed visiting schedule.

Settling begins with information from home. For babies, staff discuss routines and parents' worries, provide a welcome pack and aim to keep the nursery day close to the child's familiar pattern. The key person offers continuity, supports the transition into nursery and remains someone families can speak to about their child.

All staff have training in safeguarding, food hygiene and paediatric first aid. These are arrangements for care, rather than a substitute for an inspection judgement. In August 2021, staff helped children manage changes of activity by giving advance notice, and used family photographs as a starting point for conversation. Predictable transitions and familiar images gave everyday relationships something concrete to build on.

At the August 2021 inspection, Ofsted found that support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) was a strength, with additional funding used for individualised learning and staff working with families, specialists and schools to support progress and the move to school. That is a dated finding about how support worked in practice, rather than a blanket promise about every child's experience.

Communication has several routes. Babies and toddlers have daily diaries covering meals and toileting, while preschool activity and mealtime information is displayed on notice boards. Famly carries photographs, observations and messages parents can reply to, and holds children's learning journeys; families can add experiences from home. That creates a route for information to travel in both directions.

Lunch is cooked in the Explore library's onsite kitchen, and the day also includes snacks and a light tea. The nursery publishes a nut-free policy and offers catering for dietary requirements; funded meals and snacks have an optional separate charge, with a cold packed-food alternative.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is The Centre, Mossdale Avenue, York YO31 0HA. Opening hours are 8am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. Full-day bookings run from 8am to 5.30pm, morning sessions from 8am to 12.45pm, and afternoon sessions from 1pm to 5.30pm; a full-week booking is also offered.

Burnholme opens for 51 weeks of the year, closing on bank holidays and between Christmas and New Year. Those closures are not charged. Sickness does not bring a refund, while holidays are charged at half the usual fee. These terms matter when comparing the cost of the attendance pattern a family actually needs.

One month's notice applies both to leaving and to changes in booked sessions. A registration charge applies to nursery bookings, except for children using only funded early education hours. Monthly invoices arrive through Famly, and fees are calculated from the sessions attended that month. Families can enquire by telephone on 01904 551702 or through the enquiry form.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funding includes the universal 15-hour entitlement for three- and four-year-olds, eligible two-year-old funding, and working-parent funding from 9 months. Both term-time and stretched attendance are offered, with funded hours calculated against the booked sessions. Eligibility checks and a signed parental declaration form are part of the process.

The stretched arrangements spread funded hours across the year: the nursery sets 11 hours weekly for the 15-hour entitlement and 22.5 hours weekly for the 30-hour entitlement, over 51 weeks. A full-day funded booking uses 9.5 hours regardless of a shorter stay; the same principle applies to morning and afternoon bookings. This makes the booking pattern important to how funding lasts.

Private hours beyond funding can be charged. Meals and snacks during funded attendance are charged separately if chosen, and parents can instead send cold packed food that follows the nursery's nut-free policy. The fees page sets out the charge structure; current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

For outdoor play, parents supply wellies and sunhats, while the nursery supplies sun cream. Tax-Free Childcare and childcare vouchers are accepted. A sibling discount applies to additional children attending, with the first child paying the full fee.

• Shared space and baby routines. The separate Baby Room and adjoining sleep room sit alongside mixed-age play. On a visit, explore how your baby's sleep and quieter play fit around the shared day.
• Challenge in learning. In August 2021, activities sometimes missed opportunities to extend children's learning, and outdoor learning needed development. Ask for current examples of how staff extend an interest indoors and outside.
• Funding follows the booking. A funded full day uses 9.5 hours even if collection is earlier. Compare morning, afternoon and full-day attendance against the term-time or stretched arrangement before committing.
• Food and dietary needs. Funded food charges are optional, with cold packed food permitted under the nut-free policy. Allergy-affected families should confirm current practice and how their child's requirements will be managed.

Burnholme suits families looking for morning or afternoon sessions as well as full-day attendance, with either term-time or stretched funding. The separate baby and sleep spaces, covered outdoor play and Famly communication give the choice tangible substance. Its August 2021 Good judgement provides a positive inspection position, balanced by specific concerns about learning challenge and outdoor curriculum opportunities. The strongest reason to consider it is the combination of quieter baby provision, shared play and several workable attendance patterns.