FAQ’s

Ofsted are our governing body and our registration number is EY478220

Absolutely, we have no restriction on locations and care for children across all areas of the Midlands.

Absolutely, we welcome people to come and view our setting. We usually arrange viewings Tuesday-Friday 10am or 4.30pm – whichever is most convenient. Due to safeguarding, all viewings need to be booked in advance and visitors will be shown around the setting by one of our senior practitioners.

Yes, we are open 51 weeks of the year – we only close on bank holidays and during the week between Christmas and New Year.

Change of clothing (for water/messy play), sun hat, wellies, woolly hat, scarf, coat (weather dependent). All these items can be stored at nursery in one of our bags supplied just for your child so nothing extra needs to be bought into nursey on a daily basis.

We provide nappies and wipes for babies and toddlers.

Our nursery has monitored CCTV installed and facial recognition technology for enhanced security which will ensure that no unauthorised persons can access the setting. The entrance to the nursery has a double door security system to heighten the safety of all the children and staff in our care. For added measures we have installed electric gates to the front access of the nursery.

Yes, this is an important part of your child’s transition to nursery. These are usually conducted the week before starting so your child can familiarise themselves with our setting.

Yes, we support families when a child is ready to begin potty training. We use sticker/ reward charts to help in this area.

In our Baby room we care for children aged between 3 months and 2 years of age. Our Toddler room care for 2-3 year old children, before moving into our Pre-School at aged 3-4 years. The children transition between the rooms when they reach the new age milestone.

We open from 7:30am until 6:00pm. We run 2 sessions throughout the day; 08.00-5.30pm and 7.30-6.00pm

We serve Breakfast between 07.30am – 8.30am, Lunch from 11.30am and Tea is served at 4pm.

We do accept childcare vouchers, this is the responsibility of the parent to make sure that their details are set up with the voucher provider.

The child’s key worker will update their online record regularly using Interactive Learning Diary (ILD) and we hold regular parent evenings to discuss your child’s progress. At the end of each session practitioners will talk you through your child’s day sharing vital information such as what your child has eaten, if they have had a sleep, drinks etc…

We ask for you to let us know as soon as possible if you are running late. If you collect your child after your designated time, you will be charged an extra £20 for every 10 minutes of lateness.

No unfortunately not, we have a strict policy on exclusion periods. For sickness and diarrhoea children must be away from nursery for 48 hours after last symptom.

Please do let us know of any forthcoming holiday dates. This helps us to organise rotas to ensure we have the correct ratios per room setting.

We play outside at least once every day throughout all rooms of the nursery. We also have a covered area so during bad weather we can still enjoy our outdoor facilities.

The Baby, Toddler and Pre-School room within our nursery are fully air conditioned so the children will always be kept cool.

We do not allow children to bring in their own toys from home. We have so many toys and books that the risk of them being misplaced is high. If your child has a comforter, then they can bring this into nursery to settle, however this will be stored in their nursery bag at the earliest convenience.

Astwood Smiles are very much part of the Astwood Bank Community and we like to encourage the children to explore our local community too. We may take children to the local Overdale Park, visit the allotments in summer, visit the war memorials for Remembrance Day or look at the road signs and traffic lights for Road Safety Week. If we venture off site then all children and practitioners wear high vis jackets, take a first aid kit and a bag of supplies. We always make parents aware of plans to take the children off-site and parents can opt out if they prefer.

In the interest of safeguarding, we do ask that you do not let anybody into the premises – this may happen when you are entering or exiting the building. We ask that you apologise and ask anyone waiting to ring the bell and wait for a member of staff to assist the person waiting at the door. We also ask that you do not use your mobile phone at all whilst on the premises.