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Olivers Lodge - Saffron Walden

Olivers Lodge - Saffron Walden is a day nursery in Saffron Walden for children aged 1 to 10, with 30 registered places. Ofsted report card, 29 January 2026: Expected standard in 2 areas, Needs attention in 4 areas; safeguarding standards met.

St. Marys Primary School, Castle Street, Saffron Walden, CB10 1BQ

Key facts

Type
Day nursery (Full day care) (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Ages
1 to 10 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Registered places
30 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Registered
16 July 2009 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)

Opening hours

Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:00

Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 29 January 2026

Who runs it

Olivers Lodge - Saffron Walden is run by Olivers Lodge Limited (Ofsted register).

Latest inspection

  • Inclusion: Needs attention
  • Curriculum and teaching: Needs attention
  • Achievement: Needs attention
  • Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Needs attention
  • Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard
  • Leadership and governance: Expected standard
  • Safeguarding standards met

Source: Ofsted, inspection on 29 January 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

What it's like to be a child at this setting

Staff identify appropriate interventions and support plans for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including those children who face barriers to their learning. However, all staff do not share or implement these effectively. This means that these children are not consistently supported in their learning.

Children smile as they are greeted by name by the kind and caring staff. Children are happy to leave their parents and carers as they enter the setting. The friendly environment helps children to settle and feel relaxed and promotes positive attendance. Effective settling-in arrangements support children's smooth transition into the setting. Key persons and leaders know children well and develop secure relationships with children from the outset.

Children confidently move around the thoughtfully arranged environment, indoors and outdoors, that reflects their interests and values the uniqueness of all children. This supports children's sense of belonging and develops their awareness of the wider world. Children make independent choices of what they would like to explore. However, children do not receive clear guidance and support about what is expected of them during daily routines. This results in some children not being engaged or supported to manage their behaviour, particularly those who require additional support.

Outdoors, younger children use natural open-ended resources, such as twigs, to tap suspended metal utensils. This stimulates their creativity and engagement as they explore how tapping with different force and on different parts of the utensils creates a range of sounds. Older children enjoy being immersed in nature. Staff support them to respect living things, such as worms that they find. Children benefit from outings in the community and visits from professionals. These provide meaningful real-life learning experiences that strengthen their understanding of the world.

What Ofsted found in each area

Inclusion: Needs attention

Leaders actively seek additional support from relevant professionals to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face barriers to their learning. However, in practice, staff do not typically implement targeted support. Staff know their key children well and use interventions to help close gaps in these children's learning. However, there are not effective arrangements in place to ensure that other staff understand what it is that these children need to learn next or ensure that their interactions support their development. Staff do not provide children who have transitioned to the room for the oldest children with enough support to help them to understand new routines. This means that not all children feel a sense of belonging and make the progress they are capable of to be ready for their next stage in learning.

Leaders work in partnership with staff and parents and carers to ensure that children's individual needs are swiftly identified through regular assessments. Leaders ensure that they use additional funding effectively. For example, they ensure that children have appropriate clothing to feel and be included in learning experiences that support their development. Since the setting's last inspection, the setting offers care for babies and young children. Leaders recognise the importance of specific care practices for this group of children. All staff are trained to meet the needs of children under the age of 2 years.

Curriculum and teaching: Needs attention

The quality of teaching is variable. Staff do not always adapt their teaching to meet the needs of all children to support their engagement, progress and understanding of the expectations for their behaviour. Leaders recognise some areas for improvement to help staff consistently meet all children's learning needs. They are in the early stages of embedding these with the newly formed team. Leaders implement a curriculum that encompasses all areas of learning and development. This focuses on teaching children important life skills. Staff complete regular observations and assessments of children. Overall, they identify what children need to learn next to help prepare them for their next stage of learning.

Staff share and celebrate children's 'wow' moments from home and in the setting with their peers. This boosts children's self-esteem and informs future planning. Staff build children's language skills through songs and careful repetition of words. They use visits to the local park and access to the host school's grounds to support children to build strength and stamina as they use large apparatus. Staff encourage young children to develop perseverance as they squeeze and manipulate dough into different-shaped moulds. They introduce them to shape and space as they eagerly complete puzzles. Staff support older children to develop a concept of time with a sand timer and encourage them to count and identify numerals.

Achievement: Needs attention

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face barriers in their learning do not always receive the targeted support they need to close gaps in their learning. This means that some children make varied progress through the curriculum to prepare them for the next stage in learning due to inconsistencies in teaching.

Generally, children are confident communicators. They begin to form sentences to express their wants and needs and talk to staff about experiences from home. Children join in with the actions and words to familiar songs. Older children enjoy chatting with their friends as they share ideas about how to use the construction blocks to add features to the airport they have created together. Younger children snuggle up in the cosy den to look at books and name the characters on the pages. They learn new words, such as 'helmet', as staff use photos to introduce them to the uniform that police officers wear.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Needs attention

Staff do not consistently implement daily routines for older children in ways that help all children understand the expectations for their behaviour or support smooth daily transitions. During whole-group times, staff invite confident children to share rules and safety messages but do not adapt their teaching for children who have newly transitioned to the room or are less engaged. When children display inappropriate behaviour, staff move them to an alternative activity and do not use these moments to reinforce expectations. Therefore, some children do not receive consistent messages or equal support to understand what is expected of them. This means that transitions, such as moving from indoor to outdoor environments, are generally disorganised. Children do not receive clear instructions or appropriate support to put on their outer clothing. Some children become unsettled, and opportunities to develop independence and a positive attitude to learning and engage in meaningful learning are reduced.

Leaders and staff work hard to build positive relationships with children and their families. Leaders take time to share information with parents and carers about the importance of attending regularly and of the impact this can have on children's learning and development. Staff recognise moments in children's play to praise them for their positive behaviour. This motivates them to share resources, such as torches, with their friends.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

All children build secure relationships with their key person. Young children welcome the nurturing cuddles from staff as they wake from their sleep. This prepares them to resume their play in their own time. Staff consistently value children's emotions and provide nurturing reassurance if needed. Staff support children to develop an awareness of their own emotions. They support children to place their personalised self-registration stick in the coloured cup that represents how they are feeling. Older children enjoy dancing and moving their body to music. Staff demonstrate different ways of moving. This motivates children to copy. They stretch their arms up high in different directions, jump and persevere to balance on one leg. Staff support younger children to carefully negotiate different terrains. For example, they encourage children to walk on slippery mud in the forest area and climb in and out of the sandpit independently.

Older children develop a secure understanding of the importance of good oral health. They eagerly find their own toothbrush and know to brush their teeth after lunch for 2 minutes. Children make independent decisions about which healthy snack they prefer. Staff remind children to remain seated while eating to ensure their safety. Staff sit with children at mealtimes and talk to them about the food they eat and how this promotes their good health.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

The setting now offers care for young children, including babies, in addition to the existing out-of-school provision, although, at the time of inspection, no babies were present. Leaders demonstrate highly reflective practice and maintain clear oversight of the setting, particularly following recent changes to the provision. They accurately identify priorities for improvement. Leaders take decisive and focused action guided by their action plan. They work closely with the mainly new staff team to raise expectations and improve practice. However, leaders have not yet had time to ensure that improved practice is consistently embedded.

Robust arrangements to improve staff practice are in place. Leaders are strong role models and invest significant time supporting staff, targeting their support precisely where it is needed. This is complemented with the completion of training courses and visits from external professionals. Leaders make positive adjustments to staff workload, and their wellbeing is a high priority. Leaders identify that some children have barriers to their learning. They work in partnership with parents and carers and outside agencies to swiftly seek support. Leaders and staff keep parents fully involved in their child's time at the setting. Parents welcome the many opportunities to attend events at the setting.

Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 29 January 2026. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Inspection history

  • 29 January 2026: Full inspection, report card: Expected standard in 2, Needs attention in 4
  • 7 February 2020: Inspection (report)
  • 3 August 2015: Inspection (report)
  • 10 March 2011: Inspection (report)
  • 20 January 2010: Inspection (report)

Ofsted report cards (England, from November 2025)

Since 10 November 2025 Ofsted has graded nurseries and pre-schools on a report card. There is no single overall grade. Instead, each of six areas gets one of five grades: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, Urgent improvement.

The six areas are inclusion; curriculum and teaching; achievement; behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines; children's welfare and wellbeing; leadership and governance. Safeguarding is judged on its own, as met or not met.

Expected standard means the setting does what Ofsted expects of every setting. Strong standard and Exceptional are above that; Needs attention and Urgent improvement mean Ofsted found things the setting has to put right.

Source: Ofsted reports

Funded childcare hours in England

All 3 and 4 year olds in England can get 15 hours of free childcare a week, for 38 weeks of the year.

Working parents of children aged 9 months to 4 years old can get 30 hours of free childcare a week for 38 weeks of the year (Free Childcare for Working Parents), if they meet the earnings rules. You confirm your details every 3 months.

Some 2 year olds can get 15 hours a week when the family gets certain kinds of extra support.

The hours are used at a registered provider that offers them, so ask each nursery how it offers the funded hours.

Source: GOV.UK: Free Childcare for Working Parents, check if you're eligible · GOV.UK: Free childcare and education for 2 to 4 year olds (checked 31 October 2026)

Other nurseries nearby

Schools nearby

Olivers Lodge - Saffron Walden on the Ofsted website