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Smart Start Nursery Trading As Time Out Limited

Smart Start Nursery Trading As Time Out Limited is a day nursery in Sutton Coldfield for children aged 1 to 4, with 80 registered places. Ofsted report card, 17 March 2026: Expected standard in 4 areas, Needs attention in 2 areas; safeguarding standards met.

Smart Start Day Nursery, 31-33 Reay Nadin Drive, Sutton Coldfield, B73 6UR

Key facts

Type
Day nursery (Full day care) (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Ages
1 to 4 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Registered places
80 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Registered
18 June 2024 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)

Opening hours

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

Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 17 March 2026

Who runs it

Smart Start Nursery Trading As Time Out Limited is run by Smart Start Nursery Trading as Time Out Limited (Ofsted register).

Latest inspection

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

Source: Ofsted, inspection on 17 March 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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

Children are welcomed into a caring and friendly environment where they form secure relationships with staff. They separate from their parents confidently and settle quickly into familiar routines. Staff know children well and respond to their individual needs, helping them to feel safe and supported. For example, children with additional needs benefit from tailored support, including the use of sensory spaces, visual prompts, and consistent approaches between home and the setting. As a result, children begin to develop confidence, interact with others and engage more fully in daily experiences.

Children enjoy a range of activities that support their communication, physical development and social skills. They take part in activities such as yoga, outdoor play and exploring sensory resources. However, the supervision of children when playing outdoors is not always rigorous enough to ensure their safety. Older children increase their social skills and enjoy developing storylines in their play with friends. Children show enjoyment in their learning, particularly when they can follow their interests and play alongside their friends.

Children generally behave well and are learning to take turns, share and understand their emotions. Staff support children to recognise feelings and build relationships, for example encouraging them to show kindness and empathy towards others. Children are developing independence, such as managing their personal care and helping with small responsibilities.

Children make expected progress from their starting points, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Targeted support helps children to improve their communication, confidence and engagement. While leaders promote children's attendance, some aspects of leaders' record-keeping are not implemented consistently, including how children's attendance is recorded.

What Ofsted found in each area

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders and staff identify children's needs using assessment information, including the progress check at age 2, to identify any possible delay in development, particularly in communication and language. They work with external professionals, such as speech and language services, and apply individual plans to support children's development. However, leaders are not fully effective in making sure that children receive prompt and consistent support.

Leaders and staff make adaptations to reduce barriers to learning. They adjust the environment and daily routines, including using visual supports, sensory spaces and targeted interventions. They provide one-to-one time for children and adapt routines so that children can access their full curriculum entitlement, for example, supporting those who arrive later in the day to engage in planned staff-led experiences.

Leaders and staff engage with parents and professionals to support children's needs and promote consistency between home and the setting. They share information about children's development and provide some guidance to support learning at home. Leaders understand the importance of using additional funding to support children who need extra help and use this to provide targeted support and resources.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders have a clear understanding of the curriculum and identify teaching and curriculum development as a current priority. They have introduced approaches, such as story sacks and focused language activities, to promote children's engagement and communication. However, leaders' monitoring is not yet precise or consistently embedded to ensure highly effective teaching across all age groups. Staff do not consistently use group times for older children to build further knowledge. There is an over-reliance on staff-directed tasks for rising 3-year-old children, which reduces opportunities for children to build independence in their learning.

The curriculum is broad and covers the areas of learning well. Practitioners use assessment information to understand what children know and can do, including those who face barriers to learning, and they use this to shape activities and experiences. For example, outdoors, leaders ensure that resources are organised to support children's physical development, enabling them to build confidence and a sense of adventure over time, such as progressing from smaller to more challenging equipment. Planned experiences, including yoga sessions for older children, contribute to children developing coordination, confidence and resilience. Staff also support early mathematical understanding through opportunities for counting, sorting and recognising quantity during play and daily routines.

Staff support children's communication and language through purposeful interactions. For example, they select objects and resources to introduce and reinforce new vocabulary with toddlers. They ably use songs, rhymes and actions with babies to develop early communication skills.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children make steady progress from their starting points, particularly in communication and language. They develop early vocabulary through songs, rhymes and interactions with staff. They learn to use words to express their needs and interests. However, progress is not consistently accelerated, as learning is not always precisely focused.

Overall, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face barriers to learning receive targeted support and make progress in their development.

Children apply their knowledge across areas of learning. For example, older children use early mathematical skills during self-initiated play, such as counting during games of hide and seek and exploring concepts of capacity as they fill, empty and pour water. Babies develop their physical skills as they move with increasing confidence, for example, going up and down steps and showing eagerness to explore and have a go.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Leaders create a positive environment where expectations for behaviour are understood and promoted. Staff build warm relationships with children, helping them feel secure and settled. Children respond to this through generally calm behaviour and engagement in daily routines.

Staff support children to learn how to get along with others, including sharing, taking turns and developing an awareness of others. For example, staff support toddlers to wait for what they want and use simple strategies to encourage turn-taking and awareness of others during play and routines. Staff establish behavioural expectations from a young age, including during mealtimes, where children learn to follow routines, building early self-regulation. Staff reinforce clear expectations for how children move around the setting, including outdoors, helping them to understand how to keep themselves and others safe. They successfully promote children's sense of responsibility, for example, when older children help during lunchtime routines. However, expectations are not consistently embedded to support highly effective attitudes to learning during group times with older children.

Staff consider children's individual needs and stages of development, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, adapting approaches and routines to support participation and engagement. Leaders promote attendance through daily checks and communication with families.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Needs attention

Leaders' systems for attendance registers are not consistently secure. At times, staff do not accurately record children's attendance on arrival, meaning leaders do not always have a clear understanding of which children are on site. This reduces the effectiveness of oversight of children's welfare, such as in the event of an emergency. Additionally, at times, staffing arrangements, in particular for outdoors, are not carefully considered. This means that at these times, children are not always supervised effectively.

Leaders promote children's health and wellbeing through daily routines well. Children receive some nutritious options and staff encourage independence in hygiene and self-care. However, leaders do not consistently ensure that menus support children to develop a secure understanding of healthy choices as they frequently offer desserts, including high-sugar options. Staff build secure relationships with children, helping them to feel safe, settled and supported. Babies and children form positive attachments with their key persons, who respond to their needs and provide reassurance throughout the day.

Staff support children's emotional wellbeing, such as helping them to recognise and manage their feelings. They use routines and interactions to provide comfort, supporting children to settle and engage. They support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face barriers to learning by adapting routines and transitions between rooms. They help children to build connections with new environments and staff in a way that reflects their individual needs.

Leadership and governance: Needs attention

Leaders have a broad awareness of the setting's strengths and areas for development. However, they did not identify weaknesses, meaning there was a breach of the requirements. They have a developing vision for improvement, including having even greater ambition for what children can achieve. This vision is not yet clearly defined or consistently secured in practice. Leaders' evaluation is not sufficiently precise or strategically embedded to ensure that improvements are consistently implemented across all areas. This means leaders are not yet securing a cohesive approach to improvement across the setting.

Leaders aim to make decisions in the best interests of children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face barriers to learning. They work with external agencies and families to support children's needs and promote consistency in care and development. Leaders share information with parents and work with outside agencies to support families where needed.

Leaders support staff wellbeing through regular supervision and access to training. They provide a structured programme of professional development, including a monthly focus where staff complete identified training, such as children's learning and development and mental health. Staff are given time to complete this training and report that they feel supported and able to seek guidance when needed.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider must:

  • improve procedures for recording children's attendance so that their arrival times are recorded accurately and promptly (by 23 April 2026)
  • strengthen leaders' oversight of the provision so that monitoring is precise and drives consistently high-quality experiences for all children (by 23 April 2026)
  • improve staffing arrangements to ensure effective supervision of children, in particular in the outdoor area. (by 30 April 2026)

Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 17 March 2026. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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

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    Ofsted, 18 February 2025: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
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    Ofsted, 21 July 2023: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
  • The Little Ripley Day Nursery - Day nursery, Sutton Coldfield B73 6SX, ages 0 to 4, 58 places, 0.8 miles
    Ofsted, 9 April 2024: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
  • The Rowans Day Nursery - Day nursery, Sutton Coldfield B73 5AE, ages 0 to 4, 120 places, 0.8 miles
    Ofsted, 20 June 2024: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
  • The Little Ripley Day Nursery - Day nursery, Birmingham B44 9SN, ages 0 to 5, 60 places, 0.8 miles
    Ofsted, 4 August 2023: Good overall; safeguarding is effective

Schools nearby

Smart Start Nursery Trading As Time Out Limited on the Ofsted website