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Making Friends Day Nursery

Ofsted: Good
(Jan 2022)
·
4.5(6 parent reviews)
·68 Doncaster Road, Bawtry, Doncaster, DN10 6NU · Doncaster
Number of places
47 places
Age range
0–4 yrs
Last inspected
Jan 2022
Local authority
Doncaster

About this day nursery

Making Friends Day Nursery provides a stimulating and secure environment where children are encouraged to learn and develop through meaningful, hands-on play. The nursery values independence, creativity, and community, aiming to equip children with the skills needed to thrive in school and beyond.

They foster strong relationships with both children and parents, using the Famly app to ensure open communication throughout each child's learning journey. With a team of highly qualified staff and thoughtfully designed learning spaces, the nursery is dedicated to nurturing imagination, independent thinking, and positive contributions to the local community.

Co-owners Tracy and Rachel bring extensive experience in early childhood education, ensuring a nurturing and enriching experience for all children.

Our ethos

At Making Friends Nursery, we provide a safe and welcoming environment where children feel secure and at home. Our mission is to work alongside parents and carers to give children the best possible start in life, ensuring they become capable, independent, and creative learners ready for school. We believe in meaningful, hands-on play and support children to become independent thinkers, develop their imagination, and make positive contributions to their local community.

What it's like

Children are supported to feel safe, settled and secure by the caring staff team. Staff provide lots of comfort when children become upset, offering cuddles and reassurance to help them feel emotionally secure and develop close bonds with staff.

Meaningful, hands-on playFocus on independence and creativityStrong parent-nursery communication (Famly app)Experienced co-owners

Pricing & funding

This nursery offers full day, half day, and school day sessions, with pricing varying between the Bawtry and Moorends locations. Additional fees apply for food and consumables on funded places.

Good to know

  • Pricing structures vary by branch location (Bawtry or Moorends).
  • Additional daily food charges apply for funded sessions.
  • Consumables charges for funded sessions range between £2 and £3.

Key facts

Opening hours

7.30am to 6pm Monday to Friday

Term time / All Year

All Year

Established

2020

Ofsted Inspection

Ofsted rating for Making Friends Day Nursery

Last inspected 18 January 2022

Safeguarding effective
Overall effectiveness
Good
Quality of education
Good
Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Personal development
Good
Leadership and management
Good

What it's like to attend

Children are supported to feel safe, settled and secure by the caring staff team. Staff provide lots of comfort when children become upset, offering cuddles and reassurance to help them feel emotionally secure and develop close bonds with staff.

Inspector highlights

  • Management have a clear overview of the provision and plans are in place to support continuous improvement.
  • Staff continually review children's progress, which enables them to quickly identify any child who is at risk of falling behind in their development.
  • The manager has a very clear overview of what she wants children to learn over time, and this is shared with staff.
  • Children are encouraged to learn good hygiene practices from a young age.
  • Staff support babies to develop their physical skills and independence as they learn to feed themselves.

Areas to develop

  • 1support staff to consistently encourage quieter children and those with less language to increase their vocabulary
  • 2support staff to extend children's knowledge of oral health.
Inspection #10215838 · Source: OfstedView full Ofsted report

What parents say

Verbatim quotes recorded in the Ofsted inspection

parents confirm that staff keep them well informed about how their children have been

Inclusion & environment

How they support every child

SEND provision

Outside agency support is obtained for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This all positively contributes to narrowing potential gaps in children's achievements.

Outdoor space

Children benefit from planned daily opportunities for outside play, which supports their all-round development. Staff take small groups of babies outside throughout the day to ensure every baby has an opportunity to play outside in the fresh air. Older toddlers develop their physical skills as they enjoy learning how to safely negotiate obstacle courses.

Parent Reviews of Making Friends Day Nursery

4.5
(6)
Janine
a year ago

My son has been going to this nursery since he was one year old and it has been fab! He has moved every day there and the staff are amazing. Always keep me up to date and informed, give me advice when I ask them for it and support my son and me through his development. He has a good bond with his key worker/s which makes me feel more settled about leaving him. I’m so happy with the nursery that I will be keeping him here until he goes to school!

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Dot
a year ago

Highly recommend, Moorends making friends has helped my little girl so much in many ways. She’s autistic and when she first started going was non verbal and now she’s started talking putting a few words together and loves singing nursery rhymes. The staff are so lovely and very caring help with any worries I may have and got everything put in place ready for her going to big school.

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Tanisha Downing
3 years ago

I can’t recommend Making Friends (Bawtry) enough. From day one of my little boy attending nursery they have been understanding, helpful, caring and supportive throughout. All the practitioners are very professional and have a great knowledge of early years education. Through all my child’s milestones (including potty training) I’ve felt as a parent I’ve been supported and respected which gives me peace of mind as a whole. Overall a lovely environment for your little one to flourish.

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Kyran Urien
3 years ago

The girls here are fantastic, friendly and very understanding, my daughter loved attending the nursery setting and followed on to the wrap around care at bawtry mayflower primary school, the team at making friends was an absolute life saver as I’m a single full time working father, however things took a turn for the worst coming up to Christmas when making friends unexpectedly announced they would be closing their wrap around care facility leaving myself and other people stressed and worried about child care/work balance, I’d like to say that’s the only time making friends and their team have let me down but a couple months after my child left I received a letter from a debt collector agency working on behalf of making friends to collect the sum of £456, for an over due balance that was due in December of 2022, now I’m sure I had paid and checked my back statement and yes I had definitely paid, I contacted the debt collector a couple of weeks ago to settle this and explained this was an misunderstanding and then making friends had been contacted and they had found my payment after looking properly and brought my account with them to £0 owed, or that’s what I had been told but today I have opened a letter from the same debt collectors with a balance owed for making friends of £706, the letter stated the company intended to attend my property and take me to court on behalf of their clients MAKING FRIEND! You can imagine my surprise as i thought this matter had been delt with weeks ago but after speaking with the debt collector agency I have been informed that making friends did not however contact them to correct there terrible mistake and I was actually about to have collectors to my door and be taken to court for more than what making friends thought I owed to begin with, I called making friend and made the point that this matter urgent and was told that I would receive a call back from the manager but typically I did not so I called them back up hours later and I have just been passed around from pillar to post, I now have to call back up tomorrow to speak to the owners themself to settle this matter. This should have never happened, I should not be the one chasing things up after being told the matter was felt with weeks ago, incompetence, inexperienced money management and a complete disregard for other people’s financials and mental state really ruined everything for me, me and my daughter are now with hogglets who I find provide significantly better child care, activities, and financial billing and planning! Absolute disgrace, making friend deal with your mistakes when they become apparent, do not leave them to escalate this far and this bad! Update, after pressure to making friends and the debt collection agency this matter has now been solved, the owners of making friends was very apologetic about this case.

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Kate S.
3 years ago

A welcoming and lovely nursery. Our daughter has settled in quickly and is very happy. We looked at a few different settings in the area but I’m really pleased with our decision to send her here.

Read on Google

Reviews from Google for Making Friends Day Nursery. See all on Google Maps

Inspection history

Most recent inspection

18 January 2022

Good

Only one graded inspection on record — a trend chart will appear here once a second graded report is published.

View full Ofsted report

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