Apple Blossom Day Nursery
Good★ 5.0 on GoogleBirth to 8+Long established
A day nursery in Alnwick for children from birth to 8+, open 07:00 to 18:00, 5 days a week. They do not publish prices, so that is the first thing to ask. Rated Good by Ofsted in March 2025. Open since 2016, with 60 places.
What you might pay
This setting does not publish its fees, and no national dataset holds them. This is what childcare costs across the council, as a starting point for the call.
What childcare usually costs in Northumberland
This is not this setting's price. It is the median hourly fee across all providers in Northumberland from the Department for Education's 2025 provider survey. No national data holds what an individual nursery charges, so ring and ask.
Places, hours and the day
Who they take, when they are open, and what a day there includes.
Where it is
NE66 1LTWhat the inspector found
One grade is one visit. A run of them tells you whether it has been good for years or has only just got there.
Ofsted inspector, 11 March 2025 · read the full report
What it is like to attend
Children are lively, curious and confident at this friendly and welcoming nursery.
Staff build lovely relationships with children. They are caring and kind. Staff ask children each morning how they are feeling. They encourage children to join in a song that describes how they are special and unique. This helps to build children's confidence and self-esteem. Staff remind children of the 'golden rules' that are followed throughout the nursery. These include using manners, not running indoors and being kind to their friends. Staff encourage children to vote for their choice of snack and provide the food that has the most votes. This helps children to learn about fairness and to respect for the views of others.
Staff understand well where children are in their development and what support they need for their future learning. Their ambitions for children as they move through the nursery are clear. Interactions between children and staff are friendly and warm, such as when children explore with jigsaws and fill toy vehicles with oats. Children are happy and focused as they smash ice with toy mallets and roll toy tractors through soil in the pretend farm. Children grow in their independence.
What Ofsted told them to improve
To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should:
- consider how better to deploy staff during group times, in order to provide more individual support for children's learning n review daily routines and the use of space in order to reduce noise levels and support children's listening skills.
- 11 March 2025Good Safeguarding: Yes
- 23 April 2024Needs improvement
- 19 June 2018Good
Rated Good or Outstanding at 2 of the last 3 graded inspections.
Still missing for Apple Blossom Day Nursery
- What it costs
- Funded hours
- Youngest age taken
- Meals
- Nappies
- Waiting list
No dataset holds any of this. Two parents telling us the same thing puts it on the page for whoever looks next.
What to ask them
None of this is in any national dataset and this setting has not published it, which is exactly why it is worth asking.
- What does it cost, all in? What is on top: meals, nappies, late pick-up, and what happens if you are late.
- Can I use my funded hours here? Whether they stretch them over the year, and the minimum days you have to book.
- Is there a place for my child's age? Baby rooms fill first and waiting lists are common.
- Who would my child's key person be? And how long have the staff been there. No dataset holds this and it matters more than anything above.
- Can I visit at a busy time? Mid-morning on a weekday tells you far more than an empty room after hours.