A very warm welcome to The Co-operative Childcare.

Here you will find lots of general information that should be useful in getting a feel for the setting, however every child is individual and you will undoubtedly have lots of questions that relate specifically to your child’s needs, interests and their development. A tour of our quality facilities would be highly recommended in order to fully appreciate how the nursery operates and to see first hand the care and attention that each child receives. To arrange a tour, simply use the contact details on this page or pop in to the nursery itself.

At The Co-operative Childcare we never underestimate how difficult a decision it is to leave your child in the care of others and our aim is to ensure that you have all the information you need to make this very important decision.



“Children benefit from vibrant, bright and highly stimulating areas to play inside and good access to free-flowing indoor and outdoor play. Child-sized furniture and low-level, open storage units create a welcoming environment and enables children to freely access the abundant range of toys and resources for themselves”.

Latest Inspection Date 23/3/2010. To view the full report click here


Our nursery team are friendly and approachable and attend numerous training courses to enhance their knowledge, enabling them to provide the best care and enjoyable learning experiences for our children. All colleagues are qualified or working towards their qualifications and together they have over 140 years of experience in childcare. Our Nursery Manager Jane has over 28 years of experience in childcare and there is a dedicated, loyal team of 33 colleagues who provide the best possible care in a bright and modern nursery setting.


At The Co-operative Childcare in Blackbird Leys, we pride ourselves on our warm and welcoming atmosphere. It is a purpose built nursery located opposite the college grounds and was newly opened in 2009. The nursery features high-tech energy saving equipments including solar panels and a rain water harvester and offers state of the art facilities for your child. Most importantly it is a stimulating, safe and secure environment for your child. There are 4 home rooms within our nursery split into the following age groups: 2 rooms for the 0-2 years olds, one room for the 2-3 year olds and one room for the 3-5 year olds.


The nursery has ample free car parking adjacent to the building for easy access. There is a large garden with a grass area and soft matting for the children to enjoy. There is also a planting area where children enjoy growing their own vegetables and a mini beast area to explore nature. This all supports the ‘enabling environments’ theme of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). There are also some lovely climbing equipments and an outdoor musical area aswell to stimulate and challenge our children.


There are many activities in addition to the core learning and play that takes place at the nursery and supports the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework. An example of this is Tatty Bumpkin classes that are inspired by yoga, but are very much a creative and developmental experience. A typical session centres around Tatty Bumpkin, a quirky character, who takes the children on musical story adventures. Within the stories the children take part in lots of physical activity, relaxation, yoga poses, exploring texture and the senses, as well as the unique Tatty Bumpkin songs. The children also enjoy trips to the library as it is close by and have various visitors which have included the sensory bus, fire engine and police car.


At The Co-operative Childcare we offer an all inclusive package and provide all nappies, formula milk and food (breakfast, midmorning snack, lunch, mid afternoon snack, tea). Our chef prepares a home cooked lunch every day using fresh produce from local suppliers. This supports our ethics and values of being a co-operative and gives the children the nutrition they need to ensure they grow healthily whilst in our care. We also cater for all dietary requirements and allergies. The children also enjoy growing some of their own vegetables in the garden of the nursery.


The parents have an information board located in the reception area which has a variety of useful information to them. In 0-2 year olds and 2-3 year olds home room they have a feedback sheet which will include the children’s daily information of how they have been, including sleep, food, nappies and anything that they have enjoyed during the day. The 3-5 year olds carers give verbal feedback to the parent of how the child has been. The nursery has a notice board within the central area where WOW vouchers are placed, giving parents the opportunity to share any achievements from home to be incorporated into there child’s development files. When parents join the nursery they are asked to complete an information from home sheet which will help the key person to settle the child into the nursery environment.

Parents evening are offered at regular intervals throughout the year, the child’s key person discusses the child’s development with their parents.

We often hold fair-trade coffee mornings, have lending libraries so that parents can share the books that children read at nursery in their own homes and also a sports day which we encourage parents to take part in.


“I am very proud of our nursery which is very much part of the local community and is well established. The environment is bright, airy, vibrant and has stimulation areas inside and out. Our outdoor facilities are great and there is good access to the outdoors from the children’s rooms. We have an abundance of toys and resources for all age groups which our children love and most importantly they feel safe, secure and cared for by my experienced nursery team. The colleagues are well qualified or working towards their NVQ’s and we completely support the government initiative ECAT, Every Child’s A Talker. We also have the benefit of a qualified teacher as part of our nursery team which helps with ensuring we following the curriculum and that our children’s learning and development is focused and planned at all times”. ”

A final word from one of our parents
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the high quality care you provide. I would, and already have, recommended you to friends” Mrs Freeman (Oxford)