Mary Kelly's Rascals Day Nursery

Six rooms across two floors and two secure outdoor play areas give Mary Kelly's Rascals Day Nursery its physical character. This Radcliffe setting combines a structured daily rhythm with play shaped by children's interests, making space for both planned activities and the questions children bring into them.

The nursery has capacity for 80 children, accepting ages from birth to five. Ofsted rated it Good on 16 January 2023 and judged safeguarding effective. The important qualification is the date: those judgements concern the nursery at that visit.

Current care arrangements include an individual key person and communication through class dojo, an app for exchanging updates, photographs and learning ideas. Attendance includes full-time care and flexible hourly arrangements, alongside funded hours within a shorter daytime window.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS sets the standards for children's learning, development and care: here, play gives children opportunities to practise communication, movement, imagination and independence. Practitioners have helped write the nursery's own curriculum, which is revisited as children's needs and interests change. This makes planning responsive to the children attending rather than simply repeating a fixed sequence of topics.

Its in the moment planning approach means staff respond to an interest while the child is absorbed in it. Accessible materials include natural objects and loose parts that children can use in different ways. The practical distinction is choice: a resource need not have one prescribed purpose, so children can decide how to explore it. The curriculum page explains this approach.

In January 2023, children mixed dough, adjusted ingredients and cut their creations with scissors. Older children compared objects on scales, using language about weight. These examples connect physical practice with early mathematical ideas: making something becomes a chance to handle tools, test a quantity and describe a comparison.

Outdoor and Daily Life

The building is an extended dwelling, with provision spread over six rooms on two levels. Resources are selected for the age group using each room. Two secure outdoor areas provide space for play beyond the indoor rooms, an important part of the physical offer for families considering how their child will spend the day.

In January 2023, outdoor activities included riding wheeled toys, bowling with a ball and pins, and writing numbers on the ground with thick chalk. Road-safety learning also carried into children's conversations about crossing with an adult. These were practical experiences, linking movement and play with ideas children could explain to one another.

The daily routine alternates child-directed and adult-led activities, with breakfast, a toast-and-milk break, lunch and an afternoon snack tea providing regular pauses. There is structure, but the timetable also leaves room for spontaneous activity. For a child, that means recognisable points in the day alongside opportunities to follow an interest.

A key person plans each child's care and learning, while regular conversations keep parents informed about the day. class dojo extends that exchange with photographs, videos, updates and ideas for learning at home. These are complementary channels: a conversation can address the immediate day, while shared resources give families something concrete to continue together.

Tiny Happy People is another parent resource, offering simple play ideas and activities to support children's communication. Its value is practical rather than elaborate: families can use everyday play as an opportunity to talk with their child.

At its January 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that communication assessment and additional speech support helped address children's needs, and that parents valued information about their development, but identified inconsistent pronunciation by staff and insufficient guidance to parents about healthy food choices. These were specific improvement points, not reasons to overlook the wider Good judgement.

In January 2023, children turned to staff for comfort when upset, and books and adult modelling helped them talk about manners and kindness. That observation gives a concrete picture of emotional support at the time: adults were helping children recognise feelings and consider how their behaviour affected others.

Current illness arrangements include informing parents immediately if a child becomes unwell during attendance. Antibiotics can be administered with prior written consent, and children with an infectious illness must stay away. Families therefore have a defined responsibility to share information and authorise medication before it is given.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 69 Ainsworth Road, Radcliffe, Manchester, M26 4FA. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday; the nursery operates for 51 weeks, closing for bank holidays and a week at Christmas.

Full-time attendance runs from 7.30am to 6pm. Flexible hours are also offered through daily and hourly rates, giving families an alternative to booking the whole opening window. Enquiries can be made by telephone or contact form.

Funded entitlement is taken between 9am and 3pm. The term-time pattern provides 30 hours a week over 38 weeks; a stretched pattern provides 22 hours a week over 51 weeks, subject to availability, with the same daytime window. The distinction matters: year-round opening does not mean funded hours cover the full opening day.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded early education is offered for children aged two, three and four, alongside the 30-hour entitlement for eligible working parents from the term after their child reaches nine months until school age. Additional private hours are charged separately from entitlement hours.

Meals and lunch carry a separate charge, including within the funded offer; parents supply nappies and wipes. Families wishing to bring their own meals or consumables instead of paying should discuss arrangements with the nursery. The funding and extras page sets out the charge structure, and current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Funding window. Entitlement hours fall between 9am and 3pm, while the full-time day starts earlier and ends later. Compare those patterns with your working hours and the cost of additional care.
• Speech and healthy eating. In January 2023, improvement points concerned consistent pronunciation and guidance to parents about food choices. At a visit, ask how staff now model speech and reinforce healthy eating guidance alongside the separately charged meals.
• Rooms across two levels. Six rooms occupy an extended dwelling, with two outdoor play areas. At a visit, ask how your child's room uses the building and outdoor spaces, and how settling is organised.

Mary Kelly's Rascals suits families considering full-time attendance or flexible hourly care, as well as those whose routines fit the shorter funded daytime window. Its strongest practical combination is child-responsive planning, accessible play materials and a key-person relationship supported by regular communication.

The January 2023 Good judgement provides a dated quality reference, with clear improvement points around speech modelling and parental health guidance. Weigh those alongside the current attendance and charging arrangements: the learning approach and the booking pattern both need to fit your child and family.