Friendly Faces Nursery

An allotment, a food bank and children helping to care for their town give Friendly Faces Nursery a clear identity. Environmental learning reaches beyond recycling: families can join gardening projects, donated books circulate through a lending scheme, and outings connect children with Congleton's green spaces. This is childcare with a strong community thread.

Based at Methodist Chapel on Derby Street, the nursery has capacity for 20 children, with a current age range of 12 to 60 months. At the inspection dated 22 October to 7 December 2021, Ofsted judged the provision Good overall and safeguarding effective. That judgement is a dated assessment, rather than a description of everything happening today.

The physical offer includes a garden growing food, a mud kitchen and indoor areas for books, sensory exploration and role-play. Morning and afternoon sessions give families two different attendance patterns. The strongest reason to consider Friendly Faces is the connection between these everyday activities and its wider gardening and community work.

Rooms and Ages

The indoor layout uses activity zones. Book Corner has beanbags and books; Home Area supports pretend cooking and caring; Sensory Area gives children materials to investigate through their senses. Baby Area provides a space for the youngest children. These are places for different kinds of play, rather than activities confined to a single table.

In October 2021, children shared a church hall, with a divided baby area and up to three babies accommodated at once. Older babies joined toddlers; preschool children showed care towards younger children. This mixed-age arrangement and baby limit belong to that assessment.

Adventure Table brings science, technology, engineering and maths into practical exploration. Theme of the Week Table changes its resources with the weekly topic, while Craft Area gives children space to make and design. Together, these areas support a day that moves between investigating, pretending and creating, rather than depending on one type of activity.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children's learning, development and care: in everyday terms, play, language, physical activity and relationships all contribute to learning. Friendly Faces adds concrete opportunities to that foundation, including gardening, daily writing and phonics activities, and experiments with materials.

Playdough develops control of small movements. Sand and water introduce texture, volume and problem-solving. Eating Area makes independence practical: children help prepare the table, pour drinks and clear away their plates. These are small tasks with a useful purpose, giving children something they can increasingly do for themselves.

In October 2021, interests, themes and assessments shaped learning. Books and songs supported language; a snowman activity combined discussion of materials, shapes, colours and numbers. One creative task brought several areas of learning together.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden offers both growing and active play. Children can use climbing equipment and a slide, experiment at the drain wall, or make marks with chalk and water brushes. A basketball hoop, ride-on equipment and role-play houses add different ways to move and play. The mud kitchen links outdoor exploration with pretend cooking.

Eco Nursery is the nursery's environmental approach, combining allotment projects, reuse and efforts to reduce disposable plastic. It includes eco-friendly wipes, a reusable nappy scheme and repurposing plastic objects. The emphasis is reducing waste, rather than claiming that every object is plastic-free. Parents are encouraged to take part in gardening as a family, extending that work beyond the nursery day.

Congleton In Bloom connects the growing projects with the town's gardening activities. In July 2026, children harvested beans, berries and potatoes at Friendship Garden; another project, Biodiversity Wheelbarrow, was placed in the polytunnel at Congleton Park. These examples give the environmental approach substance: children grow, harvest and contribute something that others can see.

Outings include Astbury Mere, the River Dane and Congleton paddling pool, plus forest skills trips and regular nursing-home visits. Children explore outdoor places and meet older people, extending their experiences beyond nursery.

Relationships and Communication

Learning at home has a practical route through Home Learning Activities Book, which provides activities alongside borrowed books. That gives families something specific to share with their child, rather than a general instruction to support learning. Regular Stay and play sessions also allow people to meet and play at the nursery.

The community support extends to donated food, books, toys and clothes. Items are reused, passed to families or circulated through the nursery's book scheme. This gives the environmental work a social purpose as well as a waste-reduction purpose: resources can keep being useful to another child.

In October 2021, staff supported recognising feelings, sharing and turn-taking. Puppets helped explain toothbrushing, while children resting in travel cots or lie-flat pushchairs were supervised and helped to settle. Everyday routines supported wellbeing.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the October 2021 inspection, Ofsted found that support for children with SEND included access to other professionals and activities adapted to individual learning targets, but that some group activities and free play needed closer adjustment for children needing more learning support. Traffic-light colours, for example, helped communicate stopping and going. Clear routines gave children another way to understand expectations.

The improvement work also included staff supervision: in October 2021, the manager's coaching needed development to help practitioners strengthen their teaching. Both points matter when considering the mixed-age arrangement. Sharing experiences with older children can be useful, but each child's learning still needs attention of its own.

Today, staff work with professionals to support children with SEND, and paediatric first-aid training is part of the staffing arrangements. These are support mechanisms, rather than a blanket assurance about an individual child's experience.

Home-cooked meals use fresh ingredients, including garden produce where possible, with no added salt or sugar; fruit and vegetables are served as snacks. Meals carry a separate charge, snacks are free, and families may send a packed lunch subject to the nursery's allergy regulations.

Sessions and Attendance

Friendly Faces operates at Methodist Chapel, Derby Street, Congleton, CW12 1HZ. It opens throughout the year, and current opening hours are Monday to Friday, 7.30am to 6pm.

AM sessions run from 7.30am to 12.30pm, while PM sessions run from 1pm to 6pm.

The Get in Touch form accepts enquiries with contact details and a message. Regular Stay and play offers another way to meet the nursery through an activity it already runs.

Funding and Paid Extras

Food costs have a clear structure: cooked meals are charged separately and snacks are free. A packed lunch is an alternative within the allergy rules. Families should obtain a current written quotation for their chosen childcare arrangement, keeping the session pattern and food choice together when comparing costs.

The reusable nappy scheme is an environmental initiative alongside the use of eco-friendly wipes. Its practical appeal is the chance to reduce disposable waste as part of the nursery's wider reuse approach.

• Mixed-age learning. In October 2021, the shared hall allowed younger children to learn alongside older children, but some group activities needed closer adaptation. On a visit, ask how activities now accommodate a younger child or one needing extra learning support.
• Teaching development. The October 2021 improvement points included stronger staff coaching. Ask how supervision now helps practitioners develop their teaching and respond to individual children's next steps.
• Session and food choices. AM and PM bookings have different start and finish times, and cooked meals cost extra while snacks are free. Compare the complete attendance and food arrangement; allergy-affected families should confirm current practice before choosing nursery meals or packed lunches.
• Funding and everyday supplies. The reusable nappy scheme sits alongside the environmental work. How would funded hours and the provision or charging of nappies and wipes work for your chosen sessions?

Friendly Faces suits families seeking either morning or afternoon sessions and a nursery day connected to gardening, reuse and the local community. Friendship Garden, the allotment and Congleton In Bloom give that identity concrete expression. Indoor activity zones provide a counterbalance, with books, role-play and practical investigation alongside outdoor work.

The Good judgement belongs to 2021. Its improvement points on adapting group learning and developing staff coaching remain useful questions for a visit, especially for families drawn to mixed-age experiences. The strongest match is a family that values community participation and hands-on environmental learning, and wants to understand how its own child's needs fit the day.