Fun Frogs Day Nursery

A baby room capped at six children and a preschool unit called The School House give Fun Frogs Day Nursery a clear progression from early exploration towards school preparation. This Handforth setting has capacity for 52 children from birth to five years. Small youngest-room caps are the useful detail here: they describe the room your baby may use, rather than the size of the nursery as a whole.

At its 13 June 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and judged that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) made excellent progress through timely, carefully planned support. There was also a clear improvement point: staff needed a fuller understanding of how to teach across every area of learning.

Outdoor access runs through the room arrangements, while an onsite chef forms part of the Handforth team. Morning, afternoon, full-day and school-day sessions give families several attendance patterns to consider.

Rooms and Ages

Tadpoles caters for babies from birth to 18 months, with a published maximum of six children; songs with actions, exploratory play using paint, water and sand, and garden time emphasise communication, movement and early relationships. The cap is especially useful for parents weighing the scale of their baby's immediate surroundings.

Froglets takes children aged 18 months to two years, also with a maximum of six, combining activities adapted to the children with daily exploration of a large outdoor area. It provides a separate stage between the youngest babies and the toddler room.

Frogs accommodates up to 12 children aged two to three, with attention to toileting, social interaction and mealtime habits alongside messy play and direct outdoor access. These are practical parts of growing independence, rather than a day built entirely around organised learning activities.

Toads serves children aged three to five in The School House, a separate preschool unit with two classrooms, each capped at 16 children and each opening directly onto its own outdoor space. Preparing for school is the emphasis, with activities organised into different areas of the rooms. The unit also has two bathrooms and a kitchen, giving the preschool stage its own physical setting.

The room progression needs clarification before booking because the age boundaries are inconsistent. That is a decision point below, rather than a reason to assume a particular move between rooms.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for learning, development and care: play, communication, movement and relationships all contribute to the child's day. In Tadpoles, child-led exploration sits alongside songs, rhymes and sensory experiences; preschool preparation gives the older stage a different emphasis.

In June 2025, children explored butterfly development through stories, conversations and close observation, then helped release butterflies they had watched hatch. This connected an explanation with something living that children could study for themselves. It is a concrete example of learning that makes room for curiosity.

Older children's learning in June 2025 included independence, confident use of numbers up to ten and communicating with others. Staff also helped children persevere: a ball-throwing activity became an opportunity to think about adjusting their aim and trying again. Additional challenges encouraged children to work out solutions, rather than simply complete an activity once.

Outdoor and Family Life

The youngest children's garden activities include practising walking and becoming more mobile. Frogs and both preschool classrooms have direct access outside, while Froglets uses its large outdoor area daily. Outdoor play is therefore attached to the room arrangements, with different opportunities as children develop.

Group-wide family events include Mothers day Mingle, bringing mothers together for cake and a drink, and Dads do dinner date, when children share a meal with fathers and grandfathers. These offer concrete occasions for family involvement beyond routine communication.

Relationships and Communication

Every child in Frogs has an assigned key worker. In June 2025, staff built relationships with parents to understand children's interests and use that knowledge in planning activities. The practical value is continuity between home and nursery: familiar interests can become a starting point for learning.

Communication at that time covered children's development and their moves between nursery stages and on to school. This makes transition part of the relationship with families, rather than an isolated task at the end of preschool. In group activities, older children practised waiting to speak and understood why some behaviour was unwelcome.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In June 2025, staff worked with parents and other agencies to understand individual needs and adjusted their teaching for children with SEND. The important mechanism was the adjustment itself: support changed how children accessed learning, rather than being described only as a separate service.

Sleeping children used a quiet, comfortable area in June 2025, with staff making regular checks. Regular checks give parents a specific care practice to weigh alongside the learning offer.

Handforth has an onsite chef, and in June 2025 children received freshly cooked, healthy meals prepared by staff. Fruit was also part of their food provision, linking everyday eating with learning its names.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 193 Wilmslow Road, Handforth, Wilmslow, SK9 3JX. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, throughout the year except bank holidays and the period between Christmas and New Year.

Morning, afternoon, full-day and school-day sessions are offered. These are separate attendance choices; the opening window describes the nursery's operating hours. Families can therefore consider a shorter part of the day as well as a full day, rather than treating the whole window as the only booking pattern.

Enquiries can be made using the contact form, by email or by telephone. The nursery also invites families to arrange a visit and bring their children, giving the visit a practical role in considering the room progression and daily routines.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government-funded childcare is offered; in June 2025, this covered children aged nine months to four years. The Handforth session offer also includes patterns that can be covered by government funding. That is an attendance option, not a guarantee that every family's chosen hours will qualify.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The Toads stage carries a clothing expectation: children are asked to wear a Fun Frogs T-shirt and sweatshirt with grey or black bottoms. School pumps are suggested as comfortable footwear. This is a practical part of preschool preparation to factor into the decision.

• Room progression. Tadpoles has both a birth-to-18-month age range and a birth-to-22-month range, while Frogs starts at either two years or 22 months. Ask how Froglets fits into the current room plan and when children move between stages.
• Teaching across the curriculum. The June 2025 improvement point concerned staff understanding of teaching all areas of learning. During a visit, ask how staff build new activities on what a child already knows.
• Funding and everyday charges. Funded sessions and cooked food are part of the offer. Ask for a written breakdown of how funded hours are arranged and how meals, nappies and other consumables are paid for or supplied.
• Preschool clothing. Toads children are asked to wear the nursery T-shirt and sweatshirt with grey or black bottoms. Consider that clothing routine when choosing the preschool stage.

Fun Frogs suits families considering morning or afternoon attendance as well as full-day or school-day sessions, with small published caps for the youngest rooms and direct outdoor access as children grow. The School House gives preschool children a separate setting for developing independence and preparing for their next stage.

The June 2025 judgement provides a positive inspection position, with a specific teaching improvement to weigh alongside it. The differing room age boundaries make progression between stages a material consideration; the strongest practical attractions are the youngest-room caps, outdoor arrangements and choice of attendance patterns.