La Maternelle Family Childcare, Nantwich

Pumpkins, potatoes and weighing scales give a useful glimpse of La Maternelle's approach to learning: in October 2022, children investigated why different vegetables tipped the balance, then searched for other objects to test. Everyday materials became a reason to question, compare and experiment.

At its 17 October 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the Nantwich nursery Outstanding, with teaching that drew on children's interests and encouraged them to think for themselves. The setting occupies refurbished premises at Barony Court, just off Barony Road, with indoor and outdoor play environments. It cares for children aged 6 to 60 months and has 98 places in total. Full-day attendance runs across the year, with a minimum booking of two days each week.

Learning and Activities

Learning through play shapes the current approach, with activities organised around each child's interests and stage of development. The early years foundation stage provides the framework for learning, development and care: children develop language, explore comparisons and practise independence through play and everyday routines. In October 2022, these elements included stories and songs, weighing vegetables and learning to feed themselves.

In October 2022, staff used a child's experience of a Halloween-themed birthday party as a starting point for further play. A story developed into an outdoor potion-making activity using a cauldron, with adults introducing vocabulary as children created their mixtures. This was a concrete example of linking something familiar from home with new language and imaginative exploration. The activity followed the children's experience rather than treating their interests as an interruption to the day.

Reading also reached beyond a scheduled story. In October 2022, staff brought stories into children's play and used puppets alongside songs so younger children could participate through actions. Monthly visits from the local librarian added another adult storyteller. These details matter because joining in did not depend solely on being able to sit and listen or speak confidently.

Outdoor and Community Life

The refurbished Nantwich setting provides space for play indoors and outside. Its current emphasis on individual interests gives families a useful starting point for understanding the provision: the relevant question is how the spaces and resources serve their particular child, rather than whether every child follows an identical activity.

In October 2022, community experiences included a grandparents' tea party and walks to a nearby care home, where children took pictures for residents. These encounters brought people from different generations into children's experience. They also gave conversation and creative work an audience beyond the nursery staff.

Families contributed cultural experiences too. In October 2022, parents celebrating Diwali shared recordings of Rama and Sita and came to discuss their traditions. Children encountered differences through people and stories connected with their own nursery community, rather than through an abstract lesson alone.

Relationships and Communication

Warm relationships with children and families form part of the current approach. In October 2022, settling involved detailed preparation, while here we come transition meetings helped parents stay involved as their child moved through nursery life. These meetings gave changes a specific point for discussion, rather than leaving parents to piece together what would happen next.

Home learning had practical resources behind it. In October 2022, a resource library and take home bags gave families materials to use beyond the nursery. Their value was in extending familiar experiences into the home, with parents able to participate in what their children were learning. The communication worked in both directions: family experiences also supplied ideas for activities.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In October 2022, safeguarding was judged effective, and collaboration with external professionals supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities was praised; those children's progress was judged excellent. That is a dated assessment of practice, with a clear mechanism behind the support: collaboration with professionals during referrals and afterwards.

In October 2022, independence was built into ordinary care routines. Babies practised feeding themselves with spoons, while toddlers managed cutlery and put away their coats. Older children used happy breathing, a yoga activity before lunch, then prepared the table, served themselves and washed up. Care and learning overlapped. These were opportunities to practise useful skills during the day, with the breathing activity providing a calmer transition into lunch.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Barony Court, Nantwich, CW5 5RD, just off Barony Road. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The Nantwich Full Day Session uses that same window, and the minimum booking is two full days per week.

Attendance is across the year rather than confined to school terms. The nursery operates for 51 weeks, closing on bank holidays and between Christmas and New Year. For families organising work around nursery, the minimum weekly commitment and these closures belong in the same calculation: a recurring booking still needs to fit the weeks when care is required.

The Nantwich contact number is 01270 629005. Registration uses the branch's Register Now route, and tours can be booked through its Nantwich contact route. These provide separate ways to begin an application or arrange a look at the setting.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government-funded early education is offered. The entitlements include 15 hours each week for all three- and four-year-olds and up to 30 hours for eligible working families; children aged nine months to two years may also qualify. Funding starts in the term after eligibility, and families using an eligibility code must supply a valid code before the term and reconfirm it every three months.

The funding is stretched to reflect year-round attendance, although the entitlement covers 38 weeks and the nursery operates for 51. Full days extend beyond funded hours. This makes the distinction between funded education and the complete booked day important when considering the bill.

Meals and non-food consumables are covered by a separate daily services charge on funded attendance, alongside charges for extended hours. That services provision encompasses breakfast, lunch, tea and snacks, together with nappies and other consumables.

Private childcare is also offered, with fees paid monthly in advance. Starting or leaving part-way through a month is charged according to the sessions involved. A non-refundable registration charge applies, and annual fee reviews come with at least four weeks' notice. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Two-day commitment. The minimum is two full days each week, from 7.30am to 6pm. Ask how the proposed days would fit your child's routine before committing to that pattern.
• Funded hours and the whole bill. Funding is stretched across year-round attendance, with daily services and additional hours charged separately. A written quotation should distinguish the funded hours, meals, consumables and private hours for your booking.
• Care for the youngest children. The nursery accepts children from 6 months old, while its October 2022 examples included supported self-feeding. During a tour, ask how your baby's feeding, sleep and settling routines would be handled.
• A dated quality judgement. The Outstanding judgement comes from October 2022. Use the tour to discuss how the questioning, family communication and professional support described at that time work now.

La Maternelle merits consideration for families who value learning led by children's interests and practical independence, backed by an Outstanding judgement from October 2022. The memorable details are concrete: vegetable experiments, stories carried into play and resources taken home.

Its attendance model suits families seeking a two-day weekly booking or a longer pattern of full days across the year. The main practical commitments are the minimum booking, holiday closures and the separation between funded hours and the complete cost of care. Those deserve as much attention as the inspection grade.