Roundabouts Day Nursery Shavington

Two gardens give different stages of childhood their own outdoor space at Roundabouts Day Nursery Shavington: a Baby and Toddler Garden, and a Preschool and Rising 3’s garden with free-flow access. That is the clearest physical feature of this Crewe Road setting. Younger children have their own outdoor area, while older children have an arrangement that connects their play with the garden.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good at its 31 August 2022 inspection. The detail beneath that judgement matters: children practised independence, developed language through everyday activities and worked together on physical challenges. Those observations belong to August 2022, rather than describing the nursery’s current daily routines.

The nursery accepts children from five months to five years and has 42 places in total. Its current leadership structure includes a manager with safeguarding and SEND responsibilities, alongside senior leadership in the toddler and preschool rooms. For parents, the useful combination is age-specific outdoor provision and identifiable responsibilities for care and support.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children’s learning, development and care. In parent language, this means everyday play and routines should develop skills such as communication, movement and increasing independence, rather than simply keep children occupied.

In August 2022, physical learning took different forms for different ages. Babies used a firm table to support themselves as they stood and explored toys, practising balance and strength. Older children helped construct obstacle courses and experimented with ways to cross them. Their play involved both designing a challenge and trying it out.

Language also ran through ordinary activities in August 2022. Adults introduced animal sounds to babies, who began imitating them, while stories gave older children words for the noises made by familiar objects. Songs and rhymes supplied another route into vocabulary. These are concrete examples of learning through repeated, manageable experiences rather than isolated instruction.

Independence was visible in the toddler room that August. Toys sat on accessible shelves, with photographs showing where each belonged; tidying involved matching objects to their pictures. Children could choose materials and help put them away. Learning to put on outdoor shoes offered another practical progression, from adult help towards doing the task independently.

The same dated account identified a weakness in how some learning was ordered. Children were sometimes asked to connect numerals with quantities before their counting was secure. For families, the lesson is that advanced tasks need secure foundations: the steps leading up to them matter just as much.

Outdoor and Community Life

Shavington’s Baby and Toddler Garden gives younger children separate outdoor space; the Preschool and Rising 3’s garden offers free-flow access for older children. This makes outdoor provision relevant to each stage of childhood.

Relationships and Communication

In August 2022, children were comfortable engaging with adults and involving visitors in their play. Older children discussed and adjusted the rules of shared games, learning to accommodate each other’s ideas. The account therefore described relationships through what children actually did, rather than through broad promises about a caring atmosphere.

Communication with home was practical that August. Games went home for families to use together, and an online app recorded daily routines, while staff also shared menu information and details of how much children had eaten. This linked information about the nursery day with something parents could do at home. It also made eating patterns easier to follow across the two settings of a child’s day.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the August 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and judged that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities made good progress, with specialist advice and additional funding used to support their learning. Speech and language therapists were one example of the professionals whose advice informed support.

The current manager holds both the designated safeguarding lead and SENDCO roles. A deputy safeguarding lead also works as the senior lead in the preschool room, while the toddler room’s senior practitioner holds the health and safety officer role. These responsibilities give families specific roles to approach when discussing development, safety or an individual concern.

Health routines in August 2022 included adults offering babies drinks regularly and older children reaching their own water bottles. Medicine administration and accident records also formed part of the care arrangements at that time. These are dated examples of the everyday organisation behind children’s wellbeing.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates for 51 weeks each year, with closures on bank holidays and for a week at Christmas; families are not charged for that Christmas closure. The Christmas break matters when planning care across the working year, even though the nursery otherwise operates beyond school terms.

Getting There

The address is 34 Crewe Road, Shavington, Crewe, CW2 5JB. The Shavington team can be contacted on 01270 749560 or through its contact form, giving families a direct branch contact rather than a general group enquiry route.

Funding and Paid Extras

In August 2022, the nursery provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four. That is a dated participation fact, rather than a statement about the entitlement or charging arrangements a family would use now. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

• Foundations before advanced tasks. In August 2022, some number activities moved ahead of secure counting, and staff development targets needed greater precision. During a visit, ask how learning is now sequenced and how staff receive clear guidance on the next steps for each child.
• The whole attendance package. The nursery opens from 7am to 6pm and closes for a Christmas week. Ask which booking patterns and funded arrangements fit your week, and request a written breakdown covering meals, consumables and any additional charges.
• A garden matched to your child’s stage. Shavington has separate outdoor provision for younger children and free-flow garden access for preschool children and Rising 3’s. On a tour, explore how your child’s indoor and outdoor day would work, alongside the support offered by the relevant room team.

Roundabouts Day Nursery Shavington suits families seeking care beyond school terms, with an early opening, age-specific gardens and clear safeguarding and SEND leadership roles. Its August 2022 account contains useful examples of physical play, communication with home and growing independence. It also identifies concrete teaching improvements to examine. The strongest decision will connect those dated findings with the room routines and attendance package that fit your child now.