Starting Point Child Care Centre

A Forest School area, a baby room and underfloor heating give Starting Point Child Care Centre a clear physical identity within Cheshire College South & West’s Crewe Campus. Indoor and outdoor play spaces support different kinds of activity. The college setting is more than an address: in August 2022, children also used the campus field and stage, extending their experiences beyond the nursery’s own spaces.

At its 10 August 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found that children made rapid progress through imaginative, child-led learning. That judgement has concrete substance behind it: children’s ideas shaped themed activities, while practitioners used play to develop language and mathematical understanding.

Starting Point caters for children from birth to five and has 69 places in total. Full-day and half-day bookings run Monday to Friday, giving families a choice between a whole day and shorter attendance.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for learning, development and care, bringing play, communication and growing independence into the child’s day. Starting Point also has a Forest School area, providing an outdoor setting for learning through nature.

In August 2022, children helped influence what happened next through nursery council meetings. Their suggestions led to themed weeks; pirate activities, for example, involved constructing boats together and counting treasure. This gave children a practical reason to explain their ideas, cooperate and use numbers. Adults extended the learning through conversation rather than leaving the activity at imaginative play alone.

Books reached different ages in different ways. During August 2022, babies explored sounds and lift-up flaps, while older children answered questions and acted out stories. Story sessions happened throughout the day. Outdoor retelling included a barefoot sensory trail through water and leaves, turning a familiar narrative into movement and exploration.

Mathematics also appeared in everyday play that August. A weekly shape emphasis sat alongside puzzles and blocks, and children counted spots on a dinosaur. Practitioners introduced language for describing shapes as children played. For parents, the useful detail is the connection between words, objects and activity: mathematical learning had something tangible to attach to.

Outdoor and Community Life

The Forest School area sits alongside the nursery’s indoor and outdoor play spaces. A baby room gives the youngest children a designated space, while underfloor heating is another practical feature of the building.

In August 2022, children grew vegetables in a kitchen garden and gathered apples from an orchard. The cook used their produce in food, linking gardening with what children ate. Watering plants and counting apples gave ordinary tasks a learning purpose, while fact books helped children investigate questions about the world around them.

Campus links widened the setting for activity that August: children accessed both the college field and its stage. These were additional spaces for their experiences, rather than simply facilities elsewhere on the same site.

At the August 2022 inspection, Ofsted found effective safeguarding, a strong key-person relationship with families and successful targeted support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The support involved other professionals and staff-led interventions, giving the judgement a clear practical basis.

In August 2022, daily communication covered meals, sleep duration and examples of learning. Parents could also contribute through meetings and surveys. This connected the nursery day with home life: families received practical care information alongside an account of what their child had been doing.

Children practised independence through shared routines that August. They prepared the table, served drinks to friends and helped tidy resources after play. These small responsibilities made cooperation part of daily activity, with children contributing to tasks that affected the whole group.

For full-day care, the booking charge covers administration and settling-in visits.

Sessions and Attendance

Full-day care runs from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Half days run from 8am to 1pm or from 1pm to 6pm on the same weekdays. The choice matters: families can book a morning or afternoon rather than committing to the full opening day.

The nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and two weeks at Christmas. Breakfast Club is an additional 8am to 9am session; funded sessions can also be combined, with extra hours charged separately. These arrangements offer more than one way to build an attendance pattern.

Getting There

The address is Crewe Campus, Dane Bank Avenue, Crewe, Cheshire, CW2 8AB. Enquiries go directly to the nursery on 01270654655 or by email to nurserymanagers@ccsw.ac.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Starting Point participates in the Free Early Years Entitlement (FEEE) Scheme. It offers the universal 15 funded hours from the term after a child turns three, describes a 30-hour entitlement for eligible working parents of three- and four-year-olds, and provides an eligibility enquiry route for children aged two to three. Eligibility conditions apply; the attendance examples include both shorter sessions and full days.

Food, drinks and snacks are included in the private childcare fee; hot lunch and high tea are separate additions alongside funded sessions. Wipes are included in fees, while families supply nappies and creams, so non-food consumables have a mixed arrangement.

A non-refundable booking charge applies when a full-day place is confirmed and includes settling-in visits. Late collection charges apply to every booking. Families should obtain current prices in the nursery’s written quotation.

• Settling into the baby room. The nursery has a designated baby room and offers settling-in visits within the full-day booking charge. On a visit, ask how the settling plan would work around your baby’s sleep and feeding routines.
• Funded sessions and meals. Hot lunch, high tea and additional hours sit alongside funded sessions as separate charges. Compare the complete attendance pattern and its additions when considering the written quotation.
• Christmas cover. The nursery closes for two weeks at Christmas as well as bank holidays. Families needing care throughout the year should allow for that break.

Starting Point suits families seeking either full-day care or morning and afternoon half days, with an outdoor learning area and the practical setting of a college campus. Its August 2022 Outstanding judgement rests on specific examples of children directing learning, using books and numbers in play, and taking responsibility for everyday tasks. The strongest case is that combination of practical independence and imaginative activity. The choice of session length adds useful flexibility, while meal additions on funded bookings and the Christmas closure deserve attention in family planning.