The Goslings

Songs, borrowed books and outdoor movement give The Goslings its character. This Winterley preschool combines age-specific rhyme sessions with a lending library and Friday-morning music, making language and shared routines tangible parts of the day. It has capacity for 20 children and accepts children aged two to four.

At its September 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated The Goslings Good and found safeguarding effective, with children making good progress from their starting points. Two teaching priorities remained: helping children understand cultures and lifestyles beyond their own, and giving them more space to develop conversations. Those are useful distinctions for parents: a positive overall judgement still leaves specific questions about what children learn and how adults extend their thinking.

The setting operates from Winterley Methodist Church on Crewe Road. Attendance is term-time only, with separate morning and afternoon sessions. Its scale and preschool age range make this a different proposition from provision spanning babies through to school age.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) shapes learning through play, alongside the development of speaking, listening and cooperation. These skills become practical in small-group work, stories, child-led activities and play both inside and outside. The framework is the foundation; the daily timetable shows how children spend their time.

Rhyme Time gives singing an age-specific place in the morning: a session for two-year-olds comes before the one for children aged three and four. Stories and snacks provide further shared pauses. This creates a rhythm between choosing an activity independently and joining something with other children, rather than treating the whole morning as one undivided block of play.

Friday music adds a visiting teacher to that pattern. Children sing, practise tapping rhythms and have a turn strumming a guitar. The session takes place each Friday morning and attracts a separate weekly charge for parents whose children attend then. The attendance choice therefore affects both the experiences a child joins and the extras a family pays for.

The Goslings' Library connects preschool reading with home. In October 2023, the borrowing scheme offered children a book to take home each week, with library cards and bookmarks they helped make. By September 2024, children were using a well-stocked lending collection. This is a concrete bridge between story time at preschool and reading with a parent, rather than a general encouragement to enjoy books.

Weekly yoga is another addition, led by a practitioner who also teaches Pilates. Its recurring moves and routines give children a different way to participate in physical activity. It sits alongside the more energetic outdoor experiences, rather than replacing them.

Outdoor and Community Life

In September 2024, the outdoor space allowed children to cycle, climb and run. Staff also grew vegetables and other plants with them. These experiences connected movement and practical growing with the day indoors: children could use their bodies actively and take part in caring for living things.

A May 2024 transport topic illustrates the preschool's hands-on teaching. Toy vehicles were set out for play on a chalked road inside a tuff tray. Planned activities included a sensory bin containing homemade moon sand and construction vehicles, identifying vehicle sounds, and sorting vehicles according to whether they travelled by air, land or water. The examples are useful because they show a familiar subject approached through sound, touch, construction and discussion.

The September 2024 improvement priorities qualify this account. Activities needed to give children more opportunities to explore cultural differences and unfamiliar ways of life, including during play they chose themselves. Adults also sometimes relied on questions with short, fixed answers. The issue was extending children's thinking and conversation, rather than simply supplying more activities.

Relationships and Communication

Lunch is organised around key-worker groups, with staff eating alongside children. Younger children receive help where needed; older children are encouraged to tackle tasks such as opening their own food packaging. The same routine can therefore support different stages of independence, while keeping mealtime social.

In September 2024, staff gave parents frequent progress updates, and families joined preschool occasions including nativity performances and sports day. Communication extended beyond an occasional formal update. Staff also observed children to identify their next learning steps and used those observations when planning teaching.

Links with local school teachers were established by September 2024 to support the eventual move to school. This was transition work, helping children prepare for a new setting. It is useful for families approaching that change, alongside the everyday practice of cooperating, communicating and managing small tasks independently.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO role and deputy support the organisation of additional-needs provision. The preschool has experience supporting children with autism spectrum disorders, visual impairment, behavioural difficulties and asthma, and has accessibility and support aids. These are specific mechanisms and areas of experience, rather than a blanket promise that every child's needs can be met in the same way.

Asthma care includes individual plans discussed regularly with staff. Regular practitioners have completed paediatric first-aid training, while designated safeguarding lead and deputy roles are identified within the team. These arrangements describe who coordinates care and how information is shared; the safeguarding judgement remains the dated inspection finding above.

Parents supply a healthy packed lunch for afternoon attendance. Children eat with staff in their key-worker groups, with support adjusted to their independence.

Sessions and Attendance

Morning attendance runs from 9am to noon; the afternoon runs from noon to 3pm and includes the packed-lunch period. Both patterns operate Monday to Friday during term time. Families choosing the morning join the age-specific rhyme sessions, while afternoon attendance includes lunch, small-group work, stories and child-led indoor and outdoor play.

These are separate booking patterns with different daily experiences, so the choice matters beyond the number of hours. Friday-morning attendance also brings the separately charged visiting music session. A family considering that morning should include the music charge when comparing its attendance costs.

Collection arrangements require parents to tell staff beforehand if another person will collect their child. The permission-book procedure and a collection password provide a defined handover arrangement. An emergency telephone instruction from a parent or carer is also accepted.

Getting There

The address is Winterley Methodist Church, Crewe Road, Winterley, Sandbach, Cheshire, CW11 4RP. Enquiries go by email to info@thegoslingspreschool.com or by telephone on 07749 935583.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible children can use two-, three- and four-year-old funding within this term-time setting. Private attendance is also offered, and childcare vouchers can be offset against an invoice. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

The charging structure includes a voluntary supplement per session, alongside the separate weekly charge for Friday-morning music. Parents provide the afternoon packed lunch. Keeping those elements separate helps families distinguish funded attendance from the costs attached to their chosen pattern; funding should not be read as a promise that every addition is included. The admissions and fees page sets out these arrangements.

• Conversation and wider-world learning. September 2024 priorities concerned open questions and children's understanding of different cultures and lifestyles. During a visit, ask how staff now address these priorities in adult-led activities and children's independent play.
• Morning or afternoon. The morning includes age-specific Rhyme Time, while the afternoon includes packed lunch. Friday-morning music carries an additional weekly charge, so compare the experiences and costs of the actual sessions you plan to book.
• Individual support. Asthma plans, a SENCO role and support aids provide practical starting points. Discuss how these would work for your child's needs, including any settling arrangements and what the family should supply.

The Goslings suits families seeking term-time preschool for children aged two to four, whether they prefer morning sessions with age-specific rhyme activities or afternoons that include lunch. Its strongest practical details are easy to picture: books travelling home, a visiting music teacher, weekly yoga and small-group routines.

The September 2024 Good judgement supports that picture, while the teaching priorities give parents something concrete to explore. The decision turns on the fit between the child's needs, the chosen session and the family's ability to manage term-time attendance, packed lunches and the relevant additional charges.