The Nursery

A sloping playground, child-powered vehicles and a pretend building site gave The Nursery’s July 2022 daily life a practical, energetic character. Children tackled physical challenges and explored how the world works through play. This Congleton setting has capacity for 24 children aged 24 to 59 months.

Ofsted rated The Nursery Good on 20 July 2022. The strongest examples from that period connect movement, conversation and real experiences: pedalling uphill, investigating house buying and watching a lamb being born.

In July 2022, younger children worked their cars up the playground slope, while preschool children practised pedalling larger vehicles. The incline made outdoor play a physical challenge, with effort rewarded by the journey downhill.

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children’s learning, development and care. Here, the July 2022 examples show learning through practical play: a building site brought together digging, planning and cooperative work, while staff demonstrated how bricks fit together in a wall.

Numbered safety helmets and matching hooks turned tidying into an opportunity to recognise numbers and work out what was missing. Learning had a purpose within the game rather than being detached from it.

Beyond the nursery, July 2022 examples included a farm visit where children witnessed a lamb’s birth and a trip to an estate agent prompted by questions about buying houses. Children also grew flowers for Congleton in Bloom, a community project that gave their growing activities a wider purpose. These are examples from that period, rather than a fixed outings timetable.

At the July 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and children, including those with SEND and those learning English as an additional language, progressing well from their individual starting points. The special educational needs coordinator used professional advice when planning activities; staff also learnt words from children’s home languages to help them express their needs.

In July 2022, books added during Pride month helped children explore emotions and differences between people. Stories supplied a starting point for talking about feelings, while school visits and participation in a primary school sports day introduced preschool children to school experiences.

During the severe heat described in July 2022, staff offered extra drinks and rests, covered windows and kept children inside during the hottest periods. Safeguarding training was followed by questions testing how staff would apply what they had learnt.

The address is The Nursery, Standevens Yard, Wagg Street, Congleton, CW12 4BA. Opening hours are 07:30 to 18:00, Monday to Friday, throughout the year, with closures for bank holidays and Christmas.

In July 2022, the nursery offered funded early education to children aged two, three and four. That dated participation should be distinguished from the attendance and funding arrangements a family needs now.

• Teaching interactions. In July 2022, managers needed to examine staff’s conversations and exchanges with children more closely to improve teaching and accelerate learning. This is the main reservation alongside the Good judgement.
• Planning a place. What are the current session choices, funding arrangements and settling process for a child joining this setting?

The Nursery suits families drawn to practical, physically active early learning, with its July 2022 examples offering more substance than a generic promise of learning through play. Community growing and purposeful outings add interest. The Good judgement provides a dated quality benchmark, balanced by the need for closer attention to staff interactions.