Guilden Sutton Private Day Nursery

Weekly Badger Cubs sessions give preschool children a reason to get absorbed in the outdoors: gardening, searching on scavenger hunts and exploring nature through play. That outdoor emphasis extends beyond a single activity. A wooded area, climbing equipment and outdoor space for each room make fresh air a substantial part of Guilden Sutton Private Day Nursery's character.

At its inspection on 29 June 2022, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding, with equally strong judgements across education, behaviour, personal development and leadership. The detail behind that judgement matters: children explored their own ideas, staff built learning around individual interests, and practical experiences connected play with the wider world.

This purpose-built nursery in Guilden Sutton, Chester has 54 places in total and accepts children from three months through to preschool age. Baby Room, Middle Room and Pre-school Room provide different environments as children grow. The single-storey building has large windows, bringing views outside within reach of even the youngest children.

Rooms and Ages

Baby Room serves the youngest children up to age two, combining sensory exploration and nature-based play with a dedicated space for sleep. The distinction matters for families balancing a baby's need to investigate with the need to rest. Textures, sounds and colours provide material for exploration; sleep has its own quieter setting.

For children aged two to three, Middle Room emphasises growing independence through choices, creative activities and self-help skills, with reading corners and interactive spaces supporting play. Fabrics and other tactile materials add opportunities to handle, investigate and create. This is a stage where doing something for oneself becomes part of learning, rather than simply a task adults complete.

Pre-school Room, for ages three to four, brings phonics, early number work and social development together with opportunities to make choices and manage personal tasks. School preparation here includes independence as well as early literacy. Children have room to contribute their interests rather than following an entirely adult-directed day.

Each room has an outdoor area, alongside a larger garden behind the building. That gives outdoor play a place within the room arrangements, as well as a shared setting for bigger physical activities.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for children's learning, development and care, with play used to build language, movement, early mathematical understanding and relationships. Everyday experiences carry much of that work: comparing quantities during water play, describing textures and watching colours change when materials mix. These are concrete ways to make learning meaningful before formal school lessons begin.

The balance includes activities led by children, experiences guided by adults and resources children can return to during play. Staff introduce vocabulary and use questions to extend children's thinking. For parents, the useful distinction is that following an interest does not mean leaving the learning to chance: an adult can help a child investigate an idea more deeply.

Practical independence is unusually tangible in the curriculum approach. Preschool children help themselves to meals and use ceramic crockery with metal cutlery. Younger children develop the skills that lead towards those tasks. The emphasis is on practising ordinary life, with support adjusted as children become more capable.

In June 2022, babies made sweeping paint marks using brushes and rollers, toddlers investigated what happened when water was poured from different heights, and preschool children created mosaics. These examples show the breadth of the learning at that time: whole-body movement, testing an idea and working creatively with materials.

Outdoor and Community Life

Badger Cubs is the weekly preschool outdoor programme, involving nature walks, gardening, scavenger hunts and sensory exploration. It gives the outdoor emphasis a recurring structure. The garden's climbing equipment and wooded area provide different sorts of challenge, from physical movement to investigating the natural world.

Community experiences also extend into local woodland, meadows, play areas and farms. These surroundings offer material for conversation and discovery beyond the nursery's own resources. The outdoor offer is therefore both a physical setting and a source of ideas for the day.

In June 2022, a train spotters corner let children observe passing trains, while road signs and a track supported play with bikes and scooters. Visits from dentists and firefighters introduced adult roles. A secret reader also brought stories into nursery life, alongside toddlers borrowing books and older children inventing and performing stories of their own. These dated examples connect the nursery's practical learning with transport, community work and storytelling.

Relationships and Communication

Keyworker relationships are central to the care arrangements, with individual attention and communication with families built into the approach. Baby Room places particular emphasis on keeping parents informed about development. That gives the relationship a practical purpose: staff and families can share what a child needs, enjoys and is beginning to manage.

In June 2022, settling included visits to families at home and introductory nursery sessions with fewer children present. Staff also gathered family photographs and comments to inform individual learning plans. The connection between home and nursery was therefore used to shape activities, rather than being confined to updates about the day.

Staff development was part of that June 2022 picture too. The nursery employed 20 childcare staff, of whom 17 held early years qualifications at level two or above; managers arranged training and staff discussed adaptations to teaching. Those figures belong to that inspection period, rather than describing today's team.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the June 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and reported highly individualised help for children needing additional support, alongside exceptional progress. The care detail included personal picture cards and signing for children who needed help expressing themselves.

Current communication arrangements include Makaton and instruction cards, used to support understanding and give children with SEND ways to communicate their views. Speech and language assessments and referrals are also part of the approach. These are specific mechanisms for identifying and responding to needs, rather than a general promise that every difficulty will be solved in the same way.

Food is cooked in the onsite kitchen, and the all-inclusive fees include meals and consumables, with breakfast, lunch and a later snack forming the food offer. The nursery's dietary policy accommodates allergies and other dietary needs, with families required to explain these in writing when joining.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks of the year. Bank holidays are closure days; on Christmas Eve the nursery closes at 1pm and reopens after the New Year holiday. That seasonal break needs a place in working families' childcare planning.

The nursery is at A V Wilding Business Park, Guilden Sutton Lane, Guilden Sutton, Chester, CH3 7EX. Enquiries can be made through its contact form, by email at info@gsdn.co.uk or by telephone on 01244 321 711.

Funding and Paid Extras

Meals and consumables sit within the all-inclusive fee structure, rather than being described as separate items in the ordinary childcare fee. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. Keeping the food and everyday supplies together gives families a useful starting point when comparing the total cost of care.

In June 2022, the nursery provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four. That is a dated participation statement, separate from the current all-inclusive fee arrangement.

• Your attendance pattern. With opening hours spanning 7.30am to 6pm, how would the nursery structure your required days or shorter sessions, and any funded hours within them?
• Settling and sleep. Baby Room has a dedicated sleep space, and settling in June 2022 included home visits and smaller introductory groups. During a visit, discuss how your child's routine would shape the current settling plan.
• Dietary needs. Allergy and dietary requirements must be supplied in writing when joining. Families affected by allergies should confirm how current kitchen practice would accommodate their child's needs.

Guilden Sutton suits families who value outdoor play, practical independence and learning shaped by children's interests. Weekly Badger Cubs sessions, individual outdoor areas and the preschool mealtime arrangements make that character concrete. Babies also have a dedicated sleep space, so the account is not solely about older children's activities.

The Outstanding judgement dates to June 2022. Its examples give substance to the nursery's educational approach, while the present room descriptions explain how the offer changes with age. For families needing weekday childcare across the year, the opening window is useful; the Christmas break remains an important planning point.