Kids Planet Winnington

An Emotion Station with mirrors and emotion stones gives Kids Planet Winnington a clear character: this purpose-built nursery makes space for children to understand feelings as well as explore and play. Large open-plan rooms, outdoor areas for each age group and a sensory room give families concrete features to weigh. There is room for quieter experiences alongside busier play.

At its March 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found that its carefully planned curriculum, skilled conversations and attention to individual children supported excellent progress. The practical examples behind that judgement matter more than the label: children worked together on ball ramps, used visual routines and took responsibility at lunchtime.

On Walker Road in Winnington, the nursery accepts children aged 3 to 60 months and has 120 places in total. Full days, mornings, afternoons and short days serve different family routines, with term-time and year-round arrangements.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care here: play, conversation and everyday experiences are opportunities to build skills. Winnington's strongest examples connect learning to things children can do themselves, rather than treating preparation for school as a separate exercise.

In March 2024, children tested ideas together while making ramps for balls. Listening to another child's suggestion was part of solving the problem. Timers and visual timetables helped them understand routines, giving children practical ways to anticipate what happened next.

Language received deliberate attention that month. Staff used word flowers to identify vocabulary for activities, talked through children's play and allowed time for answers. That combination gave children both new words and opportunities to use them. Conversations were part of the activity, rather than an interruption to it.

Stories also became something children could act out. In March 2024, props, mud and long grass supported imaginative retelling, while comfortable book spaces encouraged children to choose stories and share them with adults or friends. The current library area provides a physical place for books within the nursery's offer.

Outdoor and Community Life

Each age group has a secure outdoor play area, so outdoor space belongs to the nursery's different stages of care. Indoors, the sensory room combines gentle lighting with tactile toys and soft play equipment. Its calmer setting gives children another way to explore, alongside the larger open-plan rooms.

The Emotion Station uses books about feelings, mirrors and emotion stones to help children recognise and express emotions. These are tangible resources for conversations that can otherwise be difficult for young children. Emotional understanding has its own space.

Families can borrow home learning kits, extending activities beyond nursery, and use coat swap rails. Both are practical additions: one takes learning resources home; the other lets families exchange clothing as children grow.

Relationships and Communication

In March 2024, settling sessions and arrangements for moving between stages were tailored to individual children. The useful principle was continuity: a child's particular needs shaped the adjustment, rather than every family following an identical start.

Parent involvement that month included workshops about weaning, behaviour and preparation for school. Stay-and-play sessions and wellbeing events ran at different points during the week and also included the local community. This gave parents ways to participate beyond a brief conversation about the day.

Current communication includes the group-wide Famly app, which provides updates in real time. Borrowable learning kits offer a separate, hands-on connection between home and nursery. The two serve different purposes: updates help parents follow the day, while a kit gives them something to explore with their child.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and praised SEND support that combined carefully chosen interventions with prompt work alongside other agencies. That is a dated assessment of practice, with a concrete mechanism behind the positive judgement: staff sought additional support rather than relying solely on what could be done within the nursery.

Everyday independence was visible in March 2024 too. Babies and toddlers served food and poured drinks; preschool children prepared the lunch table, counted what was needed and dealt with spills. These small responsibilities made mealtimes opportunities to practise coordination, counting and looking after shared spaces.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7am to 7pm, Monday to Friday, across 52 weeks of the year, with bank holidays closed. The opening window is wider than the standard Full Day booking, which runs from 7.30am to 6.30pm.

Morning sessions run from 8am to 1pm; Afternoon sessions cover 1pm to 6.30pm. A Short Day runs from 9am to 3pm, and the Full Time pattern uses the same 7.30am to 6.30pm hours as Full Day. These choices allow families to distinguish a shorter nursery day from an afternoon or a full-day routine.

Early Bird covers 7am to 7.30am, while Late Bird covers 6.30pm to 7pm. Adhoc hourly care is also offered. The main sessions can be used with either term-time or stretched year-round funding, depending on the contract.

The address is Walker Road, Winnington, Northwich, CW8 4UD. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01606 663702 or by email at winnington@kidsplanetdaynurseries.co.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered alongside paid care, with 15/30 hours term-time or 11/22 hours stretched across the year, according to the contract. Additional private hours remain separate from the funded entitlement. The distinction matters when matching a booking pattern to the hours a family can use.

For private care, meals and snacks are included in the fee; on days with early years funding applied, meals are charged separately. Freshly prepared food caters for dietary needs, and a daily chalkboard menu helps parents plan food at home.

The group-wide inclusive fee arrangement used here covers formula milk, sun cream, wipes and nappies for private care. Consumables are charged separately on days when funding is applied, as are activities. Families should obtain a current written quotation for their chosen contract and attendance pattern.

• Opening hours and booked hours. Full Day ends at 6.30pm, while closing time is 7pm. Early Bird and Late Bird are separate patterns, so include any required extensions when discussing the booking.
• Funded-day extras. Meals, consumables and activities attract separate charges on days with funding applied. Request a written quotation that separates these categories from additional private hours.
• Settling and calmer spaces. A tour can include the sensory room and Emotion Station. Ask how your child's settling plan would use these spaces and how home routines would shape the start.

Winnington suits families choosing between full days, morning or afternoon sessions and a shorter 9am to 3pm day, with term-time and year-round arrangements. Its physical offer is compelling: outdoor areas for each age group, a library area and spaces for sensory play and understanding emotions.

The March 2024 Outstanding judgement adds weight to that offer, especially through the examples of language, shared problem-solving and independence. The financial decision needs equal attention. Private care includes everyday supplies and food, while funded days carry separate categories of charges.