Kidscount Childcare

Child-led play and practical emotional support give Kidscount Childcare its character. At this Hartford setting, children’s interests shape activities, while an Early Years ELSA role provides support with feelings and relationships. That combination matters for children who need both freedom to explore and help expressing themselves.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good at its August 2023 inspection and found safeguarding effective. The improvement point concerned how staff used questions to develop children’s thinking and speech. It is a useful distinction: the overall judgement was positive, but the detail identifies something specific for families to explore.

Kidscount Childcare is based at Hartford Primary School, Riddings Lane, Northwich, CW8 1NA, and accepts children aged 1 to 60 months. Nursery care across the year sits alongside term-time preschool provision and separately bookable periods of care.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for learning through play and planned experiences across seven areas of learning. Children’s interests help determine what happens next, rather than every activity following a fixed adult agenda. The Kids Count Curriculum combines exploration with planned activities intended to develop independence and prepare children for their next stage.

In August 2023, staff adapted an activity when children became interested in instruments, drawing their attention to differences between sounds. That example makes child-led learning concrete: an unexpected interest became an opportunity to listen and investigate. It also shows how an adult can extend play while keeping the child’s interest central.

Books were accessible throughout the setting in August 2023. Babies shared stories with adults, practised handling pages and connected pictures with early words; older children listened to stories and explored what print means. Reading therefore reached beyond a single group story session and into different parts of the day.

Physical exploration had equally tangible examples. In August 2023, babies practised movement using an indoor slide, while older children explored quantities through water play. These are different experiences for different developmental stages: movement for the youngest children, and early mathematical ideas attached to something older children could handle and observe.

Outdoor and Community Life

During August 2023, children took walks and visited parks and farms. Those outings extended their experiences beyond the nursery itself, giving them places and living things to encounter directly. The current approach continues to emphasise exploration and children’s interests, rather than relying solely on adult-led activities indoors.

Language deserves attention alongside these strengths. In August 2023, adults introduced vocabulary and extended children’s sentences, but sometimes moved through questions too quickly. Children did not consistently have enough thinking time, and questions did not always encourage a considered response. The practical issue is the quality of conversation, rather than simply how often adults speak to children.

Relationships and Communication

In August 2023, newly attending babies received physical comfort and reassurance from staff. A key-person arrangement helped adults learn about children from their families, while parents’ evenings and stay-and-play opportunities supported exchanges about learning. These different forms of contact gave parents opportunities to explain home routines and understand the nursery day.

Everyday independence was also visible in August 2023. Children practised washing their hands, younger children learned to manage coats, and adults offered choices during activities. Clear expectations supported sharing and taking turns. For families, these small routines matter because they connect care with the practical skills children gradually take home.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The current support structure includes a SENDCO, a supporting SENDCO role and help within rooms. Work with families and outside agencies is used to identify additional needs. Early Years ELSA means Emotional Literacy Support Assistant: the role supports children in recognising feelings, communicating with others and working through worries through talk or play.

At the August 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that the SEND coordinator’s work with other professionals, assessment and planning supported children with additional needs effectively. In August 2023, additional funding had also equipped a calm room, where sensory experiences gave children a quieter setting for managing emotions. This is a concrete example of support shaping the environment as well as adult interaction.

A nursery cook prepares fresh food and snacks, with attention to nutrition, allergies and food safety. Fruit, vegetables, grains, protein foods and dairy or alternatives feature in meal planning, with milk and water offered during the day.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery opens on weekdays from 8am to 6pm for 51 weeks each year, excluding Bank Holidays; preschool operates during term time. Christmas Eve closes at 1pm. These arrangements suit different attendance needs, but the preschool calendar and nursery opening year should be treated separately.

The nursery tariff divides attendance into periods of 8am to 9am, 9am to noon, noon to 3pm and 3pm to 6pm. Additional time can be booked in 15-minute blocks within standard opening hours, and an early start begins at 7.45am. Ad hoc and extra sessions are subject to availability when booked.

For preschool children, breakfast care runs from 7.30am to 9am. After-school care starts at 3.10pm, with finishes at 4pm, 4.30pm, 5pm or 6pm. This provides options beyond the nursery’s daytime periods, rather than requiring every family to use the same length of day.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01606 74100 or by email to info@kidscountonline.co.uk. The setting’s address is Hartford Primary School, Riddings Lane, Hartford, Northwich, CW8 1NA. Attendance does not guarantee a Reception place.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded sessions operate during term time, Monday to Friday, between 9am and 3pm. The terms address 15-hour funding, with additional sessions and wraparound care charged separately. Once booked, funded sessions stay fixed for that term, so the attendance pattern needs to work beyond a single week.

Private nursery fees include meals and food for weaning, plus nappies, wipes and formula milk. Funded sessions carry a consumables charge; families can bring a packed lunch or choose to pay the consumables charge for a hot cooked lunch, and their meal choice remains fixed until the following term. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation, with the charge structure explained on its opening times and prices page.

• Conversation and thinking time. August 2023 highlighted hurried questioning and insufficient opportunities for children to form responses. On a visit, explore how adults now extend conversation and allow children time to answer.
• Term-long commitments. Funded bookings and the lunch choice remain fixed within each term. Families with changing work schedules should weigh that rule alongside the nursery’s extra-session options.
• Your child’s room. Baby care, term-time preschool and wraparound provision serve different needs. During a visit, what would your child’s room arrangement, settling plan and usual daily group look like?

Kidscount Childcare suits families seeking either care across the nursery year or term-time preschool, with morning and afternoon attendance periods and preschool wraparound options. Its current child-led approach and ELSA emotional support complement the instrument-led play observed in August 2023.

The August 2023 Good judgement provides the inspection context, while the questioning improvement point gives families a precise issue to explore. For parents whose attendance needs fit the term-long funding rules, the combination of flexible paid additions and organised emotional support is worth considering.