S4YC, St Chads Preschool & Nursery

Gardening gave learning a practical purpose at St Chads: children prepared soil, worked together on an allotment and used seed-packet instructions to connect reading with planting. That is the clearest picture of this Winsford setting's character, drawn from March 2023 rather than a promise about today's activities.

Ofsted judged the provision Good at its 1 March 2023 inspection. The nursery occupies the St Chads Primary School site on Gladstone Street, Winsford, CW7 4AT, and accepts children aged 3 to 59 months. Its current age range includes babies, making the arrangements for its youngest children an important part of a family's decision.

Opening hours are 7.30am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday, during term time. The school-holiday closure matters as much as the daily finishing time for parents arranging care around work.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets requirements for children's learning, development and care. In everyday parent language, this means education and wellbeing belong together: activities should help children develop skills while staff attend to their care.

In March 2023, learning drew on children's interests. An enthusiasm for trains became a starting point for supervised use of technology and discussion about size and position. Children explored how a large train moved over a bridge. The useful detail is the connection between an existing interest and new language, rather than a separate exercise detached from play.

Planning also included games and challenging activities, while staff observed children's development and assessed their progress. For parents, that combination matters because an enjoyable activity and an understanding of what a child is learning serve different purposes. Both were part of the practice described in March 2023.

Outdoor and Community Life

A spacious outdoor play area supported the nursery day in March 2023. Children put on wellington boots for muddy grass and helped create an allotment, handling rakes and other gardening tools to prepare the ground. Planting connected physical activity with reading instructions; watering the seeds added responsibility for something living.

Sharing equipment was part of that experience too. Staff encouraged children to take turns with tools, and outdoor games gave them opportunities to cooperate. These examples show how the same space could support movement, conversation and learning to play alongside others.

At the March 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities making good progress, supported by a SENCO and learning tailored to their needs. These are dated judgements, with the individual support arrangements providing more useful detail than a broad assurance about inclusion.

Communication with families was another part of the March 2023 picture. The manager worked towards conversations that flowed both ways, and a parent coffee morning helped strengthen relationships between home and the setting. That matters when parents need to share a change in their child's circumstances as well as hear about the nursery day.

Daily routines in March 2023 included outdoor exercise and handwashing before food. Children also developed relationships with adults and practised managing tasks independently, including getting their boots on for outdoor play. Care and learning met in ordinary routines, rather than being confined to planned activities.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is based at St. Chads C Of E Primary School, Gladstone Street, Winsford, CW7 4AT. It opens from 7.30am until 4.30pm on weekdays in term time and closes during school holidays. For a working family, the afternoon finish is a concrete boundary around which to plan collection.

Branch enquiries go to stchads@s4yc.co.uk or 01606551978. Current prices should come in a written quotation from the nursery.

Funding and Paid Extras

In March 2023, the setting provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four. That establishes its participation at that time; it does not establish a current entitlement or a particular funded attendance arrangement for an individual family.

Sharing a site with St Chads Primary School does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still need to use the local authority admissions process for a state-school application.

• Term-time timetable. The 4.30pm finish and school-holiday closure need to fit the family's working pattern. Consider both before choosing this setting.
• Teaching development. In March 2023, staff sometimes moved the conversation on before children had time to formulate an answer, and coaching arrangements needed further development. Ask how practitioners now allow thinking time and receive support to improve their teaching.
• Care for the youngest children. The accepted age range starts at 3 months. During a visit, ask how settling, sleep and day-to-day communication work for babies.

St Chads suits families whose childcare needs follow the school terms and fit a 4.30pm finish. Its March 2023 picture gives substance to its appeal: gardening linked several kinds of learning, children's interests shaped activities, and communication with parents had a practical place in the nursery's work. The teaching development points deserve attention alongside those strengths. The strongest reason to consider it is that account of an active, practical nursery day.