Squirrels Pre-School Delamere Park

An outdoor kitchen, fruit grown for snack time and children choosing resources for themselves give Squirrels Pre-School Delamere Park a practical, hands-on character. Based in Cuddington, Northwich, it combines younger and older keyworker groups with shared parts of the day. Independence starts with ordinary tasks: choosing what to play with, serving a snack and learning to manage personal care.

At its 16 July 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the setting Good overall and judged safeguarding effective. The same assessment identified two priorities: more consistent teaching across staff and deeper exploration of cultures and beliefs beyond children's immediate community. Those qualifications matter alongside the positive judgement.

The setting accepts children from nine months to five years, with Grey Squirrels for under-threes and Red Squirrels for three- and four-year-olds. Attendance can be through morning, afternoon or full sessions during term time, with additional early and late care on request. This is a setting to assess both for its child-led learning and for how its attendance pattern fits family life.

Rooms and Ages

Grey Squirrels emphasises movement, communication and social and emotional development for children under three, with its own activity space and opportunities to join the larger room for meals, snacks and circle time. Red Squirrels, for three- and four-year-olds, uses the larger room, where accessible resources support children's choices and daily routines encourage independent handwashing, toileting and snack serving.

The shared room gives the groups points of contact during the day rather than keeping every experience separate. For parents, the useful distinction is between a child's keyworker group and the spaces they use: younger children also participate in some shared routines.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the statutory framework, bringing language, physical development, relationships, early literacy, mathematics, creative expression and understanding the world into children's play and learning. Alongside it, Squirrels uses a Reggio Emilia approach: practitioners observe children's interests and support the different ways they express their ideas. The emphasis is on first-hand experience and children's choices.

In July 2025, activities changed with children's experiences. Holiday conversations led to an airport play area, while cardboard boxes became horses and robots through children's own suggestions. Staff also returned to earlier activities so children could remember and reconsider what they had tried. This gives a concrete picture of interest-led planning: an experience becomes something to explore, then revisit.

Books had a practical role in that July 2025 day. During Room on the Broom, children supplied missing parts of the story, and a lending library extended access to books to families. A plastic activity tray supported attempts at writing names. These are different routes into early literacy, combining spoken language, shared reading and making marks rather than treating letter writing as the whole task.

Mini Dribblers adds a separately charged football session on Wednesdays. The football session complements the nursery's everyday outdoor play. Families whose children enjoy ball play can weigh that extra alongside the outdoor provision.

Outdoor and Community Life

The Garden includes an outdoor kitchen for combining natural materials, and children spend at least two hours outside each day. In warmer weather they grow and harvest raspberries, strawberries and cucumbers to eat at snack time. Growing food links a physical task with a visible result: children help produce something they later eat.

Community walks also form part of the outdoor experience. Stay and Play provides a separate opportunity for children aged zero to five and their adults to share creative activities, toys and sensory play every Monday from 9.30am to 11am. The session is free, with refreshments for children and adults, giving families a regular activity they can attend together.

Relationships and Communication

Settling sessions are arranged after a child's place has been reserved. That makes the introduction a planned stage of joining, rather than expecting children to adapt immediately to their full attendance pattern. Key workers observe development, and Famly carries observations and moments from the day to parents.

In July 2025, familiar routines helped children anticipate what happened next. A sand timer signalled tidying, and staff helped children recognise when another child needed personal space. These examples make social learning tangible: understanding a routine and respecting a friend's boundaries are skills practised through the day.

School transition work includes parental permission for a key worker to meet the receiving teacher and share a child's achievements. Parents can also meet their key worker to discuss progress and the move to school. In July 2025, photographs of new school environments became take-home social stories, helping children and families discuss the places and routines ahead.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The manager's role includes SEND coordination and safeguarding responsibilities, while the deputy role also includes safeguarding leadership. At the July 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that staff identified developmental gaps promptly, involved parents early and provided targeted interventions that helped children needing additional assistance make good progress, and knew when and how to involve external professionals. This is the strongest basis for assessing support here: specific mechanisms and a dated assessment of their effect.

The teaching qualifications within the team include Level 3 and Level 6 practitioner roles. For families, the more useful practical question remains how staff respond to their own child's communication, care and learning needs within the group.

Children receive two snacks during the day, and hot or cold meals are an alternative to bringing a packed lunch. Snacks and meals are included when attendance is paid privately; funded-only sessions carry a separate consumable charge for this provision.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 59 Delamere Park Way West, Cuddington, Northwich, CW8 2UJ. Core opening hours are 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, during term time. From September 2026, additional care extends the day to 7.30am or 5pm on request, rather than making those the standard hours for every booking.

Morning sessions start at either 8am or 9am and finish at noon. Afternoon sessions run from noon to either 3pm or 4pm. Full sessions combine an 8am or 9am start with a 3pm or 4pm finish; a purchased additional hour can also extend a morning booking through lunch.

The Early Bird Session runs from 7.30am to 8am, and the Early Evening Extended Session from 4pm to 5pm, both on request. These options give families more than one way to organise attendance, but the term-time calendar remains an essential part of the decision. Enquiries can be made through the online form, by email or on 01606 888782.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes the 15-hour entitlement for three- and four-year-olds and support of up to 30 hours for eligible working families, including children from nine months. Funding is delivered over 38 weeks within a 39-week term-time year. Tax-Free Childcare payments are accepted, and additional private hours can be purchased.

Meals and snacks are included in private fees, with separate charges for funded-only attendance. Nappies, wipes and barrier cream can be supplied for a separate session charge. These food and non-food costs need to be distinguished from the funded childcare itself when comparing the total cost of a booking.

Changes to funded hours take effect at the beginning of terms in September, January or April. A parental agreement sets out the chargeable extras, while football and any additional trip costs sit alongside the attendance charges. Management can provide a more accurate breakdown of current costs; the fees page outlines the attendance and extras structure.

• Teaching consistency and cultural breadth. In July 2025, interactions and teaching varied between staff, and exploration of other cultures and beliefs lacked depth. During a visit, ask how staff planning and everyday activities now address both priorities.
• Term-time attendance and extended care. Core hours are 8am to 4pm, with earlier and later sessions on request. Families needing school-holiday care should weigh the term-time calendar, and discuss the requested extensions when arranging a visit.
• Funded hours and extras. Funding runs across 38 weeks, while meals on funded-only sessions and supplied nappies, wipes and barrier cream carry separate charges. The parental agreement and a cost breakdown from management are central to understanding the cost of the chosen pattern.

Squirrels suits families seeking morning or afternoon preschool sessions as well as those wanting a full term-time day with requested extensions. The outdoor kitchen, food growing and accessible resources give its child-led approach concrete substance; Famly and planned transition work connect the nursery day with family life.

The Good judgement provides a positive inspection position, qualified by the July 2025 concerns about uneven teaching and limited cultural depth. For parents comfortable with a term-time calendar, the strongest reasons to consider it are practical independence, outdoor activity and the flexibility to choose among genuinely different session patterns.