Anderton Day Nursery

Woodland surrounds a former school building, while preschool play stretches from indoor activity areas to a playground with gardening planters and a mud kitchen. Anderton Day Nursery combines this substantial outdoor setting with rooms organised around babies, toddlers and children preparing for school. Practical play gives the nursery its character.

At its July 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), made good progress. Two improvements were required: more precise communication between staff about learning, and clearer, more consistent messages about healthy eating. Both matter to the everyday experience.

Childcare spans ages 0 to 11, including an Out of School Club for older children. The nursery opens on weekdays, with nursery-day care alongside morning, after-school and holiday provision.

Rooms and Ages

Baby Room serves children aged 0 to 2, with exploration and growing independence encouraged as staff share developmental milestones with families. For parents, this connects early learning with the small changes they notice at home.

Tiddlers Room welcomes two-year-olds, using a morning routine, shared snacks and meals, and indoor and outdoor exploration to support friendships and taking turns. Middles Room serves ages 2 to 3, combining accessible low storage with natural loose parts and mixed materials so children can choose resources and develop imaginative play.

Preschool has two sizeable indoor areas and continuing access to a large playground, with daily messy play, sand and water supporting imagination and independent choices. Outdoors, natural climbing equipment, gardening planters, a construction area and a mud kitchen give children different ways to investigate materials and test ideas.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage sets expectations for children's learning, development and care: play and everyday experiences support learning alongside personal development. Here, the July 2025 activities connected children's interests with practical investigation. Butterflies prompted observation of caterpillars and a reading of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, followed by feeding fruit to a large knitted caterpillar. A familiar story became something children could handle and explore.

Other July 2025 examples took learning into the woods. Children made dens while learning about fox habitats, handled ladybirds carefully and watched tadpoles developing. These experiences linked living things with observation and care, rather than leaving the subject on the page.

Preschool PE sessions include changing into a PE kit, giving children practice with a school-day routine. Spanish, Dance and Football training are optional activities delivered by outside companies at an additional charge. They extend the activity choices beyond the room's daily play.

Outdoor and Community Life

In July 2025, outdoor play included making flower mixtures, constructing ramps for cars and tackling climbing frames. Children had opportunities to experiment with movement and materials as well as exercise.

The Out of School Club provides morning, after-school and holiday care. Its spaces include a hall, a den and an outdoor yard, with a stage, pool and table football among the activities. Recycled materials also feature in construction, and children contribute ideas to the planning. For older children, this gives the club an identity separate from the nursery rooms.

Relationships and Communication

Settling is arranged with families around the child's needs, and settling sessions carry no charge. This gives parents and staff a shared starting point for deciding how a child begins attending.

In July 2025, babies received responsive attention, with staff celebrating attempts at new skills and independence. Practitioners knew their key children well, but methods for passing learning observations between colleagues were inconsistent. That distinction matters: knowing a child individually does not automatically mean every practitioner can build equally precisely on their learning.

Communication with parents in July 2025 covered care, settling, room changes and starting school. Home-learning suggestions included growing sunflowers, exploring feelings with puppets and sharing books. These were manageable ways for families to continue an interest beyond nursery, rather than treating learning as something confined to the setting.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

During July 2025, staff adjusted their help with cooperation and turn-taking to children's individual needs. Encouragement recognised effort and willingness to try, giving children support with participating in shared play.

Healthy routines presented a mixed picture in July 2025: physical activity and toothbrushing practice were supported, but some meals lacked nutritional balance, juice was sometimes served, and packed-lunch guidance did not consistently achieve healthy choices. The required improvement concerned both food and the messages children received about it.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery opens from 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, for 50 weeks each year. Closures include bank holidays and two weeks at Christmas, so families using year-round care need to account for those breaks.

Full-day care is offered alongside the Out of School Club's morning, after-school and holiday patterns. The club serves school-age children; the nursery rooms provide the younger children's day. Enquiries can be made by telephone, email or the contact form.

Getting There

The address is St Josephs Old School, Bolton Road, Anderton, PR6 9LX. The building sits back from the main road beside St Josephs Church, with private off-road parking and disabled access.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government-funded childcare is offered. Preschool families can also choose separately charged Spanish, Dance and Football training, so those activities should be distinguished from the child's main attendance arrangement.

Preparation for school includes preschool choices and independence, and PE-kit practice. In July 2025, communication with parents also covered starting school. These are practical preparations for a change in routine.

• Learning handovers. July 2025 identified inconsistent sharing of observations between staff. On a visit, ask how practitioners now pass on what a child has learned and decide the next step together.
• Food and healthy choices. The July 2025 concerns covered meal balance, juice and packed-lunch guidance. Ask how menus and guidance now give children a consistent message about healthy eating.
• Nursery and school-age care. Full-day nursery attendance and the Out of School Club serve different stages. Discuss how the relevant pattern works for your child's age and family routine, including the Christmas closure.

Anderton suits families seeking full-day nursery care with substantial outdoor play, as well as those needing morning, after-school or holiday care for older children. The accessible resources in Middles Room and preschool's playground give practical substance to its emphasis on independence.

The Good judgement from July 2025 sits alongside clear improvement points. Learning handovers and healthy eating deserve attention, while the rooms, outdoor activities and school-age club give families concrete reasons to consider the nursery.