Lancaster Lodge Childcare

A former family home, gardens linked directly to the playrooms and a kitchen garden give Lancaster Lodge Childcare a clear identity: children can move between indoor play and outdoor exploration rather than wait for a separate garden session. Wooden furniture, soft furnishings and natural materials shape the indoor spaces. The emphasis is on following children's interests, with room for practical discoveries as well as quieter moments.

At its December 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall, with daily routines for two-year-olds and staff's handling of conversations identified as areas for improvement. Those are useful qualifications to the headline grade. The current setting caters for children from birth to five and has 65 places in total, spread across provision for babies, toddlers and preschool children.

Full days and morning or afternoon half days serve different attendance needs.

Rooms and Ages

The Seedlings Room, for ages 0–2, combines gentle indoor play and a garden of its own with feeding areas and a sleep room, giving the youngest children spaces for different parts of their day.

For ages 2–3, The Sunflower Room encourages practical independence through pouring drinks and helping with snacks, alongside play in its own outdoor area.

The Garden Room, for ages 3–4, occupies a building where children help serve lunch and explore resources and the garden as they prepare for school.

Baby-led routines in Seedlings give way to greater independence for older children. Indoor or outdoor play is a choice for much of the day.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: play, conversation and everyday tasks all contribute to their learning. Alongside it, Lancaster Lodge takes inspiration from The Curiosity Approach, using real objects, loose parts and natural materials to encourage investigation. Staff plan around interests children demonstrate in the moment, extending an activity rather than relying solely on a predetermined sequence.

The materials make that approach tangible. Pasta can become something to thread, stones can form a racetrack and a wooden spoon can be used for mixing mud. These examples favour making and experimenting: a child can decide what an object becomes and change the activity as an idea develops. Large windows and a restrained colour palette shape the rooms around those resources.

In December 2022, babies practised scooping and pouring with coloured rice, while older children fetched water and filled their cups independently. The examples connect play with useful everyday skills. That same month, some children had too little time to answer staff's questions, limiting opportunities to explain their thinking; allowing a child time to respond mattered as much as the activity itself.

Outdoor and Community Life

Each of the three rooms opens directly onto garden space. The setting is surrounded by fields, and its outdoor offer includes digging and exploring natural materials. For children who enjoy physical, messy play, that access is a substantial part of the day rather than an occasional addition.

The kitchen garden adds a practical connection between growing and eating. Children plant, water and harvest crops, learning where food comes from through taking part. In May 2025, they tasted lettuces they had helped grow at teatime. It is a concrete example of an outdoor activity carrying through into a familiar daily routine.

In December 2022, visits from local police officers and paramedics helped children explore different jobs. These were encounters with people doing the work, giving substance to conversations about the wider world.

Relationships and Communication

Settling begins with a consultation and an introduction to the child's key person, including discussion of routines and preferences. Around four visits are planned over 2–4 weeks: a parent stays for about an hour initially, then attendance builds through shorter sessions towards full days. Lunch and sleep become part of that preparation, so settling covers more than playtime alone.

Visits are spaced apart where possible, with key-person feedback throughout. Attendance increases when both child and parent are ready.

Daily feedback covers eating, sleeping and activities. Tapestry, the online learning journal, adds photographs and observations from the key person, while parents can contribute updates from home. This exchange helps staff follow interests beyond nursery.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At its December 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and judged support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities positively, including work with other professionals. Current arrangements include staff safeguarding training, coded electronic gates, perimeter fencing and procedures restricting collection to authorised adults. These are concrete procedures families can understand, rather than a general promise about safety.

Sleep has its own spaces. Babies use a dedicated sleep room at the end of the building, with bunk cots and music; older children can rest on mats or folding beds. The nursery follows family preferences about naps, supplies bedding and records sleep for the collection-time conversation. Comforters and dummies can come from home.

In December 2022, the nursery employed 19 childcare staff, of whom 15 held early years qualifications at level 3 or above. School preparation at that time included packs with pictures of children's next school and teacher, helping make an unfamiliar next step more recognisable.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Lancaster Lodge, Lancaster Way Business Park, Ely, CB6 3NX. Full Day attendance runs from 7.30am to 6.30pm; Half Day attendance can be in the morning or afternoon. The nursery opens Monday to Friday and operates across the year, closing at Christmas and during the first week of Cambridgeshire's summer holidays for maintenance. That summer closure needs a place in families' childcare planning.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01353 662808 or by email to welcome@lancasterlodgechildcare.co.uk. The enquiry form asks for the intended start date and preferred weekdays, allowing families to describe the attendance pattern they want.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes Universal Funding for three- and four-year-olds, working-parent funding for eligible children aged nine months and above, and funding for some two-year-olds depending on family circumstances. Funding can be used term-time or spread across the year. Additional private hours are charged separately, and a funded full day includes an additional paid hour.

Private fees include meals, nappies and activities; for funded children, meals and snacks are charged separately alongside nappies, wipes, nappy cream and sun cream. Meals are prepared on site each day using a four-week menu, with breakfast, snacks, a hot lunch and a lighter tea.

Funding administration is part of the arrangement: families complete a declaration each term, working-parent funding requires an eligibility code and reconfirmation every three months, and qualifying two-year-old funding requires a council authentication code. The fees and funding information explains the charging structure; current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Two-year-old routines. In December 2022, children of this age sometimes lost interest during routines and waited too long at meals. During a visit, ask how The Sunflower Room now organises those transitions and keeps children involved.
• Time to talk. The December 2022 improvement action concerned giving children enough time to answer questions and express ideas. Ask how practitioners make space for slower responses during play and group activities.
• Funded attendance costs. Funded full days include a paid additional hour, with food and daily essentials charged separately. A written quotation should distinguish these items from the funded hours so families can assess the whole attendance cost.
• Settling and closures. Around four settling visits extend over 2–4 weeks, and the nursery closes for maintenance in the first week of Cambridgeshire's summer holidays as well as at Christmas. Consider both the preparation period and the closure dates when planning care.

Lancaster Lodge suits families seeking either full-day attendance or morning or afternoon half days, especially where direct access to gardens and a gradual settling process matter. Its character comes through in practical details: babies have a separate sleep room, children use everyday objects in play and the kitchen garden connects outdoor activity with food.

The Good judgement dates from December 2022. The two improvement priorities deserve attention, especially for a family choosing toddler care. The strongest fit is for parents who value child-led exploration and practical independence, and who can accommodate the settling period, closure pattern and additional costs attached to funded attendance.