Partou Little Manor Day Nursery & Pre-school

A garden for each room gives Little Manor’s outdoor life a clear shape: children have their own outdoor space, with mini-woodlands, dens, tents and planting patches adding places to explore. This Sandymoor nursery on Manor Farm Road in Runcorn has capacity for 56 children, from birth to five. Its strongest practical feature is that outdoor play belongs to each room, rather than depending entirely on a shared garden.

At its July 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated Little Manor Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities received support through collaboration with families and other services. Hygiene practice was the improvement priority. That dated judgement provides useful context alongside the current gardens, individually tailored learning and attendance choices.

Full days, morning sessions and afternoon sessions are offered, with an early drop-off option extending the start of the day.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children’s learning, development and care, bringing everyday play together with communication, physical development and growing independence. Alongside it, the group-wide Partou child-led curriculum starts with each child’s interests and experiences. At Little Manor, staff use those interests to shape learning for the individual child, giving familiar enthusiasms a place in the nursery day.

Construction, creative role play and art sit alongside literacy, numeracy and ICT activities. These give children different ways to take part: making something, acting out an idea or exploring early number and language. Staff tailor activities to children’s individual interests and experiences.

In July 2023, staff planned challenges around what children enjoyed and what they were ready to learn next. Children also chose books independently and retold stories in their own language. Some invented outdoor games and agreed their own rules, while staff helped others develop imaginative play. The examples matter because they show children taking decisions as well as following adult direction.

Outdoor and Community Life

Each room has an individual garden. Mini-woodlands and planting patches add opportunities to explore growing things, while tents and dens provide settings for imaginative play. For families who value time outside, the room-by-room arrangement is a concrete part of the offer, rather than a general promise of outdoor activities.

In July 2023, children’s experiences included seeing horses and exploring local woods. They met paramedics and women serving in the armed forces, extending their understanding of people whose work helps keep others safe. These encounters brought the wider world into learning; they were examples from that period, rather than a fixed timetable of current outings or visitors.

Relationships with key workers are part of Little Manor’s care arrangements, and families receive updates about their child’s development. Staff get to know children’s interests and experiences, connecting the relationship with the way activities are planned. That gives parents a useful link between daily care and learning, rather than treating progress updates as a separate exercise.

In July 2023, babies settled with calm adult support and formed close relationships with staff. Toddlers practised feeding themselves and using the toilet, while familiar routines helped children understand their day. Sleep was part of those routines, with younger children returning to activities after resting. These examples show the importance given to small steps towards independence at that time.

Communication received attention across the nursery in July 2023. Older children held conversations with adults and friends, and staff taught listening, turn-taking and considerate behaviour. Preparation for the next stage involved these everyday social skills, rather than only early literacy or number work.

The same month, leaders sought parents’ views regularly and used suggestions to change nursery practice. Learning about individuality and differences also featured in children’s experiences. Parent involvement therefore had a practical role in shaping the nursery day.

Food is freshly prepared on site using a seasonal menu. Meals, snacks and drinks have a separate fee component, as do daily care supplies including sun cream, nappies and wipes.

Hygiene needs attention in the dated assessment: in July 2023, some staff practices created a risk of infection passing between children, and more consistent hygiene was required. That concern should sit alongside the positive care observations when families weigh the setting.

Sessions and Attendance

Little Manor’s address is Manor Farm Road, Sandymoor, Runcorn, WA7 1TE. Opening hours run from 7.30am to 6pm on weekdays. The nursery closes for bank holidays and between Christmas and New Year.

A full day runs from 8am to 6pm. Morning sessions cover 8am to 1pm, and afternoon sessions run from 1pm to 6pm. Early drop-off runs from 7.30am to 8am. The split sessions give families a choice between a morning, an afternoon and the whole daytime period; the opening window and the full-day booking are different arrangements.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered through Halton Local Authority, with 15 or 30 hours applied according to entitlement. Term-time attendance uses funding over 38 weeks; year-round attendance stretches it over 52 weeks. The weekly funded allocation therefore differs between the two patterns, which matters when matching childcare to a family’s working year.

Funding pays for care. Food and drink, plus consumables, are charged separately on funded sessions as well as private sessions. The care element includes activities, use of the facilities and progress updates. Charges apply over 51 weeks, including bank holidays, so the billing year and the funding stretch use different periods.

Joining involves either a non-refundable registration charge or a registration deposit to reserve the place, subject to eligibility under the terms. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

• Hygiene routines. July 2023’s improvement priority concerned inconsistent staff hygiene. During a visit, ask how handwashing and infection control are checked throughout the day.
• Funding and the billing year. Year-round funding is stretched over 52 weeks, while charges apply over 51 weeks and include bank holidays. A written quotation should make the interaction between those arrangements clear for your attendance pattern.
• Your child’s outdoor space. Every room has its own garden. On a visit, explore the garden attached to your child’s room and ask how its use fits around rest and indoor activities.

Little Manor suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as full days, with room-specific gardens and learning shaped around children’s interests. The seasonal food prepared on site and separate charge breakdown also make the everyday arrangements concrete.

The July 2023 assessment gives a positive quality position, tempered by a specific hygiene concern. For parents weighing care, outdoor play and flexible attendance, those are the central strengths and the practical point requiring attention.