Cheeky Monkeys Day Nursery

Bicycles outside, dinosaur footprints pressed into oats and babies practising with open cups give Cheeky Monkeys Day Nursery a practical, hands-on character. These were snapshots of daily life in September 2025, with physical play and growing independence running through the activities. At its 4 September 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall.

On Long Lane in Chapel-en-le-Frith, High Peak, the nursery welcomes children from three months to five years and has 48 places in total. Indoor and outdoor space allows children to explore their interests with staff support. The emphasis is on making choices and learning by doing.

Families can attend across the year or choose term-time attendance with a retainer added to each session rate. The practical distinction matters: term-time care carries a charge to retain the child's place during the rest of the year.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care. Here, that means play and everyday routines contribute to learning, from experimenting with materials to conversation, movement and increasing independence.

In September 2025, babies squeezed wet sponges while washing dolls and used bottles to squirt water. Toy dinosaurs pressed into oats offered another way to explore marks. These activities gave small hands different movements to practise, connecting sensory play with the physical skills used later for writing.

Early mathematics also grew out of tangible objects. Children gathered twigs and compared their lengths, while older babies stacked wooden blocks with adults who introduced counting and colour names. The value lies in linking words and ideas to something a child can handle, rather than treating mathematics as a separate formal lesson.

Communication happened during care as well as planned activities. Babies exchanged sounds with adults, and an outdoor encounter with a wasp prompted discussion about stings, which children extended to nettles. However, adults sometimes moved on before children had enough thinking time to answer. That is a meaningful limitation for families weighing how well quieter children can contribute.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor space supports movement as well as exploration. In September 2025, toddlers practised catching balls with adults, preschool children steered bicycles around large play equipment, and babies beginning to walk received hand-held support. The examples span different stages of physical development rather than one activity adapted for everybody.

Play also created opportunities for cooperation. Children making a pretend birthday cake from mud received water brought over by their friends. Staff encouraged sharing and consideration, giving social expectations a practical place in children's games.

Relationships and Communication

Settling is tailored to the individual child under the nursery's SEND policy. This gives adjustment to nursery life a child-led starting point rather than assuming everyone needs the same settling period.

In September 2025, parents described receiving updates about their children's activities and practical guidance on speech, language and behaviour. Staff shared strategies families could also use at home, making communication useful beyond a daily account of what happened.

Independence was supported in small steps. Older babies practised moving from beakers to open cups and from spoons to forks; toddlers received demonstrations when cutlery proved difficult. Preschool children helped clear resources, managed toileting and handwashing, and poured their own water with assistance when needed. These are concrete routines through which children can take more responsibility for themselves.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The Graduated Response Approach is a cycle of assessing needs, planning support, putting it into practice and reviewing its effect. The key person, SENCO and parents agree intended outcomes and interventions, with the key person responsible for daily work with the child. Support plans are reviewed every four weeks with parents, creating a defined point to discuss what should happen next.

The SEND arrangements also include liaison with outside professionals and planning transitions to other settings and schools. Parents participate in assessment, planning and review, so support is organised around shared decisions rather than a plan developed separately from the family.

At the September 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding arrangements effective. Current safeguarding procedures assign lead responsibility during opening hours and include recruitment checks and supervised access for volunteers and visitors. Qualified staff hold paediatric first-aid qualifications.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Long Lane, Chapel-en-le-Frith, High Peak, SK23 0TQ. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, with closures on bank holidays and for one week at Christmas.

Term-time attendance is offered with a retainer added to each session rate to hold the place throughout the year. Usual fees also apply when a child misses a booked day through illness or holiday, so families should account for absences when comparing the overall cost of their attendance pattern.

Bookings require a written request and a completed registration pack. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01298 811731 or through the contact form.

Funding and Paid Extras

In September 2025, the nursery provided funded early education for children aged nine months to four years. Families should obtain a current written quotation for their proposed arrangement, including any private hours and the term-time retainer where applicable.

Fresh meals and snacks are prepared daily, with menus rotating over four weeks and changing regularly; breakfast, lunch, tea and snacks form the daily meal provision. The nursery caters for specific dietary needs.

• Thinking time. In September 2025, adults sometimes asked questions without allowing children enough time to process them and answer. On a visit, ask how staff now make space for children's own responses.
• Story and song time. In September 2025, lunchtime preparations and nearby play interrupted these activities, and some children disengaged. Ask how the nursery now protects shared listening time from competing activity.
• Term-time costs and absences. Term-time sessions carry a retainer, while illness and holiday absences attract the usual fees. Compare a written quotation against the attendance pattern your family will actually use.
• Meals and personal supplies. Daily meals and snacks are provided, and dietary needs are catered for. Ask how food and consumables are charged or supplied within your intended booking, including any funded hours, and discuss current dietary arrangements if your child needs them.

Cheeky Monkeys suits families seeking either year-round attendance or term-time care, with a practical emphasis on play, movement and independence. The September 2025 examples give substance to that character: babies explored marks and materials, older children handled everyday tasks, and outdoor play accommodated different stages of development.

The defined SEND review cycle is useful for families who need coordinated support involving parents, a key person and outside professionals. The balance is clear: there is plenty of concrete activity to value, alongside specific improvements needed in conversational pacing and uninterrupted story and song time.