Mossley Hill Childcare

A gatehouse opposite Sefton Park’s boating lake gives Mossley Hill Childcare a clear identity: books, garden play and the natural world shape its day. The building is one of the park’s original gatehouses, and the nursery combines its own outdoor space with access to the park. For children who enjoy movement and exploring living things, that setting has practical value beyond a picturesque address.

At its January 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, judged safeguarding effective and found that individual support helped children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress. That judgement belongs to an earlier management period: new management began in September 2024. In January 2022, the children attending were aged two to four, and the baby and toddler units were not in use.

Today, the nursery accepts children from three months to four years and has 32 places in total. Its five named suites distinguish babies, toddlers and preschool children, while a book-led curriculum provides a shared thread for learning. Full-day, morning and afternoon sessions sit alongside term-time attendance and the option to stretch funding across the year.

Rooms and Ages

The Daisy Suite serves babies up to 16 months, followed by The Buttercup Suite for children aged 17 to 24 months; The Bluebells Suite and The Daffodils Suite cover the two-to-three stage, with The Sunflower Suite serving preschool children from three. These age bands give families a useful picture of the nursery’s organisation, rather than treating its whole age range as one group.

Bluebells has the clearest physical detail: direct, free-flow access to its own outdoor area, plus a changing space designed for nappies and potty training, supports growing independence while staff weave books, number ideas and sounds into play. Outdoor activity can therefore connect directly with the room’s day. The changing arrangements also make the move towards using a potty part of the room’s provision, rather than a separate practical concern.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS framework organises learning across areas such as communication, physical development, early mathematics and personal development. In everyday terms, play, conversation, stories and movement all contribute to children’s learning. Mossley Hill adds its book a month approach: a chosen story supplies a starting point, with activities then shaped by children’s interests rather than restricted to a fixed topic.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one example, paired with factual butterfly books and other related stories. This gives children different ways to explore the same subject, connecting imaginative reading with questions about living things. Other activities and celebrations can run alongside the chosen book, so the monthly theme does not account for everything children do. The curriculum overview explains that balance.

Visiting teachers add several clearly named activities. Funzo Phonics introduces preschool children to initial sounds, rhyme and simple words through an alien character. BilinguaSing combines language learning with music, while Diddi Dance uses movement, songs and music from different countries. These are concrete additions to the day: early sound work, another route into languages, and opportunities to move to music.

In January 2022, children practised counting through stories, drew shapes outside with chalk and joined French and dance activities. They also discussed feelings and listened to peaceful stories during meditation. Those examples show how varied the day was at that time, but they should remain separate from the current programme descriptions.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden includes a mud kitchen, and outdoor learning extends to planting, growing, nature walks and observing wildlife in Sefton Park. Climbing and riding bikes sit alongside quieter investigation. This gives the outdoor offer two useful strands: physical activity and opportunities to notice, discuss and care for living things.

Termly enrichment experiences are an aim, with possible examples including animal encounters, visits from police or firefighters, travelling theatre companies and The Story Barn for literary activities. The examples can change between years; they are not a fixed itinerary. An annual graduation party marks children’s move towards school, giving that transition a shared celebration as well as an educational purpose.

Relationships and Communication

Settling starts with two short visits lasting one hour each. A key person is assigned at the first settling session and stays involved throughout the settling visits, while parents have time to discuss routines. That continuity matters: the adult learning about a child’s habits is also part of their early experience of nursery.

The key person’s role extends to gathering information, sharing it with colleagues, assessing development and planning next steps. Online learning journals record care routines and learning, allowing parents to follow both everyday experiences and development. In January 2022, staff also sent games and activities home, linking learning at nursery with what families could do together.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENCO and deputy SENCO form part of the current staffing structure, alongside safeguarding lead roles, and all staff have paediatric first-aid training. Ongoing professional development gives practitioners opportunities to build expertise in particular ages or curriculum areas. These roles provide designated points of responsibility for additional support and safeguarding.

The inclusion policy sets out practical ways to support children who use another language at home, including translations and labels in home languages. It also provides for reasonable adjustments indoors and outdoors. That puts communication and access into the nursery’s planning, rather than relying solely on a broad statement of welcome.

Food is managed by the full-time housekeeper, with freshly cooked hot lunches and a seasonal menu rotating over three weeks. The dietary policy covers allergies, intolerances and religious requirements, including Halal, while baby feeding is coordinated with parents around breastfeeding, formula and the introduction of solids.

In January 2022, staff taught children about healthier food choices, but some adults drank fizzy drinks in the playroom, contradicting that message. The improvement action was to strengthen adults’ example-setting around health. This is a specific reservation about practice at that date, rather than a general criticism of the menu.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Fullwood Lodge, Aigburth Drive, Liverpool, L17 4JE. Contact is through the nursery’s enquiry form or by telephone on 0151 7277934. Registration involves completing the registration form and agreeing the contract and terms, including the weekly sessions requested.

Full days run from 8am to 6pm, mornings from 8am to 1pm, and afternoons from 1pm to 6pm. The minimum weekly commitment is two full days or three half-day sessions. That minimum is a significant part of the choice: a family seeking one occasional morning would need to weigh it against the nursery’s regular attendance model.

Attendance can be across the year or term-time only, with term-time fees based on 38 weeks. The nursery operates Monday to Friday across 52 weeks, with bank-holiday closures. Fees remain payable during sickness and holidays, and the terms include two training days and half-day closures from 1pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. One month’s written notice is required to end attendance or reduce sessions.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered through the 15-hour and 30-hour arrangements, with term-time delivery or the option to stretch funding across the year. The nursery’s terms set out combinations of full and half days for funded attendance and require the funded hours to be used in full. Extra sessions outside the agreed weekly booking are charged separately and cannot be paid for using those funded hours.

For families using the 15-hour or 30-hour grants, meals, snacks and drinks are covered by a separate consumables charge. That charge also covers wipes, creams, visiting specialist teachers and experiences such as visiting theatre companies or mobile petting zoos. Non-food supplies are split: wipes and creams are covered by the funded-attendance charge; nappies and sun cream are brought from home. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation; the fees and funding page sets out the charging structure.

A deposit is offset against the final invoice, with a reduced, voluntary refundable deposit requested for fully funded places. Monthly payments are made in advance. These terms make it useful to consider the whole booking commitment, including extras and notice, rather than funded hours alone.

• The inspection’s scope. The January 2022 judgement predates the September 2024 management change, and the baby and toddler units were not then in use. At a visit, discuss how care and routines work in the younger suites today.
• The attendance commitment. The minimum is two full days or three half days each week. Compare that requirement with your intended work pattern before committing to regular sessions.
• Funding and supplies. Funded attendance carries a separate charge covering food, some consumables and enrichment, while nappies and sun cream come from home. Request a written quotation for your exact session pattern.
• Food and adult example-setting. The January 2022 improvement action concerned staff modelling healthy choices. Allergy-affected families should confirm current dietary practice, and a visit can also explore how staff reinforce the nursery’s health messages.

Mossley Hill Childcare suits families choosing either full days or morning and afternoon sessions who value a book-led day with substantial outdoor activity. Sefton Park, the garden’s mud kitchen and the named visiting programmes give that offer a recognisable character. The settling arrangement and digital journals add practical links between home and nursery.

The reservation is the age and scope of the Good judgement, especially for families choosing baby care after the management change. Balance the current offer against that dated assessment, the minimum attendance requirement and the funded-place charge structure. Those are the decisions that matter here.