The Childcare Academy

A woodland mural outside and a sensory room inside give The Childcare Academy a recognisable character in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle. There is space for active play and a separate setting for quieter exploration. For families choosing city-centre childcare, that combination deserves attention alongside the nursery’s emphasis on emotions, play and communication with parents.

Children can attend from three months to five years, with capacity for 60 children in total. At its 13 October 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall and judged safeguarding effective. The improvement points were practical: staff needed more consistent ways of getting children’s attention and more patience in allowing them to complete everyday tasks independently.

Full days and morning or afternoon attendance are offered. The educational approach, Live Love Learn Together, combines learning through play with helping children understand their feelings and become more independent. Its value for parents lies in those everyday practices rather than the name alone.

Rooms and Ages

Separate age-group rooms sit alongside a garden, a kitchen and purpose-built toilets. Big Sharks combines play-led learning with observation indoors and in the playground. Pre-school Penguins caters for children aged 3-5, with planned activities supporting their daily care and education.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning and care: children develop language, movement, social understanding and early literacy and mathematics through play and planned experiences. Live Love Learn Together sits alongside it, adding an emphasis on recognising emotions, cooperating with others and developing confidence in doing things independently.

The activities are concrete. Children can explore water and sand, make art, join imaginative play and take part in stories, music and movement. Gardening and outdoor play extend learning beyond the rooms. These experiences give children different ways to communicate and investigate, rather than making the day depend on listening to an adult explain things.

In October 2023, children investigated autumn materials by handling leaves and pine cones and looking for seeds inside a pumpkin. Story sessions included questions and time for children to answer, while songs and rhymes encouraged participation. There was also a limitation: some instructions failed to reach children because adults had not first secured their attention.

Outdoor and Community Life

The expanded outdoor learning space includes a woodland mural, celebrated at a garden party in 2026 with families, staff and supporters.

Inside, the sensory room offers soft flooring and walls, a ball pool, mirrors, sensory lighting, fidget toys and weighted blankets. It provides another option alongside active group play, including quieter exploration. Liverpool City Council’s Early Years team contributed to developing the facility. The equipment is a useful feature; how it is selected for an individual child matters more than simply having it in the building.

Relationships and Communication

A key-person system gives families an identified practitioner involved in their child’s care and development. Parent meetings help shape individual plans, and regular feedback covers both learning and emotional wellbeing. Home visits can also be requested, allowing staff to understand a child’s individual needs in their home setting.

FAMLY provides daily photographs and updates, as well as a place for parents to follow learning and contribute experiences from home. Parents can connect home interests with nursery activities and discuss progress in meetings.

At the October 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that observation informed planned learning, including support for children learning English as an additional language and those with enhanced play plans, and that exchanges with parents helped maintain continuity between home and nursery.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The SEND arrangements give the SENCO a coordinating role, working with the key person, parents and other professionals. Support follows an assess, plan, do and review cycle: needs are considered, actions agreed, support delivered and its effect reviewed with the family. Transition arrangements include liaison with other settings and schools. This gives parents a process for discussing additional needs, rather than a general assurance that every need can be met in the same way.

Settling is planned around the individual child. Emotional understanding also has practical tools: in October 2023, a feeling tree and an emotion board helped children express how they felt. The sensory room adds a separate space for exploration, but its equipment should sit within an individual care plan where appropriate.

Staff development includes apprenticeships and continuing professional training. For parents, this means the team includes people developing their practice as well as practitioners supporting them. Collection uses a password procedure when another authorised adult picks up a child; illness prompts contact with parents about the next steps, and accidents are communicated immediately.

Food is prepared in the nursery kitchen, with a four-week menu shared through FAMLY each week. Meals cater for vegan, vegetarian and Halal diets, making dietary requirements part of planning rather than an afterthought.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is G8 Shipwright’s House, Queens Dock Business Centre, 67-83 Norfolk Street, Liverpool, L1 0BG. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm on weekdays. Full-day attendance is offered alongside morning sessions from 8am to 12.45pm and afternoons from 1pm to 6pm, so families can choose between a whole day and a shorter attendance pattern.

The nursery operates for 51 weeks each year, closing on bank holidays and for a week over Christmas. Families need separate arrangements during the Christmas closure.

Enquiries can be made through the nursery enquiry form or by telephone on 0151 318 7399. The form records a preferred start date and attendance days, alongside home languages, additional needs and dietary requirements. Subject to availability, a place is offered in writing or by email; families accept in writing or by email and complete the contract and registration form before attendance begins.

Beyond nursery sessions, Breakfast Club, After School Club and Holiday Club are offered. After School Club runs from 3pm to 6pm, while Holiday Club operates from 7.30am to 6pm; children attending Holiday Club bring a packed lunch.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is accepted for two- and three-year-olds. The funding guidance also describes 570 annual funded hours for children aged three to four, normally used as 15 hours each week over 38 weeks, and an extended entitlement for eligible families. Eligibility remains a condition, rather than an automatic entitlement to every pattern of attendance.

For paid nursery attendance, meals, snacks and drinks are included in the fee. Water wipes and nappy creams are included too; parents supply nappies and milk.

Fees are payable a month ahead. Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

• Listening and independence. The October 2023 improvement points concerned securing attention before instructions and allowing children more chances to manage everyday tasks. During a visit, ask how staff now support children to serve food, pour drinks and handle self-care.
• Sensory support. The sensory room includes weighted blankets, lighting and a ball pool. The choice of equipment and access arrangements matters for children with sensory preferences or additional needs.
• Your funded pattern. Funding participation sits alongside full days and shorter sessions. Request one written breakdown covering your intended hours, the funded schedule and any treatment of food and consumables during funded attendance.
• Settling around your child. Home visits can be requested, and settling arrangements respond to individual needs. Discuss how your child’s familiar routines will be carried into their nursery room.

The Childcare Academy suits families seeking either full-day childcare or shorter morning and afternoon sessions in the Baltic Triangle. Its sensory room, expanded outdoor space and daily FAMLY communication give parents tangible reasons to consider it. The Good judgement from October 2023 provides a quality reference, while the attention and independence findings identify practical aspects of staff support to weigh.

The strongest fit is for families who value play, emotional understanding and an active exchange between home and nursery. The decision should turn on how those features work for the individual child and on a clear agreement about attendance and funding.