Moorside Stars Nursery

A baby garden, a woodland vegetable patch and a preschool woodwork station give Moorside Stars Nursery a clear practical character: children have places to explore, make things and practise doing things for themselves. This purpose-built setting stands at the junction of Turf Pit Lane and Ripponden Road in Moorside, Oldham, and takes children from 3 months to 5 years. It has capacity for 103 children in total. That is the whole nursery, rather than the size of an individual room.

At its 28 May 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found that its communication and language curriculum helped children develop their speaking skills. There were also two important priorities: using each child's next learning steps more consistently in activities, and giving parents better support to continue learning at home. Those points matter alongside the appealing facilities. Morning and afternoon half days sit alongside funded day arrangements, with the detailed booking conditions set out below.

Rooms and Ages

Four age-specific rooms provide a progression from babyhood to preparation for primary school. Twinkle Stars, for 3 months to 12 months, emphasises sensory exploration and physical development in a calm room; Little Stars, for 12 months to 2 years, gives children space to crawl and walk, with reading and creative areas. Big Stars, for 2 years to 3 years, combines growing independence with spaces for building, water play, sand, early writing and pretend play. Super Stars, for 3 years to 5 years, combines activities chosen by children with adult-led experiences, using a baking area, woodwork station and construction space alongside phonics and numeracy.

These are different stages with different emphases. A baby can explore through touch and movement, while an older child can work with materials or develop early reading and number skills. Beyond the main rooms, a sensory room, grand hall and indoor play areas provide additional places for play. The layout gives the nursery more than a set of age-based rooms.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework: children learn through play, exploration and activity, developing communication, movement and social skills alongside literacy, mathematics, creative expression and understanding the world. This is the educational foundation rather than an extra programme. The nursery's learning and development page also sets out observation, assessment and progress records, including a written developmental summary when a child is 2.

In May 2025, staff used conversation within play rather than reserving language learning for a separate activity. Babies rolled balls while responding to simple instructions; younger children encountered new vocabulary while building a railway, and older children connected movement with words through animal actions. Stories and rhymes gave children opportunities to join in. These examples show how ordinary play can become a chance to practise listening and speaking.

The limitation was individual planning. In May 2025, activities did not consistently incorporate the next skills identified for each child, so the connection between assessment and the day's experiences was uneven. For parents, the useful distinction is between an engaging activity and an activity that deliberately takes their own child's learning forward.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor play has substantial space here. Children have supervised access directly from their rooms, and wet-weather clothing supports play across different conditions. The baby garden gives the youngest children their own outdoor setting, while the main playground includes loose materials such as crates, wheels and boards. These invite children to arrange, build and experiment rather than use every resource in a fixed way.

In the woodland corner, children plant vegetables, watch them grow and pick them. The nursery calls its everyday outdoor learning Forest School, grounding that name in exploration of its natural play areas. Supervised climbing, crawling and jumping add physical challenge. The woodland story corner has toadstool seats, giving outdoor reading a recognisable setting of its own.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has an allocated key person who gets to know their interests and needs. That gives the family a particular practitioner with whom to build a relationship, rather than treating communication as a conversation with whoever happens to be nearby. An online learning journey allows experiences from home and nursery to be shared.

Parents As Partners includes lending activities, learning bags and persona dolls that families can take home. Stay and play sessions, parent education evenings and parents evenings offer further ways to take part. These arrangements make the connection with home practical: families can borrow something to use together, as well as receive updates about what happened during the day.

In May 2025, staff reassured children with gentle interactions and helped them practise sharing and responding kindly to others. Parents could borrow books and take part in training about safe sleep and paediatric first aid. However, updates did not consistently explain children's next learning steps. The important issue is whether communication helps a parent understand what to practise next, alongside celebrating an enjoyable nursery day.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the May 2025 inspection, Ofsted judged safeguarding effective and found that children with SEND received good support through developmental assessment, work with families and professionals, and communication aids such as objects of reference. Those are concrete support mechanisms: an object can help a child understand or communicate when spoken language alone is insufficient.

Every practitioner completes paediatric first aid training, and recruitment includes background checks. Babies have cots for sleep. These are practical care arrangements; families choosing the baby room will also want to understand how sleep and settling fit their child's routine.

Meals are cooked on site by the nursery's chef, with breakfast, lunch, tea and snacks forming part of the all-inclusive service. In May 2025, toothbrushing formed part of learning about health, while children practised everyday independence through serving food, pouring water and managing coats and handwashing. The emphasis was on doing manageable tasks themselves, with staff support.

School preparation continues beyond early reading and number work. The nursery works with a family's chosen primary school on the move to Reception, and its preschool room includes activities intended to build confidence and independence. This describes transition support rather than an admissions advantage.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Turf Pit Lane, Moorside, Oldham, OL4 2NE. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across the year, with bank holidays excluded. The private day rate has a minimum booking of 2 days, so it is a structured attendance commitment rather than an occasional single-day arrangement.

For eligible working parents, the 30-hour funding arrangement is described as 2 fully funded days from 8am to 6pm. An all-inclusive paid package adds a 7.30am start and the meals, supplies and activities described below. The distinction between the opening time and the funded day's start matters when planning an early morning.

For 3- and 4-year-olds using 15-hour funding, the arrangement is 2 half days: 7.30am to 1pm or 12.30pm to 6pm. The additional 15-hour offer for eligible 2-year-olds uses the same half-day windows and is fully inclusive. Morning and afternoon attendance therefore have a different shape from the working-parent day arrangement.

Enquiries can be made by email to info@moorsidestars.co.uk or through the registration form. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes 15-hour places for 3- and 4-year-olds and some eligible 2-year-olds, plus 30-hour places for eligible working parents. Funded places are also offered from 9 months, subject to eligibility. These are conditional offers, so a family's entitlement needs to match the arrangement being booked.

For private day care, meals and the specified consumables, nappies, wipes and sun cream, are included in the fee. Baby ballet and Yoga sessions are included too. For the working-parent and 3- and 4-year-old funded arrangements, the all-inclusive package carries an additional charge covering meals, those consumables and the named sessions; the eligible 2-year-old additional 15-hour arrangement is fully inclusive. The funded and private positions therefore need to be read separately.

The fees page sets out those packages. Choosing between them affects both the start time and what is included during attendance, rather than simply changing the price of an otherwise identical day.

• Individual learning plans. In May 2025, children's next steps were not consistently carried into activities or explained to parents. During a visit, ask how the key person now connects assessments, daily play and ideas for home.
• The funded booking pattern. The working-parent offer combines a 30-hour entitlement with a stated 2-day, 8am to 6pm arrangement. Ask for a written breakdown of how the entitlement is allocated and which attendance and package charges apply to your booking.
• Baby routines. Twinkle Stars combines sensory play with a calm room, and babies have cots. Ask how settling visits and sleep routines are arranged for your child.

Moorside Stars suits families seeking either morning or afternoon half days, or the working-parent funded day arrangement, who value outdoor access and practical learning. The baby garden, vegetable growing and preschool making spaces give that preference substance. Its key-person system and take-home learning resources also provide useful ways to connect nursery life with home.

The deciding question is how consistently those resources serve each child's next stage of development. The May 2025 priorities make individual planning and useful home-learning guidance the right matters to explore. A booking that fits the family's timetable, paired with clear explanations from the key person, would make the strongest case for choosing this nursery.