Starfish Day Nursery & Holiday Club

An eight-child baby room with a dedicated sleep room gives Starfish Day Nursery & Holiday Club a practical starting point for families choosing care for their youngest child. The Jellyfish Room combines that small published capacity with home visits and settling sessions, while a large garden gives outdoor play a substantial place in the nursery's offer. These are concrete arrangements parents can weigh against their child's routines.

At its 12 July 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall and identified literacy planning as the area needing improvement. That judgement matters alongside the appealing room arrangements: the next steps in reading and early phonics deserve attention as well as the care facilities.

Based in Chadderton, Oldham, the setting accepts children aged one month to five years and has 67 places in total. Morning, afternoon and full-day bookings provide different ways to fit childcare around family life.

Rooms and Ages

Jellyfish Room takes babies from six weeks to 18 months, has capacity for eight children and centres its care on attentive play in a calm space, with a dedicated, monitored sleep room. For a baby who still naps during the day, that separate provision is a useful physical feature rather than sleep simply sharing the main play space.

Seahorse Room starts at 12 months, extends to two years and has capacity for 12 children, with an open-plan layout and direct access to a small garden supporting exploration and social confidence. Turtle Room, for children aged two to three, has capacity for eight children and combines its own garden access with activities children can choose, encouraging independence, conversation and friendships.

These are room capacities, rather than a promise about the number of children attending on any particular day. The emphasis also changes with age: close attention and rest for babies, then more opportunities to explore, make choices and play alongside other children.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children's learning, development and care. In everyday parent language, it brings learning and care together: play, conversation, movement and early number experiences belong within the child's day, rather than education being a separate lesson block.

In July 2023, mathematics was threaded through activities, including working out what happens when a quantity increases or decreases by one. Books and storytelling were also accessible across the nursery. The literacy sequence was less secure: some phonics work was too advanced for children's existing understanding, and capitalised word displays could add confusion. Enjoying stories and building early reading skills are related tasks, but each needs attention.

Children also had a route to influence nursery life in July 2023 through the Starfish Committee, a group through which they contributed ideas. Their suggestions led to pretend supermarkets being introduced in the rooms. That is a tangible example of adults responding to children's choices, rather than simply asking for their opinions.

Outdoor and Community Life

A large garden occupies a quiet position away from heavy traffic. It gives families a substantial outdoor feature to consider alongside the individual rooms' garden access.

In July 2023, older children cared for caterpillars, watched their transformation and released the butterflies into the garden. The experience connected patient observation with a real change children could follow, giving the outdoor space a role beyond physical play.

Home visits and settling sessions are part of the arrangements for Jellyfish Room and Seahorse Room. Meeting staff before a child settles into regular attendance can make the change from home to nursery more gradual; for babies, the dedicated sleep room also makes rest a clear part of the care offer.

In July 2023, staff stayed close while babies practised crawling and early walking. Adults also responded to children's worries, including fears about darkness at bedtime, and worked with parents on those concerns. These examples place emotional reassurance alongside physical development.

Parent involvement had practical substance in July 2023. Stay-and-play sessions let families see their children's activities, while staff shared ideas such as using sand timers to support turn-taking and boundaries at home. Progress checks were shared with health visitors to help identify children needing additional support.

At the July 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged safeguarding effective and support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities strong, with staff assessing individual needs, planning support and reviewing it. In that month, early years pupil premium funding had also paid for weighted blankets and putty dough to support emotional wellbeing and physical development.

Meals are prepared fresh on site by an in-house chef, making food preparation part of the nursery's daily operation rather than a task for an outside caterer. The building also uses fingerprint-controlled entry, a concrete access arrangement rather than a substitute for the dated safeguarding judgement.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 52 Queens Road, Chadderton, Oldham, OL9 9HU. Nursery bookings run Monday to Friday: mornings are 7am to 1pm, afternoons 1pm to 6pm, and full days 7am to 6pm.

The afternoon begins when the morning ends, so families comparing the shorter patterns can make a straightforward choice between the earlier and later part of the day. Full-day attendance covers both. The nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and one week at Christmas; that closure needs to fit the family's wider childcare arrangements.

Viewing bookings and online child registration are offered. Enquiries can be made on 0161 626 9470 or by email to hello@starfishdaynursery.co.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Starfish offers options for 15 or 30 hour funded entitlement alongside paid morning, afternoon and full-day childcare. Families comparing these routes need to distinguish the childcare pattern they want from the funded entitlement they can use.

• Early reading. In July 2023, literacy planning did not consistently build from children's existing skills, and some phonics work was too advanced. During a visit, ask how reading activities now progress from stories and language towards suitable early phonics.
• Older children's room allocation. The age bands for some older rooms conflict across their descriptions. Establish which room your child would attend and how moves between rooms are decided before choosing a booking pattern.
• Baby settling and sleep. Jellyfish Room has an eight-child capacity, settling sessions and a monitored sleep room. Use a visit to discuss how those arrangements would accommodate your baby's sleep and comfort routines.
• The full childcare budget. Both funded entitlement and paid sessions are offered. Request a written quotation for your intended pattern, including the treatment of meals and non-food consumables, so the comparison covers the whole arrangement.

Starfish suits families seeking either morning or afternoon sessions as well as those needing a full day, with the baby room's sleep provision and the garden offering clear practical attractions. The smaller published capacities in Jellyfish Room and Turtle Room also give parents something concrete to assess when comparing room arrangements.

The July 2023 Good judgement provides the quality benchmark, while the literacy finding keeps the recommendation measured. For families weighing early care alongside learning, the useful balance here is specific room provision, different attendance patterns and a clear curriculum question to pursue.