Anna-Ca-Soo Day Nursery

A private baby garden, a room for small-group play and monthly care-home visits give Anna-Ca-Soo Day Nursery a character that reaches beyond its colour-coded rooms. Babies have their own space for sleep; preschool children have opportunities to spend time with another generation. Those are useful differences for parents weighing both the daily routine and the experiences surrounding it.

At its 16 May 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and identified a need for staff to adjust teaching more consistently so that children's learning was stretched further. That gives families a clear overall position and a specific point to explore, rather than a grade alone.

The nursery has capacity for 50 children at 334 Eastfield Road, Peterborough, PE1 4RA, accepting children from 3 months until the term in which they turn 5. Morning, afternoon and full-day bookings serve different family routines. The strongest practical features are the separate spaces for younger children, access to outdoor play and several ways for parents to follow development.

Rooms and Ages

Green Room is the baby base, with sensory toys, cosy spaces, a book area, its own sleep room containing 2 cots and direct access to a private garden; children start at 3 months and move on between 18 months and 2 years. Having sleep and outdoor space attached to the baby provision makes those parts of the day concrete considerations, rather than extras squeezed around older children's activities.

Yellow Room accommodates toddlers between 18 months and 3 years, combining construction, imaginative play, books and mark making with its own toilets and changing space. Red Room serves the same age band, with equivalent play areas and separate toileting and changing facilities. These arrangements put everyday self-care alongside play as children become more independent.

Blue Room serves preschool children, approximately 3 to 4 years old, across 3 connected open-plan rooms, with a book corner, imaginative play, resources children can select and spaces for messy activities. The layout gives different kinds of play their own areas while keeping the preschool provision connected.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides learning through play, covering communication, movement, relationships and later learning in areas such as literacy and mathematics. It is the common framework for early years provision. Here, observation of each child's interests informs individual planning, so the starting point is what catches that child's attention rather than a fixed activity for everyone.

Adult-supported play sits alongside activities led by children. Resources can move between areas, and planning allows for individual routines. That makes the choice of materials part of learning: children can pursue an idea rather than having to keep it within one designated corner.

The Multi Purpose Room hosts smaller-group experiences including rhyme time, story sacks, dancing and soft play. Preschool children also use an Interactive Smart Screen for drawing, writing, games and movement activities. These are different ways to participate, with space for both physical activity and quieter shared experiences.

In May 2024, babies explored musical instruments while adults sang, and older children practised coordination through chalk movements, cutting paper and aiming balls at a board. A conversation about holidays became airport role play. The examples show how familiar interests can become opportunities to practise movement, language and imaginative thinking.

Outdoor and Community Life

A rear garden gives children access to outdoor play throughout the day, with an undercover patio, a Pirate ship and a Wigwam. Loose materials include wooden blocks, crates, ropes and tyres, allowing children to build and rearrange their play. Outdoor reading space, chalk boards and a vegetable garden extend books, mark making and growing beyond the indoor rooms.

Outings include Queensgate, the market and the town park. The Core Story approach links some trips to the story children are exploring: an animal theme in the baby provision led to a visit to Pets at Home. The value is the connection between a familiar story and a real experience, rather than an outing standing apart from learning.

Preschool children visit a local care home monthly. An annual Garden Party marks the departure of school leavers, bringing parents and grandparents together with activities, food and a bouncy castle. One gives children a recurring connection outside nursery; the other gives families a shared ending before the move to school.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a Key person who responds to their feelings and helps them become familiar with nursery life. During settling, parents can telephone during the day to discuss how their child is getting on. These arrangements give families a relationship to build and a practical way to stay in touch during the early weeks.

Daily conversations cover how children have been and what they have eaten. Parents are encouraged to allow a little time before their agreed collection deadline for that exchange. Password-protected learning information adds photographs, videos, examples of work and written observations, connecting the daily conversation with a fuller account of development.

ParentMail, OurSchoolsApp and monthly newsletters carry wider nursery information. OurSchoolsApp brings together news, calendar events and contact details, while the learning software serves a different purpose: following an individual child's experiences. Transition Meetings with the Key person take place when children change rooms and before school, giving families time to discuss development and concerns around the next stage.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the May 2024 inspection, Ofsted praised the SEND team's work with families and other professionals, alongside the support children received towards their learning targets. For families considering additional support, the useful detail is that coordinated work between adults, rather than a broad promise that every need will be met in the same way.

In May 2024, everyday independence included babies feeding themselves, toddlers pouring drinks and clearing their plates, and older children persevering with coat zips. School preparation therefore included managing ordinary tasks and relationships. It was not confined to early reading or writing.

Sleep has designated space: babies use their own sleep room, while toddlers who need a nap use the Multi Purpose Room. Rooms have air conditioning for heating and cooling, and outdoor time is adjusted to UV levels on hot days. Staff receive recurring training that includes safeguarding, paediatric first aid and allergy awareness, supporting the arrangements around children's daily care.

A nursery chef prepares fresh meals, and the menus identify allergens against dishes. The baby and older-child menus include cooked lunches alongside fruit, dairy foods and afternoon snacks, giving parents concrete material for discussing their child's eating needs.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.45am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks, with bank holidays excluded and a Christmas closure. Full-day bookings last 9 hours, with options including 7.45am to 4.45pm and 9am to 6pm. Morning sessions run from 9am to 1pm; afternoons run from 1pm to 5pm. Extensions are offered alongside those patterns.

Those choices matter because the opening window is longer than the standard full-day booking. A family needing care at both ends of the opening day will need an extension arrangement rather than assuming that a full day spans every opening hour.

A non-refundable deposit and an administration fee secure sessions. Fees are paid ahead of attendance and remain payable during sickness and family holidays. Enquiries go to the management team by telephone, email or the contact form; appointments for a nursery tour are arranged with the manager or deputy.

Getting There

The address is 334 Eastfield Road, Peterborough, PE1 4RA, near the city centre and just off Frank Perkins Parkway. Parent parking is on the roadside in Tait Close, with access through the side entrance; the front car park is reserved for staff.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and additional privately paid sessions are offered. Working-family funding covers the age brackets 9-23 months, 2 years and 3-4 years, with the funding options described as equivalent to 30 hours and stretched to 22 hours weekly across the nursery year. Subject to eligibility, funding begins the term after the child reaches the qualifying age. The admissions terms also describe 15-hour funding stretched to 11 weekly hours, with parents responsible for applying and supplying their funding code where required.

Consumables are covered by the funding and fee arrangements except for funding for 3-4-year-olds, where a supplement can be accepted or declined through a conversation with management. Families are also directed to bring sun cream and can supply nappies and wipes, so those practical supplies belong in the discussion of what a particular booking includes.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The funding and fees page sets out the distinction between funded provision, extra paid sessions and the supplement; the terms for term-time attendance need particular attention.

• Term-time attendance. Admissions terms say term-time places are not offered, while the news information describes term-time provision for families receiving funding for 2- or 3-year-olds. This unresolved conflict matters for school-holiday budgeting: ask which attendance agreement would apply to your child.
• Teaching that stretches learning. In May 2024, staff needed to become more consistent at adjusting activities to extend children's learning. At a visit, ask how practitioners now recognise when a child needs a more demanding next step.
• Baby routines and transitions. Green Room combines a private garden with a sleep room containing 2 cots, and movement to toddler provision occurs between 18 months and 2 years. A tour is an opportunity to discuss how sleeping routines and readiness for that move are handled.
• Food and everyday supplies. Menus identify allergens, while consumable arrangements differ for funding for 3-4-year-olds. Allergy-affected families should confirm current food practice, and families should establish what their agreement includes alongside supplies brought from home.

Anna-Ca-Soo suits families seeking morning or afternoon attendance as well as those arranging a full day with possible extensions. Its baby sleep and outdoor spaces, small-group room and monthly care-home visits give substance to the daily offer, while parent conversations, learning observations and transition meetings keep families involved.

The May 2024 teaching improvement point deserves a direct discussion, and the conflicting term-time terms need resolving before a booking. For parents comfortable with those points, the combination of age-specific spaces, practical independence and community experiences gives several concrete reasons to consider this Peterborough nursery.