TicTots Day Nursery & Creche Strand

Emotional confidence and physical activity gave TicTots Strand its clearest character in May 2022. Based within Total Fitness in Preston, this nursery combines ground-floor childcare rooms with an outdoor area for sensory exploration and growing. At that inspection, understanding feelings and enjoying movement featured alongside learning through play.

At its May 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall, with Outstanding personal development and effective safeguarding. That is a dated judgement, with useful detail behind it. In May 2022, children practised recognising emotions, considered how to comfort others and took part in exercise through a daily mile, swimming opportunities and yoga.

The current age range is 3 to 59 months. Opening hours run from 7.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday, with bank holidays and two weeks at Christmas excluded. Families therefore need to weigh both the nursery's approach to care and the fit between its opening window and their working day.

Rooms and Ages

Three main childcare rooms occupy the ground floor. Low furniture and resources suited to children's developmental stages support independent play, while wheelchair access and an accessible bathroom make the physical layout relevant to families with mobility needs.

The Strand virtual tour identifies the Babies Room, Ladybirds Room and Preschool Room, alongside outdoors. Current transition booklets also cover the Baby Room, Toddler Room, Clever Kitten and Preschool Room. These offer families a way to prepare for changes within the setting, rather than treating each move as an entirely unfamiliar start.

In May 2022, the activities differed meaningfully by stage: babies experimented with chalk and sound, toddlers manipulated dough, and preschool children practised transferring water with a pipette. These were concrete opportunities to explore materials, strengthen hand control and sustain attention. They describe the nursery day at that visit, rather than a fixed current timetable.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning, development and care: children build skills through play, with adults using observations to plan their next steps. Strand also names Numbers and Patterns and Letters and Sounds within its teaching. These sit alongside the national framework.

Communication work covers listening, understanding, social interaction and vocabulary. Small-group work supports speech and language development, giving this area a practical structure beyond general encouragement to talk. Progress recording helps staff identify where a child may need additional support and plan resources around their next learning steps.

The branch team describes sensory play, stories, music and craft activities, as well as incorporating children's interests into play. Outdoors, stepping logs and a ladder provide opportunities to practise movement and climbing. The secure outdoor area also accommodates growing and sensory experiences, so exploration is not confined to indoor resources.

In May 2022, clear behavioural reminders helped children understand expectations. Activities also drew on children's cultures and family celebrations, including Eid, Chinese New Year and Christmas; books reflected their backgrounds, and children learnt signs to communicate with peers who needed another way to interact.

Relationships and Communication

In May 2022, the key-person arrangements supported children's transitions. Staff gathered detailed information about children when they started, including preferences, and used it when planning activities. For parents, the useful principle is continuity: adults need to understand a child before deciding what to introduce next.

Current Strand resources include transition booklets for different stages and home guides covering toilet training, toothbrushing and starting Reception. The branch also shares learning information and an activity linked to myths and mythology for families to try at home. This gives parents concrete subjects to discuss with their child, rather than relying solely on a general account of the day.

The customer portal carries weekly invoices on Fridays. Strand also provides separate customer-service and family-support routes, helping families distinguish an account query from a conversation about their child's needs.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The branch works with families and external agencies when children need additional support, with a working relationship involving the LCC Early Years Inclusion Teacher. Its physical accessibility and progress-recording arrangements are practical parts of that provision: access to the rooms matters, as does recognising when the usual learning arrangements need adjustment.

At the May 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that work with parents and other professionals supported children's language progress, while identifying inconsistent pronunciation modelling and some poorly organised activities that interrupted engagement, especially among toddlers. Both points matter to families assessing how adult interaction and activity planning work together.

In May 2022, children discussed their emotions and ways of helping someone else feel better. Yoga, breathing exercises and mindfulness also featured. Staff training in myHappymind contributed to this wellbeing work at the time; it should be read as an inspection-era practice, rather than assumed to describe today's programme.

Food has a branch-specific marker too: Strand Road attained the Food for Life Award for Early Years settings, linked to the Eat Better, Start Better food guidelines. This gives families a concrete food standard to discuss alongside their child's individual dietary needs.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Total Fitness, West Strand, Preston, PR1 8UY. The nursery opens from 7.30am until 5.30pm on weekdays and operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and two weeks over Christmas. The Christmas closure is a practical consideration for families whose work continues through that period.

Enquiries can be submitted through a form that allows families to select TicTots Strand and enter their preferred days, times and start date. That keeps the enquiry attached to the correct branch. It also lets parents set out their intended attendance needs at the outset.

Getting There

Access is through the gym's main entrance, with a separate thumbprint-controlled entry arrangement for the nursery. Designated parking, wheelchair access and a wheelchair-accessible bathroom support the practical journey from the building entrance to childcare.

Funding and Paid Extras

In May 2022, the setting provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four. This is a dated participation statement. Current prices should form part of the nursery's written quotation for the attendance arrangement a family chooses.

• Toddler engagement and language modelling. The May 2022 improvement points concerned activity organisation and pronunciation. During a visit, ask how toddler activities hold children's attention and how practitioners model speech during play.
• Room transitions. Strand has stage-specific transition booklets, including one for Clever Kitten. Ask how these stages relate to your child's starting room and how the key person supports a move.
• Food and the quotation. Strand's Food for Life Award is a useful starting point for discussing meals. Request a written breakdown covering funded hours, meals and consumables, and discuss current allergy arrangements before agreeing attendance.
• The building and closures. Childcare is within Total Fitness, with designated parking and ground-floor rooms. Consider the entrance arrangements during a visit and plan around the bank-holiday and Christmas closures.

TicTots Strand suits families who value active play, communication work and practical support through changes in early childhood. Ground-floor rooms, accessible facilities, outdoor growing opportunities and stage-specific transition resources give that offer substance.

The May 2022 judgement provides a positive quality reference, while the language-modelling and toddler-engagement points give parents specific matters to explore. The best fit will be a family whose attendance needs work within the weekday opening hours and who values independent play, small-group communication work and transition resources. Attention to feelings was a strength in May 2022.