St Cuthbert's Pre-school Playgroup

A church-hall playgroup with daily outdoor play and a strong emphasis on children making choices: St Cuthbert's Pre-school Playgroup combines a large shared play room with an approach built around growing independence. Its home is St Cuthbert’s Church Hall in Churchtown, Southport, and it welcomes children aged two to five. The physical arrangement matters. Children have space for activities indoors and a spacious outdoor area to use each day.

At its January 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the provision Outstanding, highlighting teaching that extended children's language and learning through their interests. That gives the review a clear quality anchor, while the everyday offer remains recognisably a playgroup: choosing activities, joining adult-led groups and learning to manage ordinary tasks for themselves.

Attendance is term-time, with full-day and half-day patterns alongside flexible start and finish times. Thursday finishes earlier than the other weekdays, an important practical distinction for working families.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning, covering relationships, communication, movement and the development of skills through play. Here, staff use observations to plan around each child's needs, rather than expecting every child to work through an identical sequence of activities. For younger children, planning gives priority to language, physical development and personal and social development.

Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage is the guidance used to help select play activities and equipment. Some experiences are led by children; others involve an adult introducing a task or helping a group take part. The useful distinction is between having choices and receiving guidance. Both are part of the day.

Children can make marks, explore counting and shapes, sing, create and play imaginatively. The large play room accommodates equipment and activities, while small and larger adult-led groups introduce experiences that children might not choose independently. Completing a chosen task and working alongside others are explicit parts of the approach. These are practical foundations for school preparation, rather than an emphasis on formal lessons.

In January 2025, stories, songs and conversations gave staff opportunities to introduce vocabulary throughout the day. Planning drew on children's interests and what they needed to learn next. Everyday kindness also had a place: children offered compliments and helped one another with routine jobs. Learning included how to treat other people.

Outdoor and Community Life

Daily access to the outdoor play area adds movement to the indoor programme. Bikes and scooters support physical play, and adult-led obstacle courses sit alongside activities children choose themselves. This gives outdoor time a clear purpose beyond a break from the play room: children practise movement, make decisions and explore their surroundings.

Regular community outings extend that experience beyond the setting. In January 2025, children walked to the park and visited local shops to learn about their neighbourhood and the people who helped them. Trips to the zoo and theatre broadened those experiences further. The local outings and the larger trips served different purposes, connecting familiar places with opportunities to encounter something new.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key worker who helps with settling, follows their development and works with parents on their needs and interests. That creates a continuing point of contact. Observations and assessment records support the relationship, so conversations can cover what a child is learning as well as how their session went.

Communication includes daily conversations, parent interviews and emailed newsletters. Planned activities are emailed each week, giving families a useful connection between home and the playgroup. Parents can contribute information about their child's interests and learning at home, and are encouraged to share their own skills with the children or take part in outings.

In January 2025, families valued the nursery library and its books, and parent workshops covered communication, language development and toilet training. Staff also helped families access guidance on financial and family support. These were concrete forms of parent support, extending beyond routine feedback about the nursery day.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At its January 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and praised personalised SEND support, with developmental assessments and links to external professionals enabling prompt intervention. For parents whose child needs additional help, the important detail is the combination of assessment, individual support and outside expertise.

The key worker completes the written development check for children aged 24 to 36 months, drawing on observations and contributions from parents and other professionals; it is shared with the child's Health Visitor. Assessment summaries also accompany transitions, including the move to school. This provides a way to carry information about a child's development into the next stage.

Staff training covers first aid, child protection, food hygiene, curriculum planning and special educational needs. Practical independence receives attention too: children are encouraged to manage outdoor clothing and use the toilet themselves, with clothing that they can handle helping that process.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is St Cuthbert’s Church Hall, Botanic Road, Southport, PR9 7NN. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 07875 652248.

The playgroup operates during school terms. Full-day and half-day attendance are offered, with flexible start and finish times within opening hours of 8am to 3.30pm, except Thursday, when closing is at 1pm. The shorter Thursday needs to be part of the family's weekly childcare plan rather than treated as an incidental detail.

Funding and Paid Extras

Nursery education funding is accepted for two-, three- and four-year-olds, with fees applying where funding is not received. Attendance is term-time. Private fees are payable in advance, and short absences remain chargeable; fees must be settled by the end of each half term to avoid suspension of the place until payment is cleared. The fees page sets out the payment structure.

Snacks are charged separately, while children staying between noon and 1pm bring a packed lunch; children with a milk allergy need a labelled alternative drink from home. Children and adults eat together, and drinking water is accessible for children to help themselves.

Health information must be kept current, including allergies and dietary needs. Following sickness or diarrhoea, children must stay home for at least 48 hours after their last symptoms. Collection arrangements also require a list of authorised adults, with advance notification if somebody else will collect.

• Thursday childcare. Closing is at 1pm rather than 3.30pm. Discuss how flexible attendance would work across your actual week, including any shorter sessions you want to book.
• Food and allergies. Lunch comes from home and snacks carry a separate charge. Families managing allergies should confirm the current snack arrangements and how their child's dietary needs will be handled.
• The cost of your pattern. Fees are paid ahead and remain payable during short absences. Request a written quotation covering your intended funded and private attendance, snacks and any consumables you would need to supply.

St Cuthbert's suits families seeking term-time playgroup provision with half-day or full-day attendance and flexibility over start and finish times. Its strongest practical combination is a large play room, daily outdoor access and regular community outings, supported by a key worker relationship and frequent communication with home.

The January 2025 Outstanding judgement adds weight to that offer. The main planning consideration is the weekly timetable, especially Thursday's earlier finish, alongside packed lunches and separately charged snacks. For families whose routine fits those arrangements, this is a compelling option for play, growing independence and preparation for school.