Elizabeth Saunders Nursery

Bird boxes, baby-chosen nursery rhymes and preschool outings to Rebel coffee shop give Elizabeth Saunders Nursery a character built around practical play and its village surroundings. This Saunders Lane setting in Preston takes children from three months to five years and has 33 places in total.

At its December 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall and found safeguarding effective. There were also clear priorities for improvement: more consistent hygiene teaching, broader opportunities to understand differences between people, and training better matched to staff development needs. These matter alongside the positive judgement.

Full-day and half-day sessions sit alongside term-time attendance, giving families different ways to organise childcare rather than a single attendance pattern.

Rooms and Ages

Little Explorers is the baby room, where January 2026 activities combined sensory trays and animal sounds with song spoons that let babies choose a rhyme, while birdwatching used the garden. Little Discoverers explored shapes, construction and early mark-making in February 2026, with towers and child-led play turning mathematical ideas into things children could handle. The Preschool Room explored different countries in July 2025 through their food, music and celebrations, making knowledge of the wider world concrete rather than leaving it as a theme title.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: play, conversation, movement and exploration contribute to their growing skills. At the December 2024 inspection, Ofsted found an effective educational programme that developed learning progressively from babies through preschool, with physical development a strength.

In December 2024, language work included familiar rhymes and discussion of how books are made, introducing vocabulary about the people who write and illustrate them. Early writing took different forms: babies made circular tracks with toy vehicles in sand, while older children explored letter shapes using their fingers. The practical implication is a gradual introduction to language and writing through actions children can manage, rather than relying solely on spoken instructions.

More recent projects add considerable texture. In January 2026, Little Discoverers combined movement with counting, sorting and measuring, made bird boxes and used playdough for mark-making. Dinosaur small-world play followed children's interests. Mathematics and storytelling therefore appeared within physical and imaginative activity, giving children several ways to engage with the same ideas.

Preschool baking in December 2025 grew out of The Gingerbread Man. Children stirred, rolled and cut dough, counted ingredients and explored shapes before decorating their biscuits. Following instructions and waiting for a turn were part of the activity too. A familiar story became something children could make and discuss, linking language with hand control and early mathematics.

Science Week in March 2025 involved experiments with bubbles, coloured milk and a model volcano. Life Cycles the following month brought caterpillars into each room for observation. These were tangible starting points for questions about change: children could watch what happened rather than only hear an explanation.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden has a practical educational role. In December 2024, children used tunnels and hills to develop balance and coordination, and older children helped look for hazards before playing outside. This connected movement with learning to judge a situation for themselves.

Village outings broaden the setting further. Preschool Adventures in December 2025 included visits to Rebel, where children delivered a handmade Christmas card and stayed for babychinos, as well as encounters with donkeys and horses and time at the local park. Talking to a barista, observing animals and climbing at the park gave communication, curiosity and physical play a real setting beyond the nursery.

Little Explorers also visited donkeys on an autumn walk in October 2025 and explored a community park in February 2026. These are examples of outings, rather than a fixed weekly timetable. Within the nursery, National Shark Day activities in July 2026 included a life-size shark representation on the playground, investigation of real shark teeth and sorting collected litter by material. Measuring, animal knowledge and recycling were brought together through objects and practical tasks.

Relationships and Communication

Nursery In A Box is the parent app, bringing photographs, observations, assessments and daily routines into one communication channel. Parents can message their child's key person directly and receive individual or nursery-wide notifications.

Parent contributions also shape activities. In January 2026, ideas from families helped guide baby-room themes around animals, boats and farm life. The song spoons used that month gave babies a small but meaningful choice in group music: selecting an object helped them take a turn and influence what happened next.

In December 2024, staff shared learning information with families and supplied books and story sacks for use at home. That offered parents a concrete way to continue a story or activity, rather than simply receiving a summary of the nursery day.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

In December 2024, staff responded patiently when children sought reassurance and encouraged growing independence, including toddlers using steps to reach a sink. Older children took part in checking the garden for hazards. The emphasis was on supported participation: children practised everyday tasks and decisions with adults nearby.

Hygiene teaching needed greater consistency at that visit, including handwashing after noses were wiped. Opportunities to explore cultural differences and similarities in everyday play also needed expanding, and observations of staff practice were not always translated into sufficiently targeted training. Later examples include exploration of countries through food and music, but those activities alone do not establish that the inspection priorities have been fully addressed.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Elizabeth Saunders Nursery, Saunders Lane, Preston, PR4 5SA. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. A full day runs from 7.30am to 6pm; half days run from 7.30am to 1pm or from 12.30pm to 6pm.

Term-time-only attendance follows a separate calendar. Year-round operation includes bank holiday and Christmas closures: fees remain payable during both, and affected sessions cannot be transferred. For Christmas 2026, the nursery closes at 1pm on 24 December and reopens at 7.30am on 4 January 2027. That interruption needs to be included in family childcare planning even where attendance normally continues across the year.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form or by telephone on 01772619064. Nursery In A Box also handles payments for additional hours, sessions and meals, allowing families to manage those transactions alongside communication about their child.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded education grant sessions are offered, and there is a term-time funded calendar. Private full-day and half-day care is also offered. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, which should distinguish the chosen attendance pattern from food charges on funded sessions.

Meals are included for full-time, full-day and morning attendance, whereas children attending education grant sessions can purchase meals and snacks separately. The menu includes salmon with noodles, chicken curry and cottage pie, and the nursery caters for vegetarian and vegan diets and allergies; allergy-related arrangements deserve individual discussion before attendance.

• Inspection priorities. December 2024 brought recommendations on hygiene, understanding differences between people and targeted staff training. At a visit, ask how these changes now appear in everyday routines and staff development.
• Closure costs. Bank holiday and Christmas closure fees remain payable, and those sessions cannot be transferred. Families needing continuous care should plan for both the childcare interruption and the continuing charge.
• Funded-session food. Meals and snacks are purchased separately on education grant sessions, while meals are included for the specified private attendance patterns. Compare written quotations using the pattern your child will actually attend.
• Baby-room fit. In January 2026, Little Explorers activities included sensory play, song choices and birdwatching in the garden. During a visit, ask how settling, sleep and the day's group size would work for your baby, and discuss current allergy practice if relevant.

Elizabeth Saunders Nursery suits families seeking full-day care, a morning or afternoon half day, or term-time attendance, with practical play and village experiences forming much of its character. The combination of parent-app communication, baby-led song choices, baking and community outings gives parents a clear picture of the activities their child may encounter.

The Good judgement is a useful foundation, but the December 2024 priorities remain relevant questions for a visit. The strongest fit is for families who value hands-on learning and regular communication, and whose arrangements accommodate paid closures and separate food purchases on funded sessions.