St Catherine's Independent Nursery

An enclosed Forest School area at the bottom of the field gives St Catherine's Independent Nursery a clear outdoor identity: children explore nature, make shelters and try practical tasks alongside their indoor play. This Leyland nursery operates independently within St Catherine's RC Primary School's building and is a charity run on a non-profit basis. Sharing the building does not make it a school nursery class.

At its 11 October 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding, with teaching that developed children's ideas into absorbing activities and effective safeguarding arrangements. That judgement provides a strong starting point, while its date matters when weighing it against the nursery's current routines.

There are 40 places in total. Children must be at least two and a half. Two-year-old entrants must turn three during their starting term or early in the following term. Attendance continues through to children preparing to start school. Full days, shorter sessions and term-time attendance serve different family schedules.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning and care: children develop language, physical skills and relationships through play, alongside early literacy, mathematics, creativity and exploration of their surroundings. This is the shared early-years foundation rather than a special programme exclusive to St Catherine's. Development Matters, guidance on children's learning stages, helps practitioners plan within it.

Language work has concrete routines. Letters and Sounds concentrates on Phase One here, using speaking and listening as preparation for phonics. Sound of the Week invites children to contribute an object from home to a shared sound box, while Word of the Week introduces vocabulary through everyday play and conversation. A weekly nursery rhyme gives families another simple activity to continue at home. The emphasis is on using language, rather than simply recognising it.

In October 2022, a child's fascination with space led to planning a journey and constructing a rocket from cardboard. Staff used the interest as the starting point for a shared project. That example captures the relationship between children's choices and adult input: an idea becomes something to discuss, plan and make together.

An Activity Coordinator arranges experiences during both morning and afternoon sessions. Gardening, woodwork, communication groups and yoga sit alongside the broader play offer. Mixed Sports Sessions bring coached activities such as tennis, cricket and hockey into St Catherine's RC Primary School's sports hall on Tuesday mornings. Sports Cool runs the session, adding organised movement in a different physical space.

Outdoor and Community Life

Forest School adds outdoor exploration and practical problem-solving to the EYFS day. Its enclosed area has a permanent wooden shelter; additional tarpaulin shelters provide cover when needed. Sessions run throughout the year unless conditions become dangerous. Possible activities include searching for small creatures, natural crafts and shelter building, with practitioners developing children's interests rather than requiring everyone to choose the same task.

The garden also opens for free-flow play at points during the day, allowing children to choose outdoor activity. A Mud Kitchen and a digging area make messy exploration part of the offer. Families should expect clothes to get dirty: the outdoor experience involves materials children can handle and change, rather than simply a space for running around.

In October 2022, children took turns with snack and risk-assessment responsibilities, helped with recycling and contributed ideas through a children's council. These were practical opportunities to talk, cooperate and make decisions. Responsibility had a place in ordinary routines.

Two annual events affect the calendar as well as nursery life. A Farm Trip takes place on a Friday in June, when the nursery closes for the outing; children who normally attend that day can join staff on the trip and must be collected afterwards at 2.30pm. After the December Nativity, the nursery closes at 11am. Both need to be included in family childcare planning.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person who acts as their main carer and learns their preferences, interests and needs. Routine conversations with parents are supplemented by individual appointments for more detailed discussions. This gives families a clear person to approach, while allowing sensitive developmental questions more time than a brief daily exchange.

Settling includes pre-visits and a home visit, with the approach adapted to each family. Information forms and learning journeys help staff learn about the child before and during the move from home to nursery. For children with additional needs, links with professionals already involved are established as part of that process. Settling is treated as an individual transition rather than a single timetable everyone must follow.

Blossom, the learning journal app, allows parents to see nursery experiences and contribute updates from home. Next Step's for Home provides ideas for continuing learning with the family. Parentapps Connect System handles practical communication, including calendar information, consent forms, contact-detail changes and absence reporting. These serve different purposes: one supports conversations about development, the other helps families manage nursery information.

The Home Library lends Story, Maths and Rhyming bags containing resources such as books, games and puppets, with guidance on using them. This makes home learning tangible. Parents can also take part in activities and projects or accompany excursions, while evenings for parents and monthly newsletters provide further opportunities for communication.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A dedicated SENCO role coordinates additional support. The SEND process involves parents in assessment and planning, brings in outside professionals where needed, and follows an assess, plan, do and review cycle. Support plans and children's progress are reviewed every six weeks. That gives families a defined point for discussing whether the approach is helping and what should happen next.

At the October 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that staff identified learning needs promptly, worked closely with families and other agencies, and supported children with SEND to make excellent progress from their starting points. The current support arrangements give that dated finding a practical counterpart, although individual provision still depends on the child's needs.

Staff have opportunities for further study and continuing workplace training. The nursery also holds Millie’s Mark, an endorsement linked to paediatric first-aid training across the staff team and maintaining that knowledge in practice. These arrangements support continuing staff learning and first-aid practice.

For school transition, children use uniforms for dressing up, classroom role play and photographs to become familiar with their next setting. School representatives are invited into nursery, visits with a key person are arranged where possible, and each child has a transition report covering interests, strengths and development. This preparation supports continuity between settings.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is St Catherine's RC Primary School, Moss Lane, Leyland, PR25 4SJ. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm on weekdays, across 49 weeks of the year. Closures include bank holidays, two weeks at Christmas and one at Easter, so year-round attendance still has planned breaks.

The full-day pattern runs from 8am to 6pm. The morning half day is 8.30am to 11.30am, the afternoon half day 1pm to 4pm, and school-hours attendance 9am to 3pm. Term-time-only places and alternative session arrangements are also offered. Funded attendance can be delivered during term time or stretched across the year, with the agreed pattern depending on nursery arrangements.

The minimum attendance requested is two full days or three half days each week, subject to availability, to support consistency while children settle. Extra hours and changes to earlier starts or later collections require written agreement at least 24 hours ahead. Although the nursery closes at 6pm, parents are asked to collect by 5.50pm to allow the handover to finish before the building closes.

A waiting list operates, and admissions priorities include looked-after children, children known by the local authority to have SEND whose needs can be best met at the nursery, vulnerable children receiving specified support, siblings and local families, in that order. A full-time application may take preference over part-time attendance depending on work commitments, occupancy and availability. Families complete a contract and registration form before attendance begins.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01772 456304 or by email at info@stcatherinesnursery.co.uk. Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place at the school sharing its building; families must use the local authority admissions process for a state-school application.

Funding and Paid Extras

Two-Year Old Funding and Three to Four-Year old Funding are offered, with the younger intake restricted to emerging three-year-olds. Universal funding provides up to 15 hours a week from the term after a child's third birthday, while eligible children can receive extended funding up to 30 hours. Additional private hours are charged separately from funded entitlement. Eligibility and the agreed attendance pattern both matter when arranging a funded place.

Breakfast and afternoon snacks are supplied without a separate charge, including on funded attendance; hot lunches from St Catherine’s RC Primary School are charged separately, with a packed lunch as the alternative. The nursery's allergy arrangements include gathering dietary information before admission and, where appropriate, agreeing an individual plan and risk assessment with parents.

Non-food consumables carry no additional charge, including during funded attendance. Mixed Sports Sessions request a voluntary contribution, and children can still participate if parents opt out of paying. These distinctions help families separate childcare hours from food choices and activity contributions when considering the total bill.

Invoices are paid a month in advance, and sickness or family holidays remain payable. Fees are reviewed each April, with at least a month's notice of increases; ending a place or cancelling a regular or extra booked session requires a month's written notice, with fees due during that period or payable instead. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, alongside the payment arrangements outlined on its fees page.

• The younger intake has a birthday condition. The minimum age is two and a half; two-year-old entrants must turn three during their starting term or early in the following term. Discuss the proposed start date and settling sequence during a visit so that entry fits your child's circumstances.
• Shorter sessions still involve a regular commitment. The requested minimum is two full days or three half days weekly, subject to availability, and full-day collection is requested by 5.50pm. Compare those arrangements with your working week before agreeing attendance.
• Outdoor learning needs practical clothing. Forest School requires long sleeves and trousers in summer as well as winter, with suitable footwear and weather protection. Ask to see the outdoor spaces during a visit and consider the spare clothes your child will need.
• Food choices need individual planning. Hot lunch is a separate charge, and a packed lunch is an alternative. Families managing allergies should confirm the current food arrangements and how their child's dietary plan will work across nursery meals and snacks.

St Catherine's suits families seeking preschool education with substantial outdoor activity and clear ways to continue learning at home. Forest School, the Home Library and two-way updates through Blossom give the offer practical substance, while the October 2022 Outstanding judgement provides a strong dated assessment.

It serves families wanting full days as well as morning, afternoon or school-hours attendance, including term-time arrangements. The emerging-three intake, minimum attendance request and planned closures are the main practical checks when deciding whether it fits your family.