Yewlands Day Nursery

Wooden objects, treasure baskets and everyday household props give Yewlands Day Nursery its character. This family-run Leyland setting uses the Curiosity Approach, a child-led way of learning through real objects, natural materials and exploration, rather than toys with a single prescribed purpose. Children have scope to decide what a resource becomes. The practical appeal is a day built around making choices, handling materials and trying ideas.

Yewlands cares for children from birth to five, with 50 places in total and separate Acorn, Beech and Oak rooms for successive stages of development. At its February 2022 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and praised the sequencing of learning and the development of communication. That judgement is dated; the current offer includes dedicated gardens, tailored settling and daily parent communication.

Full-day, morning and afternoon sessions sit alongside term-time attendance for toddlers and preschool children. This gives families more than one way to organise childcare around work or the school calendar.

Rooms and Ages

Acorn Room, for birth to two years, combines treasure baskets, songs and sensory exploration with cosy book corners containing mirrors and family photographs, plus a calm space for sleep. For a baby, the important connection is between familiar routines and exploration: practitioners work with parents to keep the home pattern recognisable while supporting movement, reaching and early communication.

Beech Room, for two- to three-year-olds, uses household props, construction materials and activities involving pouring and sorting to develop language, early maths and independence. Toddlers practise everyday tasks such as managing coats and washing hands. These small responsibilities make growing independence part of the day, rather than something reserved for a separate activity.

Oak Room, for three- to five-year-olds, brings together storytelling, practical measuring, purposeful mark-making and gardening in calm spaces with books and resources children can use in different ways. School preparation extends beyond early letters and numbers. Dressing, toileting, sharing ideas and managing feelings receive attention too, linking learning with the practical demands of Reception.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the common framework for learning and care: children develop communication, movement, relationships, early literacy and mathematical understanding through play and daily experiences. Yewlands adds its Curiosity Approach practice through natural materials, real objects and invitations to investigate. The nursery holds Curiosity Approach accreditation, but the useful detail is what children actually handle and do.

Loose parts are materials children can move, combine and repurpose. Wooden spools, shells, pinecones and scraps of fabric can become construction pieces, sorting resources or storytelling props. Tinkering stations give children somewhere to put materials together and test their ideas; storytelling corners supply fabric, wooden figures and natural props. Resources need not have one correct use. That leaves room for a child to return to the same material with a different question.

Language support includes WellComm in the toddler room, used to support early communication through responsive interaction. In preschool, Helicopter Stories and Talk for Writing activities support storytelling and early literacy; music and Spanish also form part of practitioners’ work. These activities complement the EYFS framework for learning and care.

Art follows the same child-led principle. Children choose how to use materials, with experimentation taking precedence over producing matching finished pictures. Paint, clay, recycled items and natural objects provide different possibilities for touching, combining and making. The value for families is an emphasis on the child's decisions and experience of creating, rather than an identical craft to take home.

Outdoor and Community Life

Dedicated gardens extend play beyond the rooms. Mud kitchens and sensory trays support exploration with found objects, while Beech children have opportunities to run, climb and balance. In Oak, gardening, nature walks and investigating seasons connect practical activity with learning about the world. Suitable outdoor clothing matters because outdoor exploration forms part of the offer.

In February 2022, children experimented with melting ice to release a toy dinosaur and used cardboard tubes to make a garage. Older children also took responsibility for checking the outdoor play area, carrying a clipboard and wearing a high-visibility jacket. These dated examples show how questioning and responsibility worked in practice at that time; they are useful illustrations of the learning approach rather than promises of a fixed activity schedule.

Relationships and Communication

A key person is introduced before a child starts and becomes the family's main contact, learning about routines, comfort items and emotional needs. Settling usually involves two or three visits of around an hour, with the pattern adapted to the child's age and confidence. Parents are generally encouraged to leave during these sessions so the child can begin developing relationships with room staff. Extra settling sessions can be arranged around the child's needs.

For babies, continuity has a clear practical expression: practitioners work towards matching home routines, respond to individual cues and provide a calm sleep space. The transition from Acorn to Beech is planned with families, as is the later move into Oak. Changes of room therefore involve communication about the child's next stage, alongside the change of surroundings.

Tapestry, the parent communication app, carries updates during the day, and the child's keyworker speaks with families at collection. This combines information families can revisit with a direct conversation. Parents can also bring familiar comforters and spare clothing, helping connect home routines with nursery life.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

SEND support follows the Graduated Approach: staff assess a child's needs, agree a plan with the family, put support into daily routines and review how it is working. The SENDCo coordinates provision and contact with outside agencies, while the key person implements everyday strategies. Support can include visual timetables, communication aids, calm spaces, adapted routines and planning in small steps.

Links include Lancashire Inclusion Service, Speech and Language Therapy and Health Visitors. These mechanisms give families a route from an initial developmental concern to agreed support and regular discussion, rather than relying on a broad promise of inclusion. The nursery also offers help with referrals and forms.

Safeguarding arrangements include designated lead and deputy roles, controlled entrances, sleep procedures and recruitment checks. The team includes practitioners with paediatric first aid training. These are arrangements families can discuss alongside their child's individual care needs; the dated inspection judgement remains the basis for the safeguarding assessment above.

A cook prepares food on the premises, and the dedicated dining space has low furniture for toddlers to practise eating independently. Dietary arrangements are planned with families, and parents supply formula or expressed milk in a labelled bottle when needed.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Yewlands Drive, Leyland, Lancashire, PR25 2TN. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across the year, with closures for bank holidays and the week between Christmas and New Year. Enquiries can be made by telephone, email or the contact form.

Morning sessions run from 7.30am to 12.30pm, while afternoon sessions run from 1pm to 6pm; full-day attendance is another option. Toddlers and preschool children can attend term-time only, following Lancashire County Council's term dates. Families choosing year-round attendance therefore have a different calendar from those using term-time sessions.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded early education is offered for eligible children, including the universal 15-hour entitlement for three- and four-year-olds, 30 hours for eligible working families with children of those ages, eligible two-year-olds and eligible working families from nine months. The younger-child offer begins from the term after eligibility. Families can stretch funding across the year, subject to availability, with funding spread across 51 weeks for year-round attendance.

Meals and snacks are charged separately, including during funded sessions. Nappies, wipes, nappy bags and sun cream also attract separate charges; formula or expressed milk comes from home. Funded hours therefore cover education and care while these daily items sit outside the entitlement. Additional experiences carry charges too, including trips, celebrations and other enrichment.

Families wishing to opt out of nursery meal charges can discuss practical alternatives, including packed-lunch arrangements and storage requirements. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees and funding page explains how the different categories fit together.

• The youngest room. Acorn combines individual routines with sensory play and a sleep space. On a visit, ask about the usual number of babies together and how staff manage overlapping sleep, feeding and comfort needs.
• Settling and separation. The usual plan includes two or three short sessions, with parents encouraged to leave while children build relationships with staff. Discuss how this would be adapted if your child needs a slower separation.
• Learning priorities. In February 2022, improvement priorities covered staff confidence in teaching maths, children's understanding of diversity in modern Britain and outdoor learning. Ask to see current examples of those areas, especially if outdoor activity is central to your choice.
• The whole childcare bill. Funded sessions have separate meal, consumable and enrichment charges. Request a written breakdown for your intended attendance pattern, including any agreed meal alternative; families managing allergies should confirm current dietary practice.

Yewlands suits families who want children to learn through real materials, practical tasks and self-directed exploration, with a key person and parent updates connecting care across home and nursery. Morning and afternoon sessions offer alternatives to full-day attendance, while term-time options for older children serve a different family timetable again.

The strongest decision value lies in the detail: baby routines, household props for toddlers, practical preschool learning and a structured SEND process. Balance those features against the dated learning priorities and the separate charges attached to funded sessions. The appeal is clear, but the attendance pattern and complete quotation need to work for the family too.