Cheadle Kindergarten

A dedicated baby room, a mud kitchen and access to Cheadle Primary School’s sports field give Cheadle Kindergarten a practical blend of early-years space and a wider school setting. Outdoor play is a substantial part of its character. Babies have their own outdoor space, while the school’s forest school area adds another setting for exploration.

Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding on 19 August 2022, finding that its ambitious learning programme, responsive relationships and skilful conversations supported children’s development. That judgement is dated: it describes the nursery at that visit rather than providing a fresh assessment of today’s practice.

The nursery has capacity for 45 children and accepts children from two months old, with care extending to age five. Term-time attendance and stretched funding are options, with different conditions for the youngest children.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children’s learning, development and care: play provides opportunities to practise communication, movement, social skills and early understanding. The most useful illustration here comes from the everyday activities observed in August 2022. Learning was woven into play and familiar routines rather than confined to a separate lesson.

In August 2022, children used snack time to count pieces of orange and explored how much water different containers could hold. Jugs and funnels gave them opportunities to compare quantities through practical experimentation. These are concrete examples of early mathematics: counting something they can eat and testing something they can pour.

Creative choices mattered too. During August 2022, children made sunflower pictures inspired by Van Gogh, choosing their materials and tools. Older children acted out favourite stories together, while babies played with dinosaurs in water and joined familiar songs. The activities differed by stage, giving babies sensory experiences and older children opportunities to develop imaginative play.

Outdoor and Community Life

The current outdoor provision includes a mud kitchen, sand and water activities, and access to the school’s sports field and forest school area. These spaces offer different kinds of play, from handling materials to moving across a larger outdoor area. The dedicated baby room and its outdoor space are especially relevant for families comparing care for their youngest child.

In August 2022, children moved between indoor and outdoor play, using tunnels, balls and bikes to practise movement and judge the space around them. Community experiences also extended beyond the nursery: children visited a nearby care home to sing to residents. That example brought contact with another generation into their learning about the wider world; it should be read as an activity from that period.

At its August 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and identified personalised support, professional advice and targeted funding as helping children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make excellent progress. Those findings cover both protective practice and how additional support was put into action.

Communication with families had a practical role in August 2022. Parents received information about children’s learning and could contribute experiences from home through an interactive family app. That exchange helped staff connect nursery activities with what mattered to a child outside the setting. It was more than a one-way account of the day.

Relationships were also visible in ordinary play during August 2022. Staff responded to babies during songs and water activities, while conversations with older children extended vocabulary and encouraged listening. For parents, these examples help explain what responsive interaction looked like, rather than leaving care described only in broad terms.

Fresh meals are cooked each day in the nursery’s on-site kitchen by its catering manager. Breakfast, together with the fruit and milk snack at 2pm, is included without a separate charge for all children, including those using funded hours.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Cheadle Primary School, The Avenue, Cheadle, Stoke On Trent, ST10 1EG. Opening hours are 7.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and for one week in August and one week at Christmas.

Term-time-only attendance becomes an option from the term after a child turns two. Before that point, babies using funding on a term-time basis also need paid attendance during school holidays; alternatively, their funding can be stretched, with a minimum booking of two days each week. This distinction matters for families whose work follows school terms: choosing term-time funding for a baby does not create a term-time-only place.

Additional paid sessions can be booked alongside funded hours. The nursery also provides before and after school care for children attending Cheadle Primary School. On-site parking gives families a parking option within the setting’s grounds.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible children can use funded childcare from the term after turning nine months old through to age five. The funding arrangements include 15 or 30 hours during term time, or stretched provision of 11.4 or 22.8 hours, according to the applicable entitlement and attendance arrangement. Spreading funding across the year changes the weekly allocation; it does not remove the baby attendance condition.

There is no separate consumables fee. There are also no additional service fees. Families should obtain current prices for paid attendance in the nursery’s written quotation.

Moving on to School

The nursery describes a partnership with Cheadle Primary School that gives children access to school facilities and shared activities. It also maintains links with primary schools across the Cheadle area. These connections can help familiarise children with school life, but nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still apply through the local authority admissions process.

• Baby attendance. Term-time-only places begin from the term after children turn two. For younger children, compare paying for holiday attendance with stretched funding and its two-day weekly minimum.
• School-site links. Access to Cheadle Primary School’s facilities is a useful part of the offer. Keep that relationship separate from the Reception application, which follows the local authority process.
• Age of the assessment. The Outstanding judgement dates to August 2022. Use it as a detailed assessment of that period when weighing the current arrangements.
• Meal arrangements. Breakfast and the afternoon fruit and milk snack carry no separate charge. During a visit, ask how other meals are charged and how your child’s dietary needs would be handled.

Cheadle Kindergarten suits families who value outdoor play and a nursery connected with a primary-school setting. Its baby space, mud kitchen and access to school grounds give that choice substance. The August 2022 assessment adds a detailed account of learning through conversation, creativity and practical play.

Attendance can suit families seeking term-time-only care once their child reaches the qualifying age, those spreading funded hours across the year, and families needing before and after school care for children attending Cheadle Primary School. For babies, the holiday attendance rule is the decisive practical consideration. School connections offer familiarity, while the Reception application remains a separate decision.