Charlestown Private Day Nursery

Seven garden areas and a Rainy Day Room give Charlestown Private Day Nursery a clear character: outdoor exploration has several settings, and physical play has an indoor home too. The gardens include space for growing food, riding bikes and making up stories. For parents weighing how much movement and exploration a nursery day allows, those are useful details.

At its September 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found effective safeguarding, supportive communication and tailored learning for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, while asking for more precise information-gathering during transitions. That judgement belongs to a dated visit. The improvement point matters alongside the positive findings, especially when a child first joins or changes rooms.

The nursery has 110 places in total and is based on Turner Lane in Ashton-Under-Lyne. Babies can join from 3 months, while the wider service includes care for school-age children. Full-time and part-time attendance sit alongside term-time funded sessions for two-year-olds.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby room combines quieter book and cosy areas with opportunities to investigate objects, textures, sand and water. That gives early exploration several forms rather than making the youngest children's day depend on one activity. Parents stay during introductory visits, getting to know the routine and their baby's key person before regular attendance begins.

Family rooms accommodate children from 6 months to 3 years, allowing siblings within that age band to spend nursery time together. The Toddler room has a stated maximum of 12 children, with separate spaces for imaginative play, creative work and quieter moments with books. Puppets, musical instruments and natural materials give children different ways to communicate and explore.

In the Pre school room, freely accessible activities sit alongside adult-planned experiences, with construction, role play and mark making among the choices. Pencils and crayons support the small movements involved in handling tools and beginning to form letters. Baking, stories and discussion also form part of the routine, bringing learning into activities children can participate in directly.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS shapes learning through play, with children's language, relationships, physical development and early understanding developed through everyday activities. Here, an early years teacher coordinates that work across the nursery, including regular meetings with staff. Children's interests inform planning, and the key person uses observations to decide what to introduce next.

Preschool children have personal learning files containing photographs, observations and examples of their creative work. These make development more tangible for parents than a general account of the day. They also provide something specific to discuss with the key person at parents' evenings.

The Rainy Day Room accommodates climbing, soft play, music, dressing up and role play, plus preschool dance, karate and football. Active play can continue indoors when outdoor conditions are less appealing.

In September 2022, children enthusiastically chose and joined in songs, while adults modelled complete sentences. Serving lunch and tidying sand also gave children responsibility within everyday routines.

Outdoor and Community Life

The Baby garden has artificial grass and a cover, while the Messy play garden provides sheltered space for painting, digging and exploring water or sand. The Bike area has a surfaced roadway for scooters, bikes and cars. Different outdoor spaces serve different kinds of play, giving movement and investigation their own practical settings.

Older children can use the Climbing frame garden, which is reserved for over-threes. The Large garden area adds hills, tunnels and a sensory walkway, with a canopy for shade and shelter. Preschool children go into the gardens three times daily; babies have outdoor play twice daily when the weather permits.

The Growing area brings fruit, vegetables and care for the nursery rabbit into children's experience. In September 2022, children helped care for the rabbit and showed concern for living things. This is a concrete connection between the garden and daily responsibility. The nursery supplies rain suits and wellies for wet-weather play, helping outdoor activity remain part of the day across changing conditions.

Relationships and Communication

A key person connects care, settling and learning. For babies, introductory visits include time with parents, while a home-to-nursery book supports communication between home and staff. The personal all about me file brings together developmental observations, photographs and creative work, giving families a record of early milestones.

In September 2022, parents could remain with young children while they settled, and an additional room gave children space to establish relationships before joining the wider routine. Home-learning bags also helped families continue activities together outside nursery. Both arrangements gave parents a practical role in their child's experience, beyond receiving updates.

Termly parents' evenings provide a scheduled opportunity to discuss preschool development with the key person. Learning files can also be viewed at other times. For families who want to understand the connection between play and progress, observations and examples of children's work make those conversations more concrete.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the September 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that staff sought equipment matched to individual SEND needs and managed allergies through suitable alternative meals, but did not consistently gather enough information about children's existing abilities to plan early learning precisely. The distinction is important: supportive relationships and individual resources were strengths, while the starting information used for learning needed improvement.

Meals are prepared fresh on the premises, with a four-week menu rotation and an on-site cook adapting babies' food to their developmental stage. Kitchen staff cater for special dietary needs. For families, that connects the food offer to both age and individual requirements rather than relying on a single meal arrangement for everyone.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 101 Turner Lane, Ashton-Under-Lyne, OL6 8SS. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 0161 343 2528 or by email at charlestowndaynursery@btconnect.com.

Family rooms offer full-time and part-time places. A separate government-funded two-year-old room offers term-time mornings from 9.15am to 12.15pm or afternoons from 12.45pm to 3.45pm, giving families shorter attendance options too.

In September 2022, the nursery opened between 7.30am and 6pm on weekdays, throughout the year apart from bank holidays. Those are inspection-era opening hours. They are separate from the timed funded sessions offered in the toddler provision.

Before & After School Club provides school journeys on foot, with children wearing high-visibility jackets. The holiday club opens from 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, and includes creative activities, outdoor play and visits to the local park. School-age children therefore have a different routine from the nursery rooms, with care organised around school or holiday days.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government-funded places for two-year-olds are offered in the term-time room. Free education entitlement is also incorporated into preschool attendance. In September 2022, funded early education covered children aged two, three and four; families should distinguish that dated position from the specific term-time option described above.

For holiday-club attendance, parents supply snacks and a packed lunch, while drinks are provided during the day. The nursery provides sun cream for garden play, along with wet-weather clothing. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Starting points for learning. September 2022's improvement point concerned how much staff learned about children's existing skills during transitions. At a visit, ask how information from home now informs the first learning plans and subsequent room changes.
• Sibling grouping. Family rooms accommodate children from 6 months to 3 years. Consider whether being together suits each sibling's routine and independence, as well as the convenience for the family.
• Term-time funded sessions. The two-year-old room offers either a morning or an afternoon session during term time. Compare those windows with work commitments and the care needed during holidays.
• Address details. The postcode is OL6 8SS, while the nursery's contact details use OL6 8LW. Confirm the postcode to use before travelling to Turner Lane.

Charlestown suits families choosing between full-time or part-time nursery attendance and the shorter, term-time funded sessions for two-year-olds. Its strongest practical features are the varied gardens, dedicated indoor movement space and family rooms that can keep younger siblings together.

The positive September 2022 judgement came with a limitation around transition information and early planning. Active play and visible development records are reasons to consider Charlestown, alongside that concern about the start of children's learning.