Little Giggles Private Day Nursery & Preschool, Ashton-Under-Lyne

A former band club gives Little Giggles Ashton its substantial footprint: over 8000 square-feet of nursery space, a large garden and a sensory room. Its Little Laughter Room adds a more specific reason to consider this branch, with equipment and support organised around children with special educational needs or disabilities.

Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding at its 27 March 2023 inspection. That is a dated judgement, while the present setting has capacity for 148 children and accepts ages from 2 to 60 months. Whole-setting capacity should not be mistaken for the number of children sharing a room.

The combination is useful for families seeking both substantial indoor facilities and a defined route to additional support. The specialist room is backed by individual support plans, review meetings and applications for funded help where a child qualifies.

Rooms and Ages

Little Laughter Room is designed around differing learning requirements, with specialist resources and access to an additional sensory room. The nursery's overall accepted age range is 2 to 60 months.

Beyond this specialist room, the facilities include a baby play room, provision for children aged 1-2 years and play rooms for ages 2-3 years. Preschool children have a large room and a separate craft room, while a library adds another indoor resource. ICT suites sit within the 2-3 years and preschool rooms. This gives families several concrete spaces to weigh alongside the garden, rather than judging the setting by its overall size alone.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: play and everyday experiences help children build communication, physical and social skills. It is the foundation of provision here, rather than an additional branded programme.

In March 2023, staff introduced scientific vocabulary through an experiment involving vinegar and bicarbonate of soda, asking children to think about what would happen. The value lay in the conversation as much as the materials: children had an opportunity to describe an idea, make a prediction and learn words connected to something they could observe.

Independence also had practical expression in March 2023. Younger children used lidless cups, and older children handled utensils to serve lunch themselves. Story play involved props, giving children a way to develop their ideas through acting. These examples show how ordinary routines and imaginative play contributed to the nursery day at that time.

Outdoor and Community Life

The large garden is used by children throughout the day. Alongside the indoor craft and sensory spaces, it gives outdoor play a clear place in the setting's offer.

SmokeFree Gates is a Tameside Council scheme encouraging parents to avoid smoking near the nursery. It is a specific request to families about the surroundings children use, rather than a general statement about wellbeing.

Relationships and Communication

Key person procedures form part of the nursery's arrangements for building relationships with children and families. Settling is adapted to the child and parents, and parents are involved in deciding the timing of moves between rooms. That involvement matters when a child is ready for a different stage of care: the move is treated as a transition to discuss together.

In March 2023, families received information about children's achievements and their next learning steps, and staff ran regular parent workshops. Communication sheets and picture cards helped children who did not communicate verbally express their needs. The practical significance is clear: spoken language was not the only route to being understood.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Little Laughter Room sits within a support structure that includes a SENCO, tailored plans, regular review meetings and referrals to external services. Where children are eligible, the SENCO applies through the SEND panel at Tameside Council for support with one-to-one or reduced-ratio provision. Eligibility remains part of that process; it is not an automatic offer to every child.

Support also includes a progress check at age 2 shared with the health visitor, and help considering mainstream or specialist provision when school approaches. These are mechanisms families can discuss against their child's requirements, rather than a promise that one arrangement will suit everyone.

At the March 2023 inspection, Ofsted found highly effective SEND support and effective safeguarding, and recognised Millie's Mark for paediatric first aid beyond minimum requirements. Current access arrangements include a door-entry buzzer and CCTV monitoring; those measures describe how access is managed, rather than establishing a present safeguarding judgement.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7:30 am to 6:15 pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and Christmas. Families whose work continues through school holidays therefore need to account for those closures in their childcare plans.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 0161 331 9311 or through the contact form. A tour-booking form also covers the Ashton branch.

Getting There

The address is 2 Evans Street, Ashton-Under-Lyne, OL6 9QD, at the junction with Rodney Street. Bus services 38 and 39 run from Ashton Bus Station's Stand P to The Halfway House stop, providing a named public-transport route for families planning their journey.

School collections cover Hurst Knoll Primary School, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Primary School, The Heys Primary School and St James'. These are collection arrangements, not an admissions advantage.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare of up to 30 hours per week is offered, subject to eligibility. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Fresh food is cooked on site. This is a practical benefit for families wanting meals prepared where children attend, with food arrangements considered alongside the wider daily routine.

• Little Laughter Room. Specialist equipment, a SENCO and individual review cycles make additional support a substantial part of this branch. On a tour, discuss how these arrangements would work for your child and how any eligible funded support is organised.
• Room scale. The nursery has 148 places in total and several separate learning spaces. Ask about the usual group size in the room your child would join, rather than using the whole-setting figure as a guide.
• Year-round planning. Weekday opening runs from 7:30 am to 6:15 pm, with bank-holiday and Christmas closures. Match your proposed attendance and written quotation to those hours, including the treatment of meals and consumables on funded hours.

Little Giggles Ashton suits families who value substantial indoor space, a large garden and an organised route to specialist SEND support. Little Laughter Room is the strongest practical reason to examine this branch closely, while the March 2023 Outstanding judgement provides a dated quality benchmark.

For parents planning weekday childcare across the year, the opening window and stated closures are useful anchors. The decision should turn on the room your child would use and how its support arrangements fit their needs, as much as on the size of the premises.