Chestnuts Day Nursery

A cosy book corner, cooking activities and play chosen by children give Chestnuts Day Nursery a recognisable character: practical experiences sit alongside conversation and growing independence. This Sale setting has capacity for 40 children in total and caters for children from birth to five. Its rooms are Babies, Two to Threes and Pre-School. Its appeal rests on what children do with familiar adults and accessible materials.

At its August 2022 inspection, Ofsted judged Chestnuts Good overall and found safeguarding effective, with children forming secure relationships with staff. That is a dated assessment. It also identified improvements needed in questioning and in the consistency of teaching, especially communication and language.

Full-day, half-day and term-time attendance patterns give families different ways to use the nursery.

Rooms and Ages

Babies, Two to Threes and Pre-School organise care across the nursery’s birth-to-five age range. These are different stages of nursery life, rather than one shared room description applied to every child.

In Two to Threes, children choose appealing activities from accessible resources, while staff support their learning; group play indoors and outside introduces sharing, turn-taking and interaction with other children. Sand, water, dressing-up materials and construction provide concrete ways to explore. The practical benefit is that independence and social learning can happen together: choosing a resource is one task, using it alongside another child is another.

Pre-School combines activities led by adults with play initiated by children, with construction, cooking and creative materials supporting exploration and a cosy book corner giving stories, rhymes and conversation their own space. Accessible resources allow children to follow an interest rather than wait for an adult to select everything. Books and practical materials give the room different ways to sustain that interest.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning, development and care, with children learning through activities and relationships. It is the shared early-years foundation, rather than a special programme unique to Chestnuts. Here, the practical examples include making things, exploring materials and talking with adults and other children.

In August 2022, early mathematics was woven into familiar activities: children counted backwards while descending stairs and explored size and shape through a shopping-basket game. These examples matter because number and descriptive language were connected to things children were already doing. They did not depend entirely on a separate teaching activity.

Language also followed children’s interests in August 2022, including transport-themed singing and vehicles concealed in ice. There was a clear reason for children to join in: the subject came from their own curiosity. However, adults did not consistently model brief, simple language for babies, and questions sometimes moved on before children had enough thinking time. Those shortcomings help explain the improvement priorities, rather than being incidental reservations about an otherwise busy day.

Outdoor and Healthy Living

Indoor and outdoor group activities are part of Two to Threes, so social play is not confined to tables and floor resources. In August 2022, babies practised movement by kicking balls towards staff and climbing low steps, while outdoor physical activities included yoga and sports days.

During that same period, staff participated in the local authority Healthy Setting Award, alongside hygiene routines, physical activity and resources encouraging dental care. The award participation belongs to that dated account. Current parent information includes the oral-health song Is Your Toothbrush Ready?, giving families a named resource connected to everyday toothbrushing.

Relationships and Communication

Familiar adults were central to care in August 2022. A key-person arrangement, supported by a buddy system, helped staff build knowledge of children and their families. Children sought familiar staff when they needed comfort, and adults responded to them. For a parent weighing the separation involved in starting nursery, those are more useful details than a general promise of friendliness.

At the same time, parents were involved in children’s learning and received support to continue activities at home. The important connection was between the nursery day and family life: learning did not stop with an activity completed in the room. These observations describe August 2022 practice rather than a promise about a particular communication method today.

Wellbeing

In August 2022, staff helped children deal with disagreements by discussing feelings and modelling courteous behaviour. Sharing cups and jugs during outdoor water play gave younger children a practical occasion to cooperate. The emphasis was on learning how to act with others, alongside dealing with the immediate difficulty.

Current staff arrangements include recruitment checks and references, continued training, daily risk assessments and updates in first aid and safeguarding. These are arrangements parents can understand and discuss; the dated safeguarding judgement remains the official assessment of effectiveness.

Food follows a three-week menu rotation, with meals adapted to babies’ developmental stages and requests for alternative diets made to the manager in writing. Parents provide formula as a consumable, supplying prepared bottles labelled for their child.

Sessions and Attendance

Chestnuts is at 39a Harboro Road, Sale, M33 5AN. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Full Day and Half Day bookings sit alongside Full Week attendance and a term-time-only Full Week option. The opening window describes when the nursery operates; it should not be treated as the clock times of every booking pattern.

Closures include bank holidays, a Christmas week and an August week. The August closure carries no fees. Families comparing year-round care with term-time attendance therefore need to consider the closure calendar as well as the pattern they book.

The nursery’s telephone number is 0161 973 1403. A registration form includes terms and conditions.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes WPE and Universal Funding, applied over 38 weeks, alongside privately paid attendance. Application forms are offered for government early-education hours for children aged two, three and four. The named funding arrangements describe participation, rather than guaranteeing a particular family’s eligibility or booking.

For children receiving WPE who are under three, there is no care-package charge. For WPE recipients aged three and four, the care package separates food, non-food consumables and extra activities into charge categories; families choosing to opt out of the contribution are directed to the manager. This distinction matters when comparing funded attendance with a private booking: funded hours and the associated extras need to be considered separately.

Meals and non-food consumables are charged separately within the WPE care package for three- and four-year-olds, while parents provide formula bottles. Extra activities also form part of the package’s charge structure. The fees and funding page sets out these categories; current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

Payment is monthly and in advance. A deposit holds a place, with terms describing it as non-returnable but refunded in the first month the child attends.

• Language teaching. The August 2022 improvement priorities concerned questioning, thinking time and consistent support for communication. On a visit, ask staff to demonstrate how they extend a child’s answer and adapt language for babies.
• Funding and extras. WPE care-package treatment differs between recipients under three and those aged three and four. Ask for a written quotation matching your child’s age, attendance pattern and any decision about the contribution.
• Attendance and closures. Full-day, half-day and term-time patterns sit alongside Christmas, August and bank-holiday closures. Ask how your chosen booking fits the closure calendar and the 38-week funding arrangement.
• Individual food needs. Alternative diets require written notification, and families supply formula bottles. Discuss your child’s allergy or dietary requirements and confirm the arrangements before starting.

Chestnuts suits families considering full-day or half-day attendance, including those who want a term-time pattern, and who value play supported by accessible materials and familiar adults. Two to Threes emphasises choosing and sharing; Pre-School brings practical exploration together with books and conversation.

The Good judgement from August 2022 gives useful context, but its language-development priorities deserve equal weight. The strongest decision is one that connects those priorities with the nursery’s present teaching practice and pairs the chosen attendance pattern with clear written funding and charge terms.