Back To The Garden Childcare, Lymm

In June 2025, an art-room volcano project linked to a child's holiday gave this Lymm nursery a recognisable character: children's interests became material for making, talking and learning. Back To The Garden Childcare, Lymm serves children aged 3 to 60 months at 88 Statham Avenue, WA13 9NL. Creative work and outdoor exploration give families concrete reasons to look beyond the practical timetable.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good at its 5 June 2025 inspection. The judgement came with two clear priorities: staff needed to make their body language more engaging and develop a more consistent understanding of how to teach the curriculum. Those points matter most when assessing the everyday conversations that help younger children learn.

Current opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The attraction here is the combination of creative space, physical play and connections between nursery and home, rather than a timetable alone.

Learning and Activities

The nursery follows the early years foundation stage, the framework for children's learning, development and care. In parent language, that means learning involves communication, physical development and relationships as well as the experiences children encounter through play and daily routines.

In June 2025, learning was woven into ordinary activities, with a curriculum intended to build children's skills as they moved between rooms. That gives a useful picture of the educational intention: development should connect across the nursery day, rather than depend on a single organised activity.

The art room provided a memorable example that month. Children made a volcano model after a holiday in Italy, while adults introduced words associated with eruptions and discussed Pompeii. Making something became a reason to recall an experience and stretch vocabulary. For parents, the useful detail is the connection between a child's interest, a physical project and sustained conversation.

There was also an important limit. In June 2025, some practitioners did not always understand why they were carrying out particular activities, and their expressions and gestures did not always draw younger children into conversations. An attractive activity needs an adult who knows what learning to develop. This is a practical point to explore during a visit.

Outdoor and Community Life

Climbing and balancing were part of outdoor play in June 2025. Adults helped children judge challenges and attempt manageable risks in a secure outdoor space. The physical environment therefore offered opportunities to practise movement and judgement together, rather than simply providing time outside.

Books connect nursery life with family life. Lymm has a lending library, allowing children to take stories home and revisit them with their families. Preschool book recommendations are shared through Famly, the communication app. These give parents a specific starting point for continuing a child's interest in stories beyond nursery hours.

The March 2025 account of these reading activities also described a monthly Mystery Reader: a resident from neighbouring Minerva Place visiting to read to children. The value is straightforward. Children encounter stories through another adult's voice, while the shared activity creates contact between generations.

Relationships and Communication

In June 2025, the key-person arrangement gave children a familiar adult who understood their needs and helped them recognise emotions. Staff used stories, puppets and visual prompts to discuss feelings and work through small disagreements. These are concrete ways to make an abstract idea, such as understanding another child's feelings, easier to grasp.

Communication with families that month combined an app with daily conversations. Parents described detailed settling arrangements and regular contact with staff. For a family beginning childcare, those exchanges offer a way to share what happens at home and understand the child's nursery day, rather than relying on occasional formal updates.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the June 2025 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and judged that individual plans, tailored help and collaboration with families and external professionals supported good progress for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The useful mechanism is the individual plan: support was organised around the child, with information shared between the adults involved.

Handwashing before eating and after outdoor play was reinforced in June 2025, alongside children's growing independence in personal care. Emotional support and practical routines worked together in the nursery day. For parents, both deserve attention: how adults respond to distress matters alongside how they help children manage familiar tasks for themselves.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery opens Monday to Friday, from 7.30am until 6pm. It operates across the year, with closures for bank holidays and Christmas. Families whose working day begins early can use the opening time when assessing whether the timetable fits their routine; the 6pm finish is equally important when planning collection.

Getting There

The address is 88 Statham Avenue, Lymm, WA13 9NL. The Lymm team handles enquiries and registration on 0161 388 2424, with a branch enquiry route and show-round booking.

Funding and Paid Extras

In June 2025, the nursery provided government-funded childcare. Current prices should come in the nursery's written quotation, so families can assess the total cost against their intended attendance.

• Younger children's conversations. The June 2025 improvement priorities covered engaging body language and consistent curriculum teaching. During a visit, ask how training has changed interactions with babies and younger children, and look for adults responding to children's attempts to communicate.
• Settling and individual support. In June 2025, care involved a key person, settling arrangements and individual SEND plans. Ask how those arrangements would work for your child, including how information from home would shape their first weeks.
• Attendance and the total bill. Opening hours run from 7.30am to 6pm, and government-funded childcare was offered in June 2025. Request a written proposal covering your booking pattern, funded-hours delivery, meals and non-food consumables together, so the practical fit and total cost can be assessed together.

Back To The Garden Childcare, Lymm suits families who value creative projects, outdoor physical play and regular communication about their child's day, and whose weekday routine fits its opening hours. The art-room example and lending library give that character substance. The June 2025 teaching priorities remain the key point to explore: resources and activities matter, but the quality of the conversation around them matters just as much.