Hayley's Little Heroes

Potatoes grown in the nursery garden, stories recreated in dough and a sensory room give Hayley's Little Heroes a recognisable character. This Warrington setting combines play-based early education with practical attention to language, independence and communication with parents. Its school-site address is another useful part of the picture: the nursery operates at Latchford St James C of E, on Old Road.

At its September 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, with children making good progress through learning shaped around their developing interests and abilities. Two improvements were required: extending learning outdoors and helping children understand the consequences of their behaviour. Those points deserve attention alongside the strengths.

The current age range is 2 to 60 months. Full days, five-hour half days and hourly bookings give families different ways to organise attendance, rather than a single fixed pattern.

Rooms and Ages

A Baby Room has a room leader who also holds the deputy-manager role, while a Pre-School room has its own leader. These are useful structural details for families considering the move from baby care towards preparation for school. The sensory room adds a separate physical resource to the setting, although its community sessions are a different offer from a child's nursery booking.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS organises learning through play across seven areas, bringing language, physical development, relationships and early literacy into the child's day. Here, stories and songs support speaking and listening; matching, sorting and measuring introduce mathematical ideas; and drawing, threading and climbing exercise different physical skills. These activities make the framework tangible rather than leaving it as an educational label.

Books, imaginative play and conversations provide opportunities to use language for different purposes. Children can listen to a story, describe what they are making or take a role in a game. Creative work includes construction and painting, while nature play and cooking connect learning with familiar materials and experiences. The emphasis is on doing and exploring.

In September 2025, practitioners repeated words and named objects for younger children, while older children heard more descriptive vocabulary and had time to answer questions. That distinction matters: support was adjusted to children's stage rather than delivered as one conversation for everyone. Dough work also brought stories and physical development together, with children making a house for The Three Little Pigs while exercising the hand movements needed for later writing.

Outdoor and Community Life

The outdoor area supported wheeled-toy play in September 2025, giving children space to practise movement and coordination. The nursery garden also supplied a connection between growing food and eating it: children recalled growing potatoes during a conversation about their lunch. Outdoor activity therefore offered both physical practice and something concrete to talk about.

However, the outdoor curriculum needed further development for children who preferred learning outside. Access to an outdoor area and a well-planned outdoor education are separate considerations. The team now includes a role responsible for the outdoor curriculum, alongside behaviour-management responsibilities; that describes the organisation of the work rather than establishing that the September 2025 improvement point has been completed.

Sensory and messy stay and play sessions are planned for the wider community, with staff leading and supervising the activities. They require booking and carry a separate charge. For families interested in attending together, this is a different use of the sensory room from leaving a child for nursery care.

Relationships and Communication

At the September 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that staff built secure relationships with babies and young children, using detailed information gathered before children started to help them settle. For a parent considering a first childcare arrangement, that connection between home information and staff understanding is more useful than a general promise of kindness.

Babysdays, the nursery's parent app, brings daily care and development updates into one place. Parents can see activity records, food, sleep and toileting information, alongside photographs and observations. They can also send messages and comment on their child's profile. This gives conversations with staff a practical starting point: a parent can follow both the everyday routine and the longer development picture.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The team includes a Lead Senco, providing an identified role for additional-needs support. A nursery cook is also part of the staffing structure. These are concrete responsibilities, rather than a blanket assurance about what any individual child will receive.

In September 2025, children practised washing their hands before lunch and had drinking water accessible. Younger children were learning to take turns, and older children showed consideration towards them. Staff demonstrated expected behaviour, but did not consistently explain what children's actions meant for others. The improvement needed was therefore about helping children understand and manage behaviour, rather than simply getting them to follow an instruction.

Sessions and Attendance

Standard opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Earlier opening from 7am and a later finish at 6.30pm require advance booking. Those extensions are useful for a changing working day, but they are arrangements to book rather than the ordinary opening window.

The full-day options include 8am to 6pm and a 7.30am start. Half days last five hours within the standard opening window, and hourly care is another booking option. There is no minimum number of days. That combination gives parents a choice between a whole day, a shorter block and an hourly arrangement.

The wider service includes breakfast and after-school clubs, with separate arrangements for children attending Latchford St James. A Holiday Club runs from 8.30am to 3.30pm. These services sit alongside the early-years nursery offer and should be distinguished from a baby's or preschool child's attendance pattern.

Bank holidays are closures. Christmas arrangements include a 2pm finish on Christmas Eve when it falls on a weekday, with dates for the surrounding holiday period communicated in advance. The contract requires at least four weeks' notice when ending childcare. Monthly payments are made in advance, with cash and bank transfer accepted.

Getting There

The address is Old Road, Warrington, WA4 1AP, at Latchford St James C of E; access is through Lord Street, WA4 1BZ. Enquiries can be made by telephone or through the contact form.

Sharing a school site does not guarantee a Reception place. Families still apply through the local authority admissions process, so nursery attendance and the later school application remain separate decisions.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes the stated 15/30-hour offer for children aged two, three and four. Funded hours normally fall between 8am and 3pm unless another arrangement is agreed. Privately paid care includes the full-day, half-day and hourly options, with current prices obtained through a written quotation.

Funded children have a separately charged weekly consumable fee. This belongs alongside the funded-hours arrangement when comparing the total commitment, rather than treating funded entitlement as the whole payment picture. The fees page sets out the payment structure and funded-hours window.

• Outdoor learning and behaviour. September 2025 brought two clear improvement points: extending outdoor learning and explaining the consequences of children's actions. On a visit, ask for examples of how both now work in practice.
• Starting with a young baby. The current age range begins at 2 months, while the childcare offer describes starts from 3 months. Before planning a start, establish the applicable starting age and discuss settling, sleep and arrangements for food and care items.
• Funded attendance. The usual funded window is 8am to 3pm, and funded children carry a weekly consumable charge. Obtain a written quotation showing how the intended attendance pattern fits those terms.
• Holiday planning. Bank holidays are closed, and Christmas includes a shortened Christmas Eve where it falls on a weekday. Match the annual closure dates with work commitments before committing to a regular pattern.

Hayley's Little Heroes suits families considering full-day care, five-hour half days or hourly attendance, with advance-booked extensions for earlier starts and later finishes. Language-rich play, the garden and Babysdays provide concrete reasons to consider it. The Good judgement from September 2025 gives a dated assessment of quality; outdoor learning and explanations of behaviour remain the specific points to explore. The strongest choice will be one where the child's starting arrangements and the family's funded or paid schedule fit together clearly.