Pennington Nursery

Play extends beyond the activity table at Pennington Nursery: gardening, cooking and daily outdoor time sit alongside community projects and spontaneous walks for Big Gems. The setting occupies Pennington Memorial Hall in Pennington, Ulverston, and has 111 places in total for children aged two to five. Its strongest practical character is the connection between nursery life, home and the surrounding community.

At its June 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and judged that children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, were making good progress. In June 2023, adult-directed activities needed sharper planning around what individual children should learn next.

Flexible nursery attendance sits alongside school-age clubs, term-time funding and separately booked holiday care.

Rooms and Ages

Little Gems serves children aged two to three, with an emphasis on physical development, communication and language, and personal, social and emotional development; its activities combine adult direction with children's own choices indoors and outside. These are practical foundations for nursery life: communicating a need, managing feelings and becoming more capable physically.

Big Gems, for children aged three to four, combines play across the areas of learning with indoor and outdoor activities, community projects and spontaneous walks. These experiences connect play with preparation for primary education.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning and care: children develop through play, with activities adapted to their stage of development and interests. Pennington's planning gives children room to progress at their own pace. Little Gems also uses development assessments between 24 and 36 months, with parents encouraged to share the information with health professionals and other settings involved in their child's care.

Daily stories give the timetable a dependable language activity. Construction, painting, dancing and play with sand or water add different ways to investigate, express ideas and practise physical skills. Cooking and gardening bring everyday processes into the nursery day, giving children experiences beyond toys and table activities.

In June 2023, children investigated insects outdoors, used a playhouse together and worked through problems at a water tray. Staff also introduced mathematical vocabulary through dinosaur sizes, counting insects and talking about containers. These examples show how ordinary play became an opportunity to compare, count and explain, with physical resources giving children something concrete to work with.

The June 2023 improvement point matters alongside those examples: staff did not consistently tailor adult-directed tasks closely enough to children's next learning steps, and their intended learning was sometimes unclear. Some children consequently disengaged. Child-led exploration and adult-directed teaching need to work together; the latter was the part requiring greater precision.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor play happens daily, and outings connect with the term's planning. Previous destinations have included the wildlife park and the Christmas train. These are examples of trips rather than a fixed calendar, while Big Gems' spontaneous walks bring exploration closer to the nursery's immediate surroundings.

In June 2023, children could move between indoor and outdoor spaces, choosing activities across both.

Relationships and Communication

A key person is allocated before a child starts, but the match can change during settling as the child forms a preferred relationship. That flexibility gives the nursery a practical way to respond to the child, rather than treating the initial allocation as permanent. The key person also shares information with parents and relevant professionals or other settings.

Tapestry is the online learning journal used to share observations with families; it also holds nursery policies. This connects everyday experiences with information parents can revisit at home. Parents can see their child's development records, and a parent and carer rota allows families to take part in nursery sessions.

In June 2023, personalised key-person arrangements supported moves between rooms as well as initial settling. Staff also helped children manage difficult emotions and undertook further training in emotional support. At that time, relationships shaped how care was organised.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The staff structure includes a SENCo role and a designated safeguarding lead role. Alongside play-based planning adapted to individual needs, these provide identifiable responsibilities within the nursery. These roles assign responsibilities; the June 2023 findings provide the dated assessment of effectiveness.

Families supply a packed lunch, while fruit or vegetable snacks and milk or water are provided; the nursery asks parents to leave nut products out of lunchboxes. Parents also bring nappies, wipes and sun cream as appropriate, so these supplies form part of the family's preparation for the day.

The illness rule requires children to remain away until 48 hours after the final symptoms of sickness or diarrhoea. Fees continue during illness or other absence, with prolonged absence discussed with management. Together, these terms affect both the child's return date and the household's childcare budget.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is Pennington Memorial Hall, Pennington, Ulverston, LA12 0RT. Nursery attendance is booked through flexible hours: Little Gems operates within an 8am to 5pm window, while Big Gems has a 7.30am to 6pm window. The child's room therefore matters when matching care to work.

Breakfast Club begins at 7.30am. After School Club runs from 3pm until 6pm, with a 5pm finish on Fridays. Breakfast includes choices such as cereal, toast and fruit, and the afternoon club includes a light snack. These clubs serve a different purpose from nursery attendance, extending care around the school day.

Holiday Club operates outside term time when financially viable and requires advance booking. Its window is 8am to 5pm, with a minimum booking from 9am to 3pm. Bank holidays and the Christmas period are closures. Families planning care across the year therefore need to distinguish routine nursery attendance from the holiday club's conditions.

Enquiries can be made through the nursery's contact route or the enquiry options attached to its attendance arrangements. Waiting lists are ordered by birth date, with siblings already attending the nursery or Pennington School and the catchment area also considered when allocating places.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded sessions are offered during term time only, and additional private hours can be booked. This distinction matters for families whose working pattern continues through school holidays: a term-time funded arrangement and extra paid attendance are separate parts of the booking.

Packed lunches come from home, as do the relevant personal consumables. Snacks are provided, but that provision should not be confused with an all-inclusive meal arrangement. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; payment is due when an invoice is received, and attendance depends on keeping necessary payments up to date.

Moving on to School

The nursery describes its links with Pennington School as strong. Attendance at the nursery does not guarantee a school place; families still use the local authority admissions process. This distinction separates a helpful relationship between settings from the decision about admission.

In June 2023, staff arranged visits with the local primary school to help children prepare for moving on. Transition visits can make the next setting more familiar; families still apply through the local authority admissions process.

• Adult-directed learning. June 2023 identified activities whose intended learning and match to individual children needed improvement. During a visit, ask how staff now plan these tasks and recognise what a child has learned.
• Funding and holiday care. Funded attendance is term-time only, while Holiday Club requires advance booking, runs when financially viable and has a minimum 9am to 3pm booking. Consider how those conditions fit the periods when your family needs care.
• Lunchbox allergies. Lunch comes from home and the nursery asks families to exclude nut products. Allergy-affected families should confirm current practice and how their child's individual requirements will be handled.
• Settling relationships. The allocated key person may change during settling to reflect the child's preferred bond. A visit is an opportunity to discuss how that decision is made and how information passes between practitioners.

Pennington suits families seeking flexible nursery hours and those using breakfast or after-school care, with holiday provision offering another conditional booking option. Daily outdoor play, Big Gems' walks and community projects, and Tapestry communication give the offer a recognisable shape.

The June 2023 assessment balances positive findings with a teaching improvement point. Term-time funding and conditional holiday care are central to the attendance decision.