Little Angels Day Nursery

Twelve babies is the Baby Room’s maximum at Little Angels’ Talbot Street nursery, where accessible play resources and outdoor time give the youngest children room to explore. This is the Golborne Children’s Centre setting, distinct from the nursery’s Silcock Street sites. It has capacity for 52 children, from birth to five years.

At its May 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated Little Angels Day Nursery Good and found safeguarding effective. The practical detail behind that judgement is useful: children built outdoor structures together, explored number-making through messy play and received encouragement to persist with fiddly tasks. Those observations describe May 2023 rather than today’s daily routine.

The current offer combines baby, toddler and preschool provision with an emphasis on children choosing resources and developing independence. Opening hours are 7.15am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. For parents, the strongest point is the connection between accessible indoor materials and opportunities to play outside, rather than a timetable packed with branded activities.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room accommodates up to twelve babies at Talbot Street, with materials within children’s reach, an emphasis on the prime areas of learning and access to outdoor play. That arrangement gives babies opportunities to investigate resources themselves, while keeping outdoor exploration part of their experience rather than reserving it for older children.

In the Toddler Room, sensory play introduces early literacy and mathematics, while free movement between indoor and outdoor areas supports children’s choices. Preschool builds on earlier learning through indoor and outdoor resources and practice with everyday tasks in preparation for school. Independence is a clear thread through the room descriptions, although the dated inspection concern below makes its delivery an important point to explore.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the framework for learning, development and care: children’s play supports their communication, physical development and early understanding, alongside everyday care routines. It is the common foundation for early years provision. Little Angels adds an approach shaped around children’s interests rather than treating all activities as fixed in advance.

Across Little Angels’ sites, the curiosity approach is expressed through real objects and materials that children can use in different ways. Elements of in the moment planning mean staff respond to what interests children and set out opportunities for further play. These are group-wide approaches used alongside the EYFS, with a practical emphasis on imagination and sustained engagement.

In May 2023, children made numbers in a flour tray while staff helped them count aloud. Another activity involved threading strands of spaghetti, with encouragement to have another attempt. Both examples show how ordinary materials can make an activity more demanding: one connects marks with counting, while the other requires concentration and persistence.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor access runs through the room descriptions. Babies can play outside, toddlers move between the two environments, and preschool learning extends into both. For families who value children having choices about where to play, this matters more than a simple promise of occasional outdoor sessions.

In May 2023, children used crates and planks to construct bridges and balancing structures together. Babies explored outdoor sand trays. The older children’s activity involved negotiation as well as movement: they had to combine ideas and materials to make something work. It is a concrete example of the nursery’s interest in learning through play, rather than evidence of a fixed daily activity.

Relationships and Communication

Little Angels uses a key worker approach across its sites to build relationships with children and families. This gives parents a recognisable point of contact within an approach that follows individual interests. Rooms are also adapted to the children using them, connecting the environment with the needs of the current group.

In May 2023, staff comforted babies with cuddles when reassurance was needed. Adults also gave children time to think before responding and encouraged patience during turn-taking. These are useful examples of care and communication in practice, though they remain observations from that period.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the May 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that staff recognised communication difficulties promptly, supported children and families while external help was being accessed, and enabled consistent progress. This gives substance to the inclusion judgement: support began within the nursery rather than waiting for an outside service to start.

The group’s family-support links include Speech and Language Therapists, the Wigan Early Learning Childcare Team and the Earliest help drop-in service. These relationships are described across Little Angels’ provision. They connect its work with families to professionals outside the rooms, rather than implying that the nursery can meet every need alone.

There was also a specific weakness in May 2023. Adults frequently handled serving, pouring and cutting food for children, and opportunities to practise these skills were uneven between ages and across the day. Children were sometimes uncertain when invited to try. The improvement required was more consistent teaching of independence and self-care, especially around eating and drinking.

The address is Golborne Children’s Centre, Talbot Street, Golborne, WA3 3NN. Talbot Street is the site within the Start Well Centre, attached to a local primary school. Nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.15am to 6pm on weekdays. The nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and Christmas. Those hours give families a clear operating window; the contact form and Talbot Street telephone number, 01942 777616, provide the enquiry route.

Food and Moving On

Home-cooked food for Talbot Street comes from the kitchen at Little Angels’ Silcock Street under-threes site, which supplies all three settings. The shared kitchen is a concrete part of the care arrangement, even though children attend separate sites.

Preschool provision includes practice with self-help skills and preparation for primary school. That preparation concerns children’s learning and everyday independence; attending the nursery does not guarantee a Reception place.

• Independence around meals. In May 2023, children had uneven opportunities to serve food, pour drinks and practise related tasks. During a visit, ask how these opportunities now develop from the baby room through preschool.
• The Talbot Street setting. Little Angels operates across several sites, while this nursery serves children from birth to five at Golborne Children’s Centre. Keep the visit and childcare discussion centred on Talbot Street, including the Baby Room’s twelve-child maximum.
• Your attendance and payment arrangement. The weekday opening window runs from 7.15am to 6pm. What booking pattern, funded entitlement and treatment of food and consumables would apply to your child’s written quotation?

Little Angels suits families seeking care from babyhood through preschool at the Talbot Street site, especially those who value accessible resources, outdoor play and an approach that follows children’s interests. The Baby Room’s stated maximum gives parents of the youngest children a useful starting point, while the shared curiosity approach adds substance to the learning offer.

The May 2023 Good judgement provides a dated assessment, and its examples make the nursery’s play-based approach tangible. In May 2023, opportunities to practise everyday independence were inconsistent, especially during meals and snacks. For families, that is the most useful point to test against the current room experience.