Next Generation Nursery & Schoolies Club

A mystery box that becomes weeks of preschool enquiry, lending libraries outside the rooms and a speech assessment linked to home activities give Next Generation Nursery & Schoolies Club a recognisable character. Children’s interests shape the teaching; communication receives deliberate attention. This Standish Lower Ground setting combines early years care with a separate space for school-age clubs.

At its January 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found effective safeguarding, strong language teaching and successful support for children with SEND. That judgement is dated. The current offer includes interest-led learning, individual progress scrapbooks and practical support for families working on speech or self-care.

The nursery has 58 places in total, with an early years age range of two to 60 months. Its rooms take children through baby care, the toddler years and preparation for primary school. Attendance includes full-time care and several funded term-time patterns, rather than a single timetable for every family.

Rooms and Ages

The Under 2’s Room combines sensory exploration and resources that children can use in different ways, with a daily gathering for songs, rhymes and movement. Before a baby starts, parents share information about routines, preferences and care needs. That makes the child’s existing habits the starting point for care.

For children aged two to three, the Infant Room emphasises communication and increasing independence through indoor and outdoor play, climbing, balancing and construction. Toilet training is approached with parents, including recognising readiness and sharing practical strategies. Keys to Communication supports attention, understanding and language within everyday practice, so talking and listening sit alongside learning to manage personal tasks.

The Preschool Room serves children aged three to four, combining child-led play and small-group teaching with daily outdoor access. Tyres, crates and planks support bigger construction projects; pipes and trays extend water play. Children can choose between inside and outside during the morning and afternoon, giving them room to follow an idea at different scales.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS provides the shared early years requirements for learning and care: children develop language, physical skills and social understanding alongside literacy, mathematics and creative exploration. Next Generation adds In The Moment Planning, an approach in which practitioners respond to what interests a child, join the play and introduce questions or resources that extend it. The practical distinction is responsiveness, rather than a fixed activity taking precedence over the child’s idea.

Schematic play also informs the approach. This means recognising repeated patterns in play, such as transporting objects or connecting materials, and using those interests to support further exploration. For a child repeatedly carrying things between containers, repetition can be a useful clue to what captures their attention.

Preschool has several concrete routes into early literacy. Floor Books is introduced when children are ready, developing writing, conversation and thinking through enquiry, using objects from a mystery box to explore a topic that interests them. Adults and children document the work in scrapbooks, making the developing ideas visible rather than treating an activity as finished after one session.

The weekly EYPP Project gives qualifying preschool children story-based literacy work, again recorded in a scrapbook. Letters and Sounds - Phase One Phonics is woven into play and group activities through rhyme, listening to word sounds and early blending and segmenting. These additions have different purposes: targeted story work for children receiving extra support, and sound awareness across the preschool day.

In January 2023, children practised mathematical language while moving vehicles along a road drawn across the floor, discussing direction and position as they played. They also helped prepare mealtimes, handled fruit and poured drinks. Those examples show how practical tasks and imaginative play could become teaching opportunities.

Relationships and Communication

Progress Scrapbooks bring together photographs and achievements for each child, accompanied by a termly overview of development. Parents can discuss progress through meetings, calls or everyday conversations. The scrapbook then travels with the child between rooms and becomes a keepsake when nursery ends.

Communication uses a nursery mobile phone, with photographs shared through WhatsApp, alongside room-based private Facebook groups used with consent. The groups include updates and a weekly account of learning. Families therefore receive both individual contact and a broader picture of what their child’s room has been doing.

Home learning comes through the key person and can address an assessed need or a room theme. Lending libraries outside each room contain books, activities and sometimes toys to borrow. Parents also contribute each term to their child’s focused learning week, sharing what is going well and what still needs practice. This gives home experience a place in planning the next steps.

For babies, taster sessions support settling after enrolment, while welcome packs include safe-sleep information and a link to the Lullaby Trust. The emphasis is on establishing routines with the family rather than expecting every baby to fit an identical day.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

WellComm is used from six months to assess speech, language and communication, with findings shared with parents and used to shape home activities. Communication Champions are practitioners with additional training to help recognise and support communication needs. Together, these provide an assessment route and people responsible for turning it into practical support.

The SENCO works with the Local Authority Inclusion Team and Speech and Language Therapy, while links with the WWL NHS Speech and Language Therapy Service support referrals and shared strategies. The designated child-protection lead also attends weekly Earliest Help drop-ins, where anonymous case discussions can obtain advice from other agencies. These are specific support mechanisms, rather than a blanket assurance about every child’s experience.

Daily toothbrushing takes place with parental consent through Start 4 life - Top Tips for Teeth. Food is prepared by the nursery cook, with menus reconsidered each term and dietary alternatives covering allergies, intolerances and vegetarian or vegan requirements. Under-twos receive a hot meal at afternoon tea, and the cook has information about children’s food allergies and intolerances.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 118 Wigan Lower Road, Standish Lower Ground, Wigan, WN6 8JP. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday; the nursery operates across the year with a Christmas closure. Families can send their childcare requirements by email or telephone.

Full-time nursery attendance is offered, with a separately charged Night Owl extension covering 5.30pm to 6pm. Funded-only options include three sessions from 9am to 2pm or three from 9.30am to 2.30pm for the 15-hour entitlement. The 30-hour option includes five sessions from 9am to 3pm; another pattern runs from 9am to 4.30pm, across two sessions for 15 hours or four for 30 hours.

Term-time attendance follows local school holiday dates, while families attending throughout the year can have funding averaged across each term. Funding ordinarily starts at 9am. An allocation of ten places across the setting permits funding from 7.30am for a two-day booking pattern; outside that allocation, earlier attendance is private childcare.

Schoolies & Holiday Club operates in a different part of the building from the early years rooms. Wraparound care serves children attending St. Anne’s, and holiday care accepts primary-school children up to age 11. Holiday bookings include a day from 7.30am to 5.30pm, or morning and afternoon sessions running 7.30am to 12.30pm and 12.30pm to 5.30pm respectively.

The nursery describes school links with St. Anne’s through its wraparound provision. Nursery attendance does not guarantee a school place; families still use the local authority admissions process. Before- and after-school bookings are taken in order of booking, while holiday club uses an active booking week with an upfront payment to secure the booking.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes Universal 15hrs funding for 3 year olds, support for eligible two-year-olds and Working families funding. The working-family entitlement is 30 hours over 38 weeks, subject to eligibility, and can be used during term time or averaged for attendance across the year. Additional hours are paid childcare; current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation.

Private nursery fees include meals, nappies, wipes and sun cream, with formula milk excluded. On funded days, food contributions are non-compulsory: families declining them provide the corresponding food from home under the nursery’s eating policies, although the funded session guidance excludes under-twos from that stated alternative.

For attendance across the year, signed termly payment plans spread payments within each term, including its non-funded weeks. Payments can change between terms because their funded and non-funded weeks differ. The funding information explains the charge structure alongside private attendance.

• Funded hours and early starts. Funding normally begins at 9am, with a defined allocation allowing an earlier start for a two-day pattern. At a visit, discuss how the chosen timetable would divide between funded and private hours.
• Baby settling and sleep. Routine forms, taster sessions and safe-sleep information are part of the Under 2’s Room arrangements. Ask how your baby’s feeding and sleep routine would be handled through the settling period.
• Food contributions and allergies. Funded food contributions allow a home-food alternative, but the session guidance treats under-twos differently. Confirm the arrangement for your child’s age and current allergy procedures before agreeing attendance.
• Keeping track of development. Scrapbooks, termly summaries and key-person home activities carry much of the communication. At a visit, look at how these would help you understand your child’s next steps and any additional support.

Next Generation suits families seeking full-time nursery attendance as well as those choosing shorter funded term-time days. Its interest-led teaching has substance: Floor Books, story-based EYPP work and WellComm link play, early literacy and communication support to identifiable practices.

The January 2023 Outstanding judgement provides a strong dated assessment, while the current practical offer requires a careful choice of timetable. Early starts, funded food arrangements and termly payment plans deserve attention. For parents who value key-person contact, tangible progress records and an active role in home learning, there is plenty here to work with.