Winston's Place New Ferry

A rooftop terrace, indoor soft play and a garden give Winston's Place New Ferry a physical character of its own. The nursery occupies a renovated former church on New Ferry Road, with spaces for outdoor movement and indoor sensory exploration. For families comparing everyday environments, that combination deserves attention: children have more than one kind of space in which to play.

There is capacity for 64 children, with an age range of one month to five years. Three named rooms organise the progression from baby care to preschool: Lillies, Cherry Blossoms and Daffodils. The youngest room combines personal care facilities with sensory play, while the older rooms put increasing emphasis on communication and doing everyday tasks independently.

At its October 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, found that children were progressing well and judged safeguarding effective. That is a dated judgement. The same visit identified work needed on explaining behaviour, extending vocabulary and giving children greater independence, points that remain useful when assessing the nursery's approach.

Attendance includes full days, mornings and afternoons, alongside term-time contracts and arrangements intended to accommodate changing work rotas.

Rooms and Ages

Lillies takes babies from five weeks to two years, combining a kitchenette and private changing facilities with sensory exploration, early movement and growing confidence in feeding themselves. This keeps the practical business of baby care close to the play space. A key person oversees settling and developmental records, giving families a consistent contact through this first stage.

From age two, Cherry Blossoms combines language and self-care work with a carpeted space for quieter play, a separate area for messy activities and meals, and daily outdoor access. Toileting and changing facilities connect directly to the room. Children can practise handwashing and dressing alongside their play, rather than treating independence as a separate lesson.

Daffodils welcomes children from three, emphasising early phonics, wider vocabulary and everyday self-help through accessible resources, outdoor exploration and tasks such as managing clothing or preparing snacks. Its routines include self-registration, breakfast, freely chosen play and adult-led group work. Preparation for school is rooted in these ordinary tasks: making choices, communicating needs and taking responsibility for personal care.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the learning and care framework, with play and daily routines supporting children's language, physical development and social skills. Here, room planning links that framework to each child's stage and interests. Babies explore materials and movement; toddlers practise communicating and managing personal needs; preschool children extend those skills into more independent routines.

In Lillies, jelly, pasta, paint, water and sand provide different textures to investigate, while books and songs support early language. Toys are rotated, and planning takes account of individual interests. These are concrete ways to vary the baby's experience while keeping care routines familiar.

In October 2022, babies and toddlers explored foam and made marks with it, while older children used tweezers to retrieve pretend spiders from a web. The latter activity exercised the small hand movements used later in writing. Mathematical language also ran through play: staff counted with children and discussed the height of block constructions. Learning was happening through materials and conversation, rather than only through organised group activities.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden, rooftop terrace and indoor soft play room provide contrasting places for movement and exploration. Lillies also has access to outdoor soft play and regular use of the Sensory Room, a space for exploring sensory experiences. For a baby, that means opportunities to investigate textures indoors as well as move outdoors.

Local walks extend the day beyond the nursery. Babies visit the nearby park, library or surrounding village when weather allows; Cherry Blossoms outings also depend on staffing and parental consent. Those conditions matter. These are opportunities within the nursery's routines, rather than a fixed timetable of trips.

Relationships and Communication

A key person connects care, learning and communication with home. In Lillies, that practitioner helps the baby settle, builds the relationship with the family and follows developmental milestones. Online diaries cover meals and activities, with space for parents to add their own updates. Information can travel in both directions.

Cherry Blossoms shares daily feedback on food, activities and rest, alongside observations and photographs documenting development. Parents can contribute to the next steps in learning. Daffodils uses an online diary covering meals, rest and the day's activities, with learning profiles supporting discussions about progress. The practical value is continuity: families can connect what happens at nursery with changes they notice at home.

In October 2022, children had close relationships with staff and received comfort when they needed it. Familiar routines helped them settle into the day. Communication with parents then included diary sheets, conversations and learning journals, providing several routes for discussing learning and care.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Settling is adjusted to the individual child. For children needing SEND support, the process brings together the key person, SENCO, parents and relevant professionals to assess needs, agree a plan, put support into practice and review its effect. Support plans and progress are reviewed monthly with parents. That gives families a defined process for discussing whether an intervention is helping.

The SEND arrangements also recognise practical limits: decisions about children with complex needs take account of staffing, expertise, the environment and specialist resources. Support is considered individually. Families needing substantial additional provision should use the visit to discuss how those factors apply to their child, rather than assuming that a general inclusion policy settles the question.

New Ferry has a qualified teacher and an early years professional among its staff, alongside staff who speak Hungarian and Philippino. Those language resources may be useful to families who share them; they do not establish a particular language-teaching programme.

An on-site chef prepares fresh food each day. Baby routines include feeding, changing and sleep as opportunities for individual interaction, while older babies practise using cups and cutlery. Across the rooms, care and growing independence are closely connected, making everyday routines part of the child's learning.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is New Ferry Road, New Ferry, CH62 1BQ. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm on weekdays, with year-round operation and bank-holiday closures. Full days, morning sessions and afternoon sessions are booking options; opening hours should be distinguished from the particular pattern a family chooses.

Daffodils also offers funded morning, afternoon and extended sessions, with options lasting three, five or seven hours. Its funded provision includes 15 hours a week during term time. Term-time contracts are offered, and families working changing shifts can submit a weekly rota for the nursery to try to accommodate. The rota arrangement is conditional, rather than a promise that every requested pattern can be met.

Enquiries can be made through the New Ferry online form. Before attendance begins, parents complete a contract and registration forms, supplying care, health, dietary and collection information; proof of the child's birth date is also requested. Admissions priorities include looked-after children, children known by the local authority to have SEND whose needs can best be met there, vulnerable children with a Child Protection or Child in Need Plan or receiving other local-authority support, siblings and local families. A full-time application may take preference over a part-time one, depending on work commitments, occupancy and room availability.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes 15 and 30 hours where eligible. Funded places can be booked a term ahead, with eligibility confirmed by the local authority and allocation on a first-come basis. The nursery can set particular funded sessions according to its operating needs, so entitlement and the desired attendance pattern are separate considerations.

Funded hours are free at the point of access. Additional consumable services may carry a charge and are entirely optional; parents also bring nappies, wipes where needed and weather-related items such as sun cream. Private childcare is offered alongside funding, and current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. A personalised price takes account of funding and the sessions selected.

Daffodils' school preparation includes communication, emotional development and practical independence. Managing coats, shoes and handwashing gives children useful skills for the next setting, while parents contribute to the learning steps being planned for them.

• Teaching priorities from October 2022. Staff sometimes missed chances to introduce precise vocabulary, gave insufficient explanations about unwanted behaviour and did too much for children during routines. During the visit, ask how conversation, behaviour explanations and independent tasks now work in Lillies, Cherry Blossoms and Daffodils.
• Attendance and funded sessions. Changing rotas are accommodated where possible, while funded sessions can be restricted to particular patterns. Discuss the actual combination of days and sessions needed, and request a written quotation that separates private hours, meals and optional consumables.
• Baby-room scale. Lillies combines personal care facilities, sensory activities and outdoor play. Use the bookable 30-minute New Ferry viewing to ask about its usual daily group size and how sleep fits around the room's activities.
• Additional support. SEND planning involves parents and professionals, but complex needs are considered against available staff and resources. Discuss the adjustments and support your child would need before agreeing an attendance arrangement.

Winston's Place New Ferry suits families choosing between full-day care and morning or afternoon attendance, including those considering a term-time contract. Its strongest practical attractions are the varied play spaces, the progression through Lillies, Cherry Blossoms and Daffodils, and the connection between key-person care and daily communication.

The October 2022 Good judgement gives a useful starting point, with clear teaching priorities to explore on a visit. For babies, the care facilities and sensory experiences are central; for older children, language and everyday independence carry increasing weight. The best fit depends on whether the attendance arrangement and individual support match the family's needs.