Skylarks Nursery

Real ingredients, practical problems and children doing things for themselves give Skylarks its character. In July 2022, children prepared fruit, poured their own drinks and worked together to put right a wonky lunch table. These small responsibilities made ordinary parts of the day opportunities to practise independence, discussion and persistence.

Ofsted rated Skylarks Outstanding on 19 July 2022, finding that its education supported excellent progress across children's learning. That judgement belongs to the nursery's inspection at that date. The strongest examples were concrete: adults developed children's ideas through conversation, while resources encouraged investigation rather than simply occupying them.

On Windermere Avenue in Fleetwood, Skylarks has capacity for 30 children aged two to five. It shares a site with Larkholme Primary School. Full-day and half-day bookings sit within a term-time operating pattern, making the school calendar a central part of the choice for families.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: play and everyday experiences support progress across seven areas of learning. Skylarks combines planned parts of the day with play children choose themselves, following their interests while encouraging them to try something more demanding.

Children use a shared nursery environment rather than separate age-stage rooms. Resources and planning are adapted to their development: younger children have furniture suited to their size, while equipment includes adjustable sand and water trays. Materials for painting and making marks are positioned within children's reach. This gives children ways to choose and use resources themselves, rather than relying on an adult to retrieve everything.

In July 2022, old telephones and typewriters prompted conversations about how objects worked. Children experimented with paint powder and water, and used a recipe and actual ingredients for cake-making in the home corner. These examples show learning rooted in handling, testing and talking about things, with adults extending the activity through questions and conversation.

Language received deliberate attention in July 2022. Staff encouraged children to explore possible answers, draw on earlier experiences and explain their ideas. A practical problem could become a shared discussion: when a table would not sit level, children kept trying solutions together. The value for families is the connection between talking and doing, rather than language work being confined to a separate activity.

Music Man Session is a separately charged addition. Its cost therefore belongs in the attendance budget alongside the nursery booking, rather than being treated as part of the basic childcare fee.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outside, grass and a tarmac surface provide different places for play, including wheeled equipment. An adventure trail has a bridge, tunnel and stepping logs; raised planting beds and an insect habitat bring growing and wildlife into the outdoor environment. There is room for movement and for quieter investigation.

The building occupies a single storey, with wheelchair access at its entrances and exits. Inside, furniture can be repositioned to accommodate mobility equipment. These are useful practical details for a family whose child needs an accessible environment: access involves the layout of daily activities as well as getting through the door.

Relationships and Communication

Each child has a key person, giving families a consistent practitioner with whom to discuss nursery life and learning. Learning journeys combine observations, photographs and family contributions, and termly meetings provide time to discuss progress in more depth. Parents can also arrange a separate conversation when an issue needs privacy or more time.

Settling can include an initial family visit, an induction meeting and short play visits before the child attends for longer periods. A home visit is another part of the approach. The settling arrangements take account of the child's preferences, so preparation includes learning about the child as well as introducing the nursery.

In July 2022, staff visited families at home before children started and kept parents informed about learning and next steps. That inspection-era practice adds substance to the settling approach: the relationship began before the child's regular attendance.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At its July 2022 inspection, Ofsted found effective safeguarding and high-quality support for children with special educational needs or disabilities, including work with families and other professionals to obtain additional funding where eligible. This is a dated judgement about practice, rather than a promise about an individual child's support today.

The support mechanisms are specific. Targeted learning plans are developed with parents; referrals for speech and language therapy require parental consent, as do requests for advice from the local authority inclusion teacher. Support is reviewed as children develop, allowing the next step to respond to their needs rather than assuming one arrangement will suit indefinitely.

A home-nursery book offers another way for families and practitioners to exchange information. Parent workshops and learning resources that families can borrow extend that exchange beyond formal meetings, giving parents practical ways to take part in their child's learning.

Sessions and Attendance

Skylarks opens Monday to Friday during term time, from 7.30am to 5.45pm. Nursery bookings include full days and half days. The holiday pattern matters as much as the daily opening window: families needing childcare through school holidays should factor that into their decision.

The address is Windermere Avenue, Fleetwood, FY7 8QB, on the Larkholme Primary School site. Enquiries are handled by telephone or email. Parking is opposite the nursery building.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, with funding information for two-year-olds and for children aged three and four, and charging arrangements referring to 15 hours per week and 30 hours per week. The nursery operates during term time; eligibility for government funding depends on the family's circumstances.

Hot lunch, breakfast and tea carry separate charges, and snacks are charged separately under both the 15-hour and 30-hour funding arrangements. Sun cream also attracts a seasonal term charge. Music Man Session is charged separately, so families should consider these additions alongside any privately paid childcare hours.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The funding and fees page sets out the charging categories, making it useful for distinguishing childcare from food, sun cream and the music session.

Moving on to School

Skylarks shares its site with Larkholme Primary School and works with the school on transition. Attending the nursery does not guarantee a Reception place: families still apply through the local authority admissions process. The shared site is a transition connection, not an admissions entitlement.

• Term-time attendance. Full-day and half-day bookings operate within school terms. Consider how that calendar fits work commitments and holiday childcare needs.
• The whole attendance cost. Food, snacks, seasonal sun cream and Music Man Session have separate charges. Use the written quotation to assess the cost of the pattern your family intends to book.
• Settling and additional support. Short play visits and parent involvement in targeted plans are part of the approach. At a visit, discuss how those arrangements would work for your child's routines and any support needs.
• Music Man Session. This is a separately charged addition. Ask what the session involves and how participation fits your child's booking pattern.

Skylarks suits families seeking either full-day or half-day childcare during term time, especially those who value practical independence and close discussion with a key person. Its July 2022 examples give that character substance: children handled real materials, took responsibility for daily tasks and worked through problems together.

The shared Larkholme Primary School site and structured settling approach add practical appeal. The decision rests on whether the term calendar and separately charged extras fit the family, alongside how the nursery's support arrangements would work for the individual child.