Good Nursery guide

Owner/Principal: Annie Williams, Cert. Ed.
Type: Day nursery offering full-time places and half-day sessions.
Children: 3 months to 5 years, 55 places, 130 on register.
Hours: 8.00am-5.45pm
Morning session 8.00am-12.30pm
Afternoon session 1.30pm-5.45pm
Open 51 weeks a year.
Status: Private, fee-paying.
Number of years open: 13
Meals: Lunch, tea, snacks.
Waiting list: Moderate.
Registered by: Cheshire County Council SS.

Premises
Surrounded by farmland in rural Cheshire, just outside Chester, the nursery is the owner's former large modern home, now converted to a very high standard. The stables next door have been completely refurbished to provide an additional 15-place baby unit. Inside is tastefully designed, cheerful and welcoming. The original building is used by the older children and comprises a small 'teaching room crammed with books and learning materials for pre-school skills; a messy room for art, craft, sand and water, with walls lined with children's artwork; a large carpeted playroom furnished with a home corner, dressing-up corner and piano for musical activities. This room has patio doors leading out into the outside play area. The relatively new baby unit for 0 to 2-year-olds is a large, bright room which can be partitioned off into cosier spaces when required. There is a scrupulously clean nappy-changing area and bathroom, with neat piles of disposable nappies on shelves. The unit also has its own kitchen for bottle and feed preparation and meals. Outside there are nearly three acres of play space including fields, a grassed playground with climbing frames and sandpit and a hard tennis court for bikes and trikes. The children have their own farm in the two fields - 12 sheep, Dusty the pony, two rabbits, a guinea pig and two rare breed hens. Prince and Scratch, the nursery dog and cat, wander about at will. The pice de rŽsistance is a wonderful indoor swimming pool, shared with the owner's brother, who lives next door.

Owner/Principal & Staff
Annie Williams, Cert. Ed., owner and principal, is cheerful and fun. The children obviously love her warmth and laughter. A former secondary school teacher, she spends as much time as possible each day with the children and staff, employing someone else to do the bulk of the nursery administration. There are nine full-time staff; all except two are qualified and cover a wide range of skills. Three, including Annie Williams, are teachers, two are nurses and three NNEBs. The staff are friendly and relaxed. Children call them by their first names and relationships are clearly close and confident. There is no keyworker system - children are free to bond with whoever they wish.

Children & Parents
The families come from a wide variety of social backgrounds, including the smart Cheshire set. Many are middle-class professionals, others farm workers. Parents drive from town and country so their children can attend Smarties. The children are phased in gradually when they start and parents encouraged to stay to settle them in. Communication between the nursery and parents is good - three newsletters a year give a written update and parents come in to talk to Annie or other members of staff whenever they feel it is necessary.

Curriculum & Activities
The nursery's philosophy of 'Learning Made Fun' is achieved through a rich, well-planned curriculum. Annie Williams believes in experiential learning with regular acting and 'doing' and many opportunities for language development. Creative play is important, with art activity twice a day incorporating paint, modelling, water and sand. Symbolic play using dressing-up clothes, home corner, shop corner and drama - children act out stories and put on puppet plays, which develop social skills and language. There is music and movement three times a week; swimming in the nursery indoor pool (staff are trained in life-saving) and cookery once a week. Horse riding is available at extra cost three mornings a week from a visiting instructress and is extremely popular. Pre-school academic work is carefully planned to prepare children for their various primary and prep schools. The three qualified teachers take children in small groups of four or five into the teaching room. Here children are introduced to science, and learn colour, shape and size by sorting and sequencing. Number work includes practical, written and conceptual use of numbers. Basic addition and subtraction will be introduced, when a child is ready. The nursery has games and computer packages to practise these skills. Pre-reading and language skills are also developed. There is a letter of the week, as well as letter sorting and recognition. Practical pencil control is developed through colouring, dotting and joining. The curriculum for babies is less structured and planned, but their room is filled with equipment designed to stimulate imagination and develop co-ordination and manipulative skills. Twice a day, whatever the weather, children help to feed and care for the farm animals.

Remarks
A fabulous nursery, combining the best of care with strong educational programmes. Smarties is bursting with confidence and know-how and full of people - adults and children - who are having fun. The carefully planned, if rather overcrowded, curriculum guarantees an excellent start for any child. Staff qualifications cover a wide range of skills and subjects, including teaching.