Sandfield Natural Play Centre

Sandfield Natural Play Centre
Unique reference number (URN): EY342763
Address: Sandfield House, Lickers Lane, Whiston, Merseyside, L35 3SR
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 13/11/2006
Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR
Registered person: Suzanne and Alex Scott Partnership
Inspection report: 19 June 2026
Exceptional
Strong standard
Expected standard
Needs attention
Urgent improvement
Safeguarding standards met
The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for
governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open
culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively
identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.
How we evaluate safeguarding
When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:
Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding.
Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all
legal requirements are met.

Strong standard
Achievement Strong standard
Children approach their learning with enthusiasm and curiosity, showing confidence as they
explore the range of resources and activities available to them. Children use the natural
environment to create their own games and learning activities. For example, children make
many trips across the challenging outdoor space carefully carrying cups of water to
successfully make their own pretend fishpond.
Children have secure attachments with staff who know them and their families well. Staff
understand each child's starting point, which ensures that they identify children's needs and
interests quickly. Siblings have many opportunities throughout their day to spend time
together. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those with other
barriers to their learning and development benefit from specific support that helps them
make rapid progress from their starting points. Children know what is expected of them.
They follow routines and care for their environment. For example, they know that they need
to wash their hands and put their indoor shoes on when coming in from outside. These skills
help children prepare for the next stage in their learning.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard
Leaders and staff create a learning environment that is fully inclusive. Staff have high
expectations for children's behaviour and consistently model expected behaviour.
Consequently, children's behaviour is exemplary. Children are highly respectful of each
other and their environment. For example, when finding insects, they handle them carefully,
making sure that they are returned to their home. Older children show care and
consideration for their younger friends as they sit together and chat at lunchtime.
Leaders and staff help children to follow and understand key routines for the day. This,
together with their effective key-person system, helps children to gain confidence in the
setting and to form a sense of belonging. Staff teach children in small mixed-age groups,
providing opportunities for siblings to spend long periods of time together. This helps to
provide a sense of emotional security and mirrors a natural family environment.
Leaders and staff promote the importance of children's regular attendance from the very
beginning. This ensures that all children, including those with special educational needs
and/or disabilities and other barriers to learning, access their learning entitlement.
Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard
Leaders and staff support children to consistently make healthy choices and embed high-
quality teaching and learning practice. For example, staff teach children where their food
comes from. Children take an active part in growing fruit and vegetables in the allotment
area and observe the changes in the fruit-bearing trees. At lunchtime, staff ask questions
about the healthy food on their plate, and children make links to the growing vegetables in

their allotment. Children follow staff's instructions about how to wash their hands and apply
their sun cream, and they know why this is important to keep themselves safe.
Leaders and staff build secure attachments with children. Individual settling-in sessions are
flexible and unrushed to meet the needs of children and families. This helps children to
settle and feel secure in their environment. When children are ready to move to their next
steps, staff create tailored plans with colleagues and parents. This helps children to make
smooth transitions into their next stage in learning.
Children are extremely confident and independent in their play environment. They initiate
their own games using the natural world around them, delegating tasks and responsibilities
to others. They play collaboratively and get along well with others, seeking out staff for
guidance only when needed. Staff have created warm and trusting relationships with
children, where cuddles and reassurance are in abundance.
Curriculum and teaching Strong standard
Leaders and staff plan and deliver an ambitious, exciting curriculum for all children, including
those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and other barriers to learning.
Accurate and timely assessments ensure that children make progress from their starting
points ready for their next steps in learning.
Staff make good use of all play areas to promote all aspects of children's learning. They
have set out areas for plenty of exploratory, physical and creative play in which children
immerse themselves. Staff deploy themselves well, following children's interests. They teach
children how to play safely outdoors, where children expertly risk assess their own play. For
example, when outside, they work together to navigate and organise who will go down the
ramp first on the bike. In their risk assessment they make sure that there is sufficient time
and space before the next person takes their turn and that no one is in their path. Children
demonstrate that they understand that this keeps everyone safe.
Staff interactions with children are positive and engaging. Mathematics is woven into daily
play activities. For instance, when in the allotment area children measure the growing plants
and make a record in their logbook. Additionally, when they play in the sand pit, staff narrate
their play and ask thought-provoking questions, such as to explore cause and effect when
the sand does not flow through the equipment. Such activities support children's early
mathematical skills. Children are making rapid progress in their learning and development.
Inclusion Strong standard
Leaders and staff work closely with families to understand their children's needs from the
start and put support in place quickly. Staff know the children very well. Robust assessment,
observations and close partnerships with parents and professionals ensure that early help is
swiftly identified. Individualised tailored support plans are in place to support those with
special educational needs and/or disabilities and other barriers to learning. Parents are
highly complimentary of the advice, guidance and support they receive to help their children
at home. This helps children to make rapid progress from their starting points.

Leaders use additional funding children may receive effectively to reduce barriers to their
learning and development. Staff support children with small-group and one-to-one sessions
to help develop their confidence and communications skills. Staff undergo special training to
care for those children with special medical conditions. This provides additional reassurance
to parents.
Leaders and staff adapt their practice and environment to ensure that all children have
access to their curriculum offer. This helps children to feel included and have positive
learning experiences. This helps children to make excellent progress from their starting
points, especially those who may face barriers to their learning.
Leadership and governance Strong standard
Leaders are passionate and enthusiastic to drive excellence and high-quality learning
experiences for all children, families and other providers. Staff morale is high, and they
engage in regular supervision sessions to share their interests and seek professional
training opportunities. Staff report they feel well respected and valued in their roles.
Leaders support staff to nurture their strengths and identify professional support
opportunities to enhance teaching further. For example, staff have attended training on
developing children's critical thinking. They have applied this new knowledge in their
practice to further extend their questions and discussions with children. This is helping to
extend children's vocabulary.
Parents are highly complimentary of the setting. They enjoy home learning activities and the
additional stay-and-play sessions, which help them to see their child in their play
environment. They comment on the highly effective settling-in process, which provides them
with reassurance that their children are safe and secure.
Leaders and staff are proactive to ensure that all children receive the support they deserve
and are entitled to in order to make progress in their learning. They work effectively with
other professionals and take swift action to make appropriate referrals. Leaders and staff
implement robust procedures to ensure that children learn about and can manage risks in
their challenging outdoor play spaces. This helps children to feel safe in a positive and
nurturing environment.

Compulsory Childcare Register requirements
This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.
How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Compulsory Childcare
Register
When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can
have the following outcomes:
Met
Not met
Voluntary Childcare Register requirements
This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register.
How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Voluntary Childcare
Register
When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can
have the following outcomes:
Met
Not met
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children truly thrive at this welcoming, inclusive setting, where they spend the majority of
their day outdoors. Children separate from their families with ease and are happy to go off
and meet their friends to explore the enriching learning environment that awaits them. All
children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and other barriers
to learning, clearly feel safe, secure and cared for. Leaders implement mixed-age groups so
that younger children and siblings have opportunities to play and explore together.

Inspector:
Anita Dunn
About this setting
Children enjoy a curriculum that is broad, balanced and diverse. While the majority of
learning activities take place outdoors, staff provide opportunities for children to take their
learning indoors should they choose to. Leaders have built a curriculum that is underpinned
by a natural play philosophy to inspire child-led learning. Children develop a joy of exploring
and learning in nature and show positive attitudes to learning. They use their imagination
and creativity to initiate their own games and activities. For example, children work together
to create a fishpond. They tell adults that the flower petals are the fish and that there are 72
of them in total. Staff observe from the sidelines to allow them to problem-solve, offering
advice and guidance if needed.
Children experience a learning environment that is full of language. They thoroughly enjoy
regularly engaging in books and stories, and lunchtimes are full of conversations and
chatter. Staff support children to learn new words as they spot insects and birds in the
garden. Children are confident communicators.
Staff monitor attendance robustly and promote the importance of attending with parents.
When children are absent, staff quickly contact parents to check on the health and wellbeing
of children.
Next steps
Leaders should sustain their work to ensure continued improvement and high standards.
They should focus on creating a transformational impact on the outcomes and
experiences of disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and/or
disabilities, those who are known, or previously known, to children's social care, and
those who may face other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing.
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with the nominated individual, leaders, staff, special educational needs
coordinator and parents during the inspection.
We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the
quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The
registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for
children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage.

Unique reference number (URN): EY342763
Address:
Sandfield House
Lickers Lane
Whiston
Merseyside
L35 3SR
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 13/11/2006
Registered person: Suzanne and Alex Scott Partnership
Register(s): EYR, CCR, VCR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:00 - 18:00
Local authority: Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 19 June 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
1 to 4
Total number of places
70
Our grades explained
Exceptional
Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.

Strong standard
The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of
them.
Expected standard
The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are
following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional
standards expected of them.
Needs attention
The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary
improvements.
Urgent improvement
The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of
education and/or care.
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspects
services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects
and regulates services that care for children and young people.
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