The Cottage Nursery

The Cottage Nursery
Unique reference number (URN): EY280485
Address: 1 Clarendon Road, Eccles, Manchester, Lancashire, M30 9AL
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 04/11/2004
Registers: EYR
Registered person: Clarendon Cottage School Limited
Inspection report: 14 January 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
Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard
Both children and staff thrive because their personal wellbeing is heavily prioritised.
Everyone's happiness and welfare are at the core of the nursery's excellent ethos. Each
week, everyone looks forward to 'feel-good Friday'. On Fridays, children and staff dress
down, which serves to create a strong sense of ease, contributing to children's excellent
emotional welfare. Children benefit from a 'mindfulness room' located within the nursery.
Relaxing sensory lights and calm music offer space for children to be peaceful, serene and
quiet. This contributes to their immense contentedness and personal wellbeing. Staff make
excellent use of this space when needed and adapt activities and teaching to meet
children's individual needs.
Leaders understand that positive relationships and attachments are key to children's
emotional security. Paddington, the nursery dog, alongside several nursery rabbits, help
children to learn empathy and fosters their kindness towards others. These animals also
help children to establish a calm mindset and regulate their emotions as they play gently
and quietly. Children have strong attachments with staff, peers and animals. Opportunities
for children to rest and relax are readily offered through excellent flexible routines. Sleeping
children are frequently checked, and the temperature is also monitored to ensure exemplary
safety standards are maintained during sleep times.
Inclusion Strong standard
Each and every child's unique backgrounds are understood and cherished. This is a highly
inclusive nursery where every child is supported to flourish and truly be themselves. Some
staff are specifically trained to support children with special educational needs and/or
disabilities. Their expertise is commendable, and the support offered for those children who
face barriers to their learning is excellent. Staff have worked hard to establish relationships
with a range of professionals, such as speech therapists, and seek their expertise to offer
children the specific support they need and deserve. All children are supported to make the
best start in their lives, regardless of need and background.
Staff routinely observe children and quickly take steps to narrow gaps through targeted
teaching. When children first start attending, staff gather extremely detailed information from
parents and carers about their abilities and needs. Staff work at pace to add their
professional observations and ascertain children's accurate starting points. They clearly
understand children's needs and strive to meet these from the outset of placement.

Expected standard
Achievement Expected standard
Babies are supported to develop their strength and master their emerging physical skills.
They use purposefully placed low-level furniture to pull themselves up to standing. Babies
balance and practise taking steps safely and with plenty of encouragement. Older children
begin to develop their early reading and writing skills. For instance, at lunchtime, they find
their names printed on place mats. This task helps to develop an awareness that print
carries meaning. They use their fingers and large movements to trace the shape of letters,
developing foundation skills for early writing. Children of all ages enjoy age-appropriate
learning opportunities, and subtle adaptations help to support development. For instance,
babies and younger children learn to feed themselves with spoons that are easier to handle.
Older children progress to using a knife and fork at mealtimes to refine their fine motor and
self-help skills.
Children are supported to learn new skills and are also offered opportunities to practise and
master what they can already do. Everyone, including those children who face barriers to
their learning, are well supported and acquire key skills in readiness for school.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard
Children are polite and respectful. The nursery is typically calm and orderly, with routines
and behaviour expectations consistently implemented by all staff. Staff reward children with
charts, stickers and plenty of praise. These systems help to motivate children, who always
try hard to do their best. Staff help children to learn about their feelings and emotions
through toys, books and games. They teach children about different feelings and help them
to learn how to regulate strong emotions. Friendships flourish, and children benefit from
secure relationships with both peers and staff. Although routines are largely orderly,
sometimes, staff do not effectively manage transitions between activities. For instance, at
lunchtime, some children are left waiting for extended periods without focus or high-quality
interactions from staff during this time of the day.
Children become increasingly independent. Younger children are encouraged to put toys
away after playing, a responsibility they take pride in completing. Older children successfully
begin to manage their own personal care routines, such as independent handwashing and
toileting routines.
Staff work closely with parents to promote consistent and regular attendance. A digital
registration procedure helps leaders to quickly identify and address unexpected absences.
Leaders are proud that children enjoy their time spent at the setting and report that
attendance is high across all ages, which impacts on children's development, as learning is
often uninterrupted.
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Staff use their frequent observations to check what children know and identify where they
may benefit from additional support. Teaching is targeted to narrow gaps and help children

make steady progress.
Teaching children to communicate and develop their language skills is prioritised by all staff
throughout the setting. Staff are excellent role models in this area of learning, in particular.
Babies and younger children hear lots of narration as staff describe what they are doing.
They sing to children, extending vocabulary through rhythm and rhyme. Older children
benefit from challenging questions to help them think and learn how to join in conversations.
The teaching to support this aspect of development is worthy of praise. Children become
confident communicators.
Children who need additional support are helped to keep up with their peers. Leaders
identify children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They then work with
parents and other professionals to create learning plans with clear and achievable targets.
These plans are fully understood by everyone. This collective understanding helps to ensure
all support is consistent, and, therefore, maximises impact.
The curriculum is planned to offer children a breadth of different learning opportunities. For
example, children benefit from different classes delivered in the nursery, such as baking
clubs, French lessons, music and gymnastics sessions. Coupled with a range of fun
activities prepared by staff and spontaneous play, children remain busy, enjoy their time
spent in this setting and are well supported to make progress.
Leadership and governance Expected standard
The families who access this nursery benefit from an extremely passionate and driven
senior leadership team that strives to offer a high-quality service. Leaders have a wonderful
attitude towards self-evaluation, reflection and improvement. Staff and leaders benefit from
regular support meetings with local authority quality advisers. This helps leaders to
celebrate what they do well and highlight areas to improve.
Leaders have oversight of the day-to-day practice throughout the nursery because they
spend plenty of time in the rooms. They meet with staff each year in formal supervision
meetings to discuss professional practice, and staff comment that they feel well supported.
However, leaders have not yet fully established systems to provide staff with more regular
feedback on their day-to-day teaching to develop an even stronger culture of continual
improvement.
Leaders often check that staff workload is manageable. Adaptations to working hours are
made, if needed, to ensure staff benefit from a good home life balance. As such, staff are
happy and work hard. Staff attend online training courses to develop their skills and
knowledge. Leaders intend to extend this programme of professional development to
include more face-to-face training to further enrich the programme of training.

What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children who attend this setting are provided with the chance to be the best they can be.
They thrive because they are happy, safe and stimulated. Staff offer children a very warm
welcome each morning, greeting them with a friendly and encouraging smile. Children
happily arrive and immediately run to their friends, showing their strong sense of belonging
in this friendly nursery. They confidently separate from their parents and carers at the
beginning of the day, waving goodbye and eagerly anticipating the fun activities that await
them. Children's attendance is consistently good, because they look forward to attending
and enjoy their time spent with friends.
Babies, toddlers and older children alike all make good progress from their starting points.
Each room throughout the nursery offers subtle adaptations to the environment, equipment
and toys to help to ensure that children benefit from suitable challenge and age-appropriate
development and learning opportunities. Children benefit from an ambitious curriculum. Staff
carefully incorporate children's interests into different activities. This helps to retain children's
focus and promote their concentration. It also helps to design an individualised curriculum,
specifically tailored to each and every child's uniqueness, enabling everyone to flourish.
The staff are a close-knit team, and they work very well together, delegating tasks and
sharing responsibilities. This helps to ensure that children's needs are quickly met. Many of
the staff have worked at the setting for a number of years. This exemplifies their passion and
dedication to the children in their care. Children learn how to treat others as they witness
first hand the courtesy, respect and empathy among the staff who are their role models.
Next steps
Leaders should develop systems to provide staff with more regular feedback on their daily
teaching to help raise the quality of professional practice even more.
Staff should consider the organisation of transitional times, such as lunchtime, to ensure
children remain continually occupied and benefit from high-quality interactions at all times.
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners and the special educational needs and/or
disabilities coordinator 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

Inspector:
Michelle Jacques
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): EY280485
Address:
1 Clarendon Road
Eccles
Manchester
Lancashire
M30 9AL
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 04/11/2004
Registered person: Clarendon Cottage School Limited
Register(s): EYR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:00
Local authority: Salford
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 14 January 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
0 to 3
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.

Total number of places
103
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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