Little Owls Day Nursery, Toftwood

Two converted bungalows and three outdoor spaces give Little Owls Day Nursery, Toftwood a recognisable shape: separate spaces for different stages, with outdoor exploration running through the day. The baby provision includes Tiny Tawny for children who are not yet mobile, while the library bus brings fresh reading choices into the nursery each month. There is plenty here for children to investigate.

At its January 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and found highly effective teaching, learning shaped around individual children and excellent developmental progress. The detail behind that judgement matters: children investigated flowers trapped in ice, talked through familiar stories and helped friends who were struggling with their coats. Learning and consideration for others worked together.

At 20 School Lane in Dereham, the nursery has capacity for 100 children, with a current age range of 2 to 60 months. Morning, afternoon and daily attendance patterns sit alongside weekly block bookings; the room-specific timetable deserves attention before choosing a pattern.

Rooms and Ages

Tiny Tawny is intended for babies who cannot yet move around independently, giving the youngest children a space organised around their stage rather than simply their age. Tawny Owls also has a practical, sensory emphasis: Toftwood examples include making collages, mixing materials in the mud kitchen and filling planters before watering flowers. These are small, manageable ways for babies to explore textures and use their hands.

Snowy Owls combines imaginative play with investigation, including a Wendy house turned into a beach hut and close examination of a bird nest before children made their own versions with garden sticks. Barn Owls has opportunities to explore beyond the nursery, including pond dipping, alongside sessions in the yoga room using bubbles, feathers and calming bottles. These room examples give families a useful picture of the experiences children encounter as they move through the nursery.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage is the framework for children's learning, development and care: here, its everyday expression includes play, conversation, physical activity and practical exploration. The additional experiences are concrete. Music sessions at Toftwood have involved comparing sounds made by jars holding different amounts of water, singing nursery rhymes and using instruments. Children can hear a difference, test it and talk about it.

In January 2024, staff built activities around children's interests while introducing further skills. Questions were followed by thinking time, rather than an immediate adult answer, and familiar stories prompted children to remember phrases and anticipate events. For parents, that is a more useful account of learning than a list of subjects: conversation and curiosity were part of the activity itself.

Mini first aid sessions have given Toftwood Barn Owls and older Snowy Owls children practical experience of putting on plasters, using a cold compress and calling for emergency help with pretend phones. The point is participation. Children practise simple actions themselves, rather than only watching an adult demonstrate them.

Outdoor and Community Life

The library bus visits Toftwood monthly, with children across the rooms choosing books to share afterwards. That gives children an active part in selecting what the nursery reads, and brings a changing supply of stories into group time. A book can begin with a child's own choice.

Pond dipping has taken Toftwood Barn Owls outside to examine tadpoles, froglets and newts. Another outing brought children from Toftwood and Scarning to Dereham Baptist Church to deliver their handmade wreaths for its Christmas Wreath Festival. These are examples of learning connected to real places and living things, rather than a promise of a fixed outing timetable.

In January 2024, outdoor learning included planting trees, making bird feeders and forest school activities, an approach involving practical exploration outdoors. Around the firepit, children listened to stories while learning about fire safety. The outdoor provision also included a garden area for meditation, giving quieter activity a place alongside energetic play.

Relationships and Communication

Room changes involve relationships as well as new surroundings. Toftwood open evenings have allowed Snowy Owls and Barn Owls families to meet the next key person and explore the rooms before the transition. That makes the change something parents can understand and discuss with staff, rather than just a move between age groups.

Tawny Owls Toftwood holds a termly story cafe and stay-and-play session; one example combined spring songs, a shared story and related activities. These sessions give parents a practical view of the nursery day. In January 2024, families also took part in transition brunches, while staff shared developmental information through conversations and online communication.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the January 2024 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and outstanding support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including a sensory room and coordination with families and external agencies to arrange referrals promptly. Those are specific mechanisms behind the judgement: an adapted space, communication with parents and action to secure further support.

In January 2024, children used the sensory room to explore their feelings and took part in yoga daily, while staff helped them develop consideration for one another. Teeth were cleaned after meals as part of the routine. Children also joined mini master chef classes, tasting possible menu additions and deciding whether they should become nursery meals; this gave them a say in food choices as well as an opportunity to try something new.

Staff development supported this work. In January 2024, the team had access to continuing professional learning, and staff discussed their work enthusiastically. For families, the useful connection is between training and daily practice: adults were adapting activities to children's next steps rather than expecting every child to take the same route through an experience.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across the year, with bank holidays and a few Christmas days excluded. Attendance choices include morning, afternoon, daily and weekly bookings.

For Tawny Owl Nursery, morning sessions run from either 8am or 9am until 1pm, and the afternoon session is 1pm to 5pm. Daily rates cover 9am to 3pm, 9am to 5pm and 8am to 6pm; a weekly block booking has a 7.30am to 6pm window. Additional hours can extend the morning and afternoon patterns, and children must attend at least two sessions each week.

Barn Owls and Wise Owls have morning options from 8am or 9am to 1pm, plus afternoon options from 1.15pm to 5.15pm or 1pm to 6pm. Snowy Owl Nursery has those same choices and a morning pattern from 7.45am to 12.45pm. The older-room fee timetable also includes daily patterns of 9am to 3pm, 9am to 5pm and 8am to 6pm, alongside five-day weekly block bookings from 7.30am to 6pm.

Getting There

The address is 20 School Lane, Dereham, NR19 1LR; the nursery's contact address covers 18-20 School Lane in Toftwood. Telephone enquiries go to 01362 699700, and the contact form includes a Toftwood option for arranging a visit or applying for a funded place.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare uses a stretched arrangement, with either 570 or 1140 hours per academic year according to eligibility. The nursery describes this as 12 or 25 funded hours per week, covering school holidays within the September-to-mid-July academic year, with funding excluded during the six-week summer holiday period. Year-round opening therefore needs to be considered separately from the funding calendar.

Meals are excluded from childcare fees and charged separately; Tawny Owl families supply their own nappies and changing items. For funded attendance, meal and consumable charges are optional: parents can supply meals and snacks themselves and decline the consumable package, which is charged from age two and includes snacks, take-home resources, Famly communication and specified events and activities.

That package spans more than changing supplies, so it merits a careful reading when comparing costs. The fees and funding page sets out the structure; obtain a current written quotation for the attendance pattern and extras your family chooses. A sibling discount is offered.

• Summer funding gap. The stretched funding calendar ends in mid-July and excludes the six-week summer holiday period. Families needing care throughout the year should include privately paid summer attendance in their budget.
• Room-specific sessions. Tawny Owl afternoons end at 5pm, while older-room options include later finishes; the Barn Owls and Wise Owls timetable also places a 7.45am-to-12.45pm option under its afternoon heading. Ask which room timetable and booking label will apply to your child.
• The consumable package. Funded families can decline the optional package, which begins at age two and includes communication and activities as well as snacks and resources. Discuss what choosing or declining it means for your child's attendance before agreeing the quotation.
• Moving between rooms. Toftwood has used open evenings to introduce the next key person and surroundings. On a visit, ask how that transition will be planned for your child, including how staff decide when a child is ready to move on from Tiny Tawny.

Little Owls suits families looking for morning or afternoon sessions as well as those choosing daily or weekly attendance. Its strongest appeal is the combination of provision for non-mobile babies, monthly library-bus choices and practical exploration, from music experiments to pond dipping. The January 2024 Outstanding judgement gives that offer a substantial inspection foundation.

The practical decision is about fit: the correct room timetable, the summer funding gap and the optional funded-hours package all affect how attendance works for a family. For parents who value opportunities to join in through story cafes and room-transition events, there is also a concrete route into understanding their child's nursery experience.