Tiny Toez, Cannock Chase

An outdoor classroom with musical instruments and cushioned story spaces gives Tiny Toez, Cannock Chase a clear character: children can build, investigate and settle down with a story outside. The planting area adds vegetables and flowers to that mix. These are useful choices for a child who enjoys active exploration but also needs somewhere quieter to pause.

At its February 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged safeguarding effective. Two improvement points deserve equal attention: consistent use of behaviour strategies and better provision for babies developing their walking and climbing skills. The overall judgement is positive, but those details matter when choosing care for a younger child.

Based at Cannock Chase Children's Centre on Cannock Road, the nursery has capacity for 72 children, with a current age range of 0 to 5. Little Ferns, Acorns and Oaks organise the offer by developmental stage. Full-day and half-day bookings sit alongside funded childcare.

Rooms and Ages

Little Ferns (0-2) emphasises managing feelings, developing thinking skills and the EYFS prime areas, which bring together communication, physical development and personal and social learning, with outdoor space for exploration.

Acorns (2-3) combines growing independence and emotional regulation with stories, music and play, giving toddlers ways to express themselves as well as practise doing things for themselves.

Oaks (3-5) encourages children to make decisions and investigate resources that can be used in different ways, with an emphasis on solving problems rather than following a single prescribed outcome.

Learning and Activities

The Curiosity Approach adds an emphasis on children's curiosity and exploration alongside the EYFS. Here, children choose activities around their interests and practitioners extend what they are doing. That makes the adult's role an active one: following a child's choice while opening up further opportunities to learn.

In February 2024, sensory investigation had practical substance. Children explored fruit and seeds in pretend cooking, smelling ingredients, making marks and experimenting with mixing. Adults introduced recipe pictures to develop the activity. For parents, this is a useful example of how an apparently simple play experience can bring conversation, investigation and hand skills together.

Books also had a substantial place in the February 2024 day. Adults used props while reading and kept conversations going with children. Babies manipulated dough with tools and cutters, practising the small movements needed to control their hands. These observations give the learning approach more substance than a curriculum name alone.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden accommodates different kinds of play. A sheltered section contains sand and construction resources, while larger building materials give children more substantial things to move and assemble. The outdoor classroom brings music and stories into the same setting. Outdoor learning therefore includes quieter activities as well as movement.

Community experiences extend beyond the garden. Hednesford Summer Festival involved a nursery stall offering arts and crafts, and Firefighter Fun Day brought a visit from the Staffordshire fire and rescue team. These are examples of contact with local people and services, rather than a promise of a fixed weekly programme.

In February 2024, children also made library outings and had visited older residents to sing and spend time together. Oaks have also visited the neighbouring care home. Such encounters give children experiences of people beyond their own age group.

Relationships and Communication

Famly, the parent portal, shares photographs and videos of children's play and lets parents follow their individual PLODs. It gives families something concrete to discuss with staff and a way to follow experiences their child may not yet be able to describe fully.

Family participation also takes a practical form. Mother's Day, Father's Day and Grandparents Day bring shared activities, refreshments and opportunities for relatives to join in. Craft-making days provide another route into nursery life. The value lies in doing things together, rather than simply receiving updates.

In February 2024, staff had regular supervision and opportunities for professional development. Children practised independence through ordinary care routines: babies used cloths to clean themselves and were encouraged to feed themselves, while older children managed shoes, coats and toileting. These small tasks connect care with learning.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the February 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that children with SEND received effective support, including individual help from a key person and activities shaped around their interests. This is a dated finding about how support worked in practice, rather than a general promise that every child's needs will be met in the same way.

In February 2024, an on-site health visitor within the children's centre provided a route to advice and support. The same visit identified a weakness in the baby environment: indoor and outdoor arrangements did not fully support children practising walking and climbing. The current garden offer should be considered alongside that specific finding, especially for a baby approaching those stages.

Food supplies arrive weekly from local sources, vegetarian choices are offered, and tastings introduce children to different foods. Milk and water are served during the day.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across 51 weeks of the year, excluding bank holidays. Full-day and half-day sessions are offered, along with full-week rates. Holiday care also covers children up to five.

Those patterns serve different family routines: a half day gives a shorter attendance option, while a full day provides a longer block of care. The opening window and the booked session are separate practical details when planning a working day.

Getting There

The address is Cannock Chase Children's Centre, Cannock Road, Cannock, WS11 5BU; the branch also uses the name Cannock Family Hub. Enquiries can be made through the branch's online enquiry route, by telephone on 01543 467064 or by email at cannock@tinytoez.com.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered for children aged 2, 3 and 4. Families can receive help with two-year-old funding applications and guidance on applying for 30-hour funding and tax-free childcare. Private childcare is also offered, and current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Preparation for school includes activities that develop independence and visits from local teachers before children start school. These introductions help make the next stage more familiar; they are transition work, with no claim of an admissions advantage.

• Babies learning to move. In February 2024, the baby environment needed to better support walking and climbing. On a visit, ask to see how Little Ferns now accommodates children at these stages, indoors and outside.
• Responses to conflict. The February 2024 improvement point concerned inconsistent use of newly introduced behaviour strategies. Ask how practitioners now respond when children struggle to manage feelings or disagreements.
• Finding the right entrance. The branch's address details conflict between WS11 5BU and WS11 5DD. Confirm the entrance and postcode when arranging a tour so that the address ambiguity does not complicate the visit.
• The funded booking package. Funding for two-, three- and four-year-olds sits alongside paid sessions. Ask for a written breakdown of the funded attendance pattern, meal charges and responsibility for nappies and other consumables before agreeing a booking.

Tiny Toez, Cannock Chase suits families considering either full-day or half-day childcare who value child-chosen activities, outdoor stories and construction, and visible communication through Famly. The named rooms give the offer a clear progression from babies to preschool children, while community contact and teacher visits broaden children's experiences.

The strongest practical attraction is the variety within the day: building, planting, music and quieter reading all have a place. Families with babies should give the walking and climbing arrangements close attention, and all parents should explore how behaviour strategies are used consistently. Those are specific questions arising from the February 2024 findings and a useful basis for judging whether this nursery fits their child.