Little Scholars Littleover

Treasure baskets for babies, a growing patch for food exploration and learning records parents can follow through Blossom give Little Scholars Littleover a recognisable character. Play, increasing independence and communication with home connect its offer. Its rooms give children different ways to explore as they grow.

At its 13 February 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall. The current age range runs from three months to five years, with capacity for 69 children in total. This is whole-nursery capacity, rather than the number sharing any particular room or attending together on a given day.

Based on Austen Avenue in Littleover, Derby, the nursery serves families using morning, afternoon and full-day sessions. Funded attendance can follow a term-time or stretched pattern, and the choice between those arrangements has practical consequences for both weekly hours and additional charges.

Rooms and Ages

BABY UNIT, designed for ages 0-2 years, combines a sensory area with treasure baskets and tummy-time activities for younger babies, while older children explore construction, water, sand and early mark-making. The progression is useful: activities change with development within the room, rather than expecting every baby to engage in the same way. Stories and songs also form part of the experience, with books accessible to children.

TWEENIES ROOM, for ages 2-3 years, supports growing independence through role play, creative materials, accessible books and a daily welcome time involving familiar songs and actions. Children can make activity choices with practitioner support. That gives toddlers opportunities to act on their own interests while still having an adult help them take part.

PRE-SCHOOL ROOM, for ages 3-5 years, uses children's interests and developmental stages to shape play that practitioners join and extend. School preparation is approached through that play, rather than through a claim that older children should spend their day on formal lessons.

Across the rooms, bright learning spaces connect with outdoor play. Direct outdoor access allows activity to move between inside and outside, while quiet and active spaces give different kinds of play somewhere to happen. Construction, design and art resources provide ways for children to develop and represent their ideas.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the statutory framework for children's learning and care: here, daily activities use play to support communication, physical development and children's understanding of the world. It is the shared early-years foundation, rather than an extra unique to this nursery. Children make choices through accessible toys and open cupboards, and can choose fruit at snack time.

Alongside this, the Little Scholars Program takes a personalised approach based on each child's needs and interests. Its practical value lies in connecting planned learning with the child taking part. School-readiness work includes language, early number skills, literacy, creativity and independence, so preparation extends beyond recognising letters or numbers.

In February 2023, play connected several kinds of learning. Children playing basketball recorded their scores with marks, linking movement and early writing. An interactive whiteboard activity brought together counting and number recognition, with staff demonstrating how the game worked before children tried it themselves. These examples show how an ordinary activity could carry more than one learning purpose.

Books also prompted conversation in February 2023. Children discussed the bear's emotions during We're Going on a Bear Hunt. Story time connected reading with emotional understanding. Mathematics appeared in practical situations too, including comparing play-dough shapes and working out how many cups were needed for lunch.

Outdoor and Community Life

The outdoor grow patch connects food with experience: children grow fruit and vegetables and are introduced to eating them. That gives food exploration a practical starting point beyond the finished meal. Parents are also encouraged to accompany field trips and join nursery events during the year, creating opportunities to share parts of children's learning.

In February 2023, outdoor activity included climbing and balancing equipment, scooters and other wheeled toys. Children worked around obstacles and practised hopscotch, combining coordination with turn-taking. Activities involving Chinese New Year and Eid also helped children explore celebrations experienced by some families at home.

Relationships and Communication

Blossom is the secure online portal used to share children's activities, development records and practitioner observations with parents. It gives families a way to follow what their child has been doing and how learning develops over time. Newsletters add ideas for supporting learning at home and information about nursery events.

The preschool approach connects practitioners with their key children, including what interests them and where they are in their development. This makes the relationship part of activity planning, rather than treating communication and learning as separate tasks. Parents are encouraged to take an active part in nursery experiences, including events and trips.

In February 2023, staff helped children settle through gentle encouragement and attentive support. Adults exchanged information with parents about care routines and development. Children also practised looking after belongings, finding their name labels, pouring drinks and using cutlery, making everyday care routines opportunities to build independence.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the February 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective, with attentive supervision during eating and sleeping, environmental checks and staff understanding of child-protection procedures. That is a dated judgement about practice at the visit. Current staff arrangements include induction, safeguarding training, first aid and further training through external early-years services.

The February 2023 findings also identified two areas needing attention: helping staff value children's home languages and changing the preschool lunch routine. Some children became restless because they remained at the table waiting for others to finish. These are specific matters for families to explore, especially where language inclusion or mealtime routines will affect their child.

Meals are cooked on the premises each day, and menu planning uses guidance from the Caroline Walker Trust. The food offer includes three meals alongside snacks in the morning and afternoon, with water accessible through the day.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 8-12 Austen Avenue, Littleover, Derby, DE23 3EY. Opening hours are 7.45am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates across the year, closes on bank holidays and has a Christmas closure lasting one week. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01332 760619 or by email at info@little-scholars.co.uk.

Full Day Sessions have three windows: 7.45am-6pm, 8.30am-4pm and 9am-3pm. Morning Sessions run 7.45am-11.45am or 7.45am-1pm, with an 8.30am-11.30am option for children aged two and over. Afternoon Sessions run noon-6pm or 1pm-6pm, alongside a 12.45pm-3.45pm option for ages two and over.

Funded options include 9am-3pm, 8.30am-4pm and 8am-1pm for eligible babies aged nine months and over and eligible children aged two and over. The shorter morning and afternoon funded options are for ages two and over. The distinction matters when choosing attendance: funding does not make every session window interchangeable.

Places are allocated in order of receipt of completed paperwork, including the relevant funding code or eligibility letter. This is a booking rule, rather than an indication of vacancies. Monthly invoices arrive in advance, and holidays and illness remain payable regardless of funding status.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers 15 hours and 30 hours of term-time funding over 38 weeks, or 22.5 weekly hours stretched over 51 weeks. Stretched attendance spreads the funded hours across more of the year, reducing the weekly allocation. For children starting in January or April, funding may finish in mid-August.

For funded sessions, breakfast, snacks and light tea are included. Nursery lunch and pudding are charged separately, or families may supply a packed lunch free of charge; in BABY UNIT, choosing a packed lunch requires a parent to attend at 11.45am and supervise lunch.

Private childcare hours can sit alongside funded attendance, and sessions outside the standard funded windows carry charges. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the funding and session information explains how the arrangements fit together. Families need to consider both the attendance pattern and the lunch choice when assessing their total bill.

• Your baby's starting age. The current age range begins at three months, while the nursery describes itself as caring for children from six months. For a younger baby, confirm the intended starting age and settling arrangements before committing to a pattern.
• Language inclusion and lunch routines. In February 2023, staff needed support to value home languages, and some preschool children waited too long at lunch. Ask how home-language experiences and the end of lunch are organised now.
• Funded lunches in BABY UNIT. A packed lunch requires a parent to attend at 11.45am to supervise. That condition may make the separately charged nursery lunch the more workable choice for a family using the session for childcare.
• Choosing a year-round pattern. Stretched funding covers 51 weeks and the Christmas closure lasts one week; January or April starters may reach the end of funding in mid-August. Request a written quotation showing the chosen sessions, funded hours, lunch charges and any consumables arrangements.

Little Scholars Littleover suits families who want a choice between morning, afternoon and full-day attendance, with play shaped for babies, toddlers and preschool children. Direct outdoor access, food growing and Blossom's learning records give parents concrete features to weigh alongside the Good judgement from February 2023.

The practical detail deserves equal attention. Funded hours can be term-time or stretched, but session windows and lunch arrangements affect how useful that offer will be to a particular family. For babies, the packed-lunch supervision condition is especially significant; for preschool children, the dated language and lunchtime improvement points provide useful questions for a visit.