The Learning Tree Derby CIC

Talking, books and growing independence give this Sinfin nursery its character. Staff have completed Early Talk Boost training, covering a targeted language programme for children aged 3 to 4 who need help understanding and using words. The curriculum includes goals such as Confident communicator and Brilliant bookworm. These give families concrete starting points for understanding what their child will be working towards.

At its September 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, while identifying improvements needed in adapting adult-led activities and sharing learning with parents. That balance matters: there is a positive inspection judgement, alongside specific questions about how teaching reaches each child.

The Learning Tree Derby CIC accepts children from 18 months to 5 years and has capacity for 16 children in total. Its home is within Sinfin Family Hub. Full-day and half-day attendance are both offered, including funded places.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage Framework shapes the curriculum: children learn through play across its areas of learning, building communication, independence and relationships alongside other skills. The nursery organises its own curriculum around 10 learning goals, with children working towards them at their individual level. Birth to 5 matters also informs this work.

Confident communicator, Master of maths and Brilliant bookworm make the priorities easy to recognise. Other goals include Amazing artist and Fantastic friend, bringing creative work and relationships into the same account of learning. For parents, these named goals offer a useful vocabulary for discussing their child's experiences rather than looking only at what an activity produced.

Staff have completed Early Talk Boost training. The programme targets children aged 3 to 4 who need support with talking and understanding words.

In September 2024, children used play dough cutters and sand to explore shapes and patterns. Adults introduced number recognition and words describing size and quantity through these activities. Songs and stories prompted speaking, while pictures supported children learning English as an additional language. These examples connect early learning to materials children can handle and language they can use.

Outdoor and Community Life

A refurbished garden provides an outdoor setting, while the building includes a spacious room and a disabled toilet. The physical offer combines room for play with an accessibility feature that may matter to a family's daily routine.

In September 2024, outings included buying snack fruit at a supermarket, visiting a park with larger play equipment and going to a library. Each served a different purpose: practical choices, physical play and access to books. Children also described their garden discoveries, including a ladybird and a frog, turning encounters with wildlife into opportunities to talk.

Relationships and Communication

In September 2024, settling arrangements were adjusted around individual children, and staff spent time getting to know them. Adults used considerate interactions and helped children manage sharing and turn-taking, including when using play dough tools. This gives a concrete picture of settling and social learning rather than treating them as separate from the nursery day.

Daily conversations with parents covered activities and behaviour at that time. However, information about the learning children were currently working on, and ways to continue it at home, was less consistently shared. A friendly account of the day and a useful account of learning serve different purposes; families should weigh both.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

An onsite SENDCO provides a specific route for discussing additional needs. All staff hold paediatric first aid training, and the curriculum sets out that children with additional needs can work towards its learning goals at their own level. These are concrete arrangements for support, rather than a promise about an individual child's outcome.

In September 2024, children practised choosing snacks, pouring drinking water from jugs and washing their hands. Staff also helped them consider other children's feelings when disagreements arose. Small daily responsibilities gave children opportunities to practise doing things for themselves, including skills useful when moving on to school.

Sessions and Attendance

Full days run from 9am to 3pm. Half days can be taken from 9am to noon or noon to 3pm, giving families a choice between a shorter session and the whole nursery day. Breakfast attendance runs from either 8.30am or 8.45am until 9am.

The nursery operates during term time, Monday to Friday, and closes for school holidays. That makes the holiday calendar a material part of choosing an attendance pattern, especially where a family needs childcare beyond term dates.

Getting There

The address is Sinfin Childrens & Young Peoples Centre, Sinfin Lane, Sinfin, Derby, DE24 9SF; the nursery is within Sinfin Family Hub. Car parking facilities support collection and drop-off.

Enquiries can be made by telephone, email, WhatsApp or the contact form. In-person tours can also be arranged by contacting the nursery.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered from 18 months, with funding routes for children aged 2, 3 and 4 and a working-family entitlement described as 30 hours funding for children from 9 months old. The younger age in that entitlement does not change this nursery's starting age. Eligibility depends on the relevant funding route.

Private full-day, half-day and breakfast attendance are also offered, with payments due in advance. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the funding information sets out its funding routes.

For private full-day attendance, parents provide a packed lunch. This is a practical part of planning attendance, alongside the session itself.

• Group teaching. In September 2024, some organised activities did not sufficiently reflect children's developmental stages. During a tour, ask how group activities are adapted for a younger child or one needing extra support.
• Learning at home. The September 2024 improvement point concerned explaining current learning to parents. Ask for an example of how the nursery now communicates a child's next steps and useful activities at home.
• Term-time attendance. School holidays are closures, so the full-day and half-day choices need to fit a family's holiday arrangements as well as its weekly routine.
• Packed lunch and supplies. Children attending private full days bring lunch. Ask what non-food supplies families need to send and how lunch arrangements work for your child's dietary needs.

The Learning Tree Derby CIC suits families seeking either a term-time full day or a morning or afternoon half day, with breakfast attendance offering an earlier start. Its named learning goals make communication and independence clear priorities, while staff have completed Early Talk Boost training.

The September 2024 judgement gives a positive overall assessment, but the two improvement points deserve attention. How staff adapt group teaching and explain learning to parents will help families decide whether the daily experience fits their child.