Little Acorns Day Nursery and Montessori School

In August 2024, squeezing water from bottles and serving food gave independence a concrete meaning at Little Acorns in Yaxley. Montessori teaching, an approach that gives children control over their learning through practical exploration, sits alongside everyday opportunities to do things for themselves. The garden adds another dimension: in August 2024, children negotiated with one another during their games, while adults joined in to extend their thinking.

At its inspection on 30 August 2024, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding and judged safeguarding effective. Little Acorns has capacity for 64 children aged one to five at 208B Broadway, Yaxley, Peterborough, PE7 3NT. That whole-setting capacity should not be read as the size of an individual group.

Morning, afternoon and full-day bookings give families different ways to arrange attendance, with breakfast and evening clubs extending the day. The strongest reason to consider this nursery, though, is the attention paid to small steps in children's independence.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the common foundation for learning and care: children develop communication, movement, relationships, early literacy and mathematical understanding through their experiences and play. At Little Acorns, observing what a child can already do helps staff decide what to introduce next. This connects planned activities to individual development rather than treating every child as ready for the same task.

Montessori adds an emphasis on choice, repetition and working at the child's pace. The nursery's Practicality of Life teaching links that approach to confidence and social independence. For parents, the useful distinction is between simply completing an activity and gradually being able to manage it independently.

In August 2024, carefully filling vessels and squeezing water from bottles gave children practice in controlling their hands. These were purposeful tasks in a quieter part of the nursery. The physical detail matters: manipulating objects was part of the learning, rather than an incidental accompaniment to an adult-led explanation.

Group learning offered a different challenge. In August 2024, a box-based group activity and simple experiments held children's attention, giving them opportunities to recall earlier learning and participate alongside others. Adults also introduced vocabulary during play and allowed time for a response. The day combined sustained individual activity with shared experiences.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor play areas sit at both the front and rear of the nursery. They give children space for physical activity alongside indoor learning, rather than making the whole day depend on the rooms.

In August 2024, garden games involved children reaching agreements and working together. Adults judged when to intervene and develop the play. For a parent weighing the outdoor offer, that is a useful example of how the space was used: social learning accompanied movement and exploration.

In August 2024, children turned to their key person for comfort when tired or needing closeness. Younger children practised feeding themselves and using cutlery, while older children helped serve food to others. Independence and reassurance worked together: children could try doing more for themselves while retaining a familiar adult to turn to.

At the August 2024 inspection, Ofsted found that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities received excellent support through individual plans, additional funding and cooperation with parents and other professionals, with arrangements supporting their move to school. This is a stronger basis for considering inclusion than a general promise: the judgement identifies the mechanisms used to support children.

Before starting, children have at least three settling sessions, beginning with one hour and building towards three hours; further sessions can be arranged according to the child's needs. Families therefore need to allow time for a gradual introduction before the regular booking begins. Settling is a process rather than a single trial session.

In August 2024, parents received ongoing feedback about children's experiences. That communication sat alongside the key-person relationship, giving families a way to connect nursery life with what was happening at home.

Sessions and Attendance

The Yaxley nursery opens Monday to Friday, from 7am to 6pm. Private full-day sessions run from 8am to 5.30pm, mornings from 8am to 1.30pm and afternoons from 1.30pm to 5.30pm. Breakfast club runs from 7am to 8am; evening club covers 5.30pm to 6pm.

Funded session windows are different: the full day is 8am to 4.30pm, the morning 8am to 1pm and the afternoon 1.30pm to 5pm. This distinction matters when matching childcare to work commitments. A funded session and a private session bearing the same label do not finish at the same time.

The minimum booking is one full day or two morning or afternoon sessions. Changes to regular sessions require four weeks' notice and depend on whether the change can be accommodated. Choosing different attendance times within a private session does not reduce the session charge.

Care runs across the year, with bank-holiday closures and a Christmas break. Bank holidays remain chargeable, while sickness and holidays do not attract a refund. Enquiries for Yaxley can be made by telephone on 01733 244000 or by email to enquiries@littleacorns-daynursery.co.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, including up to 30 hours per week for children aged nine months to four years from eligible working families and a stretched arrangement for 15-hour funding. Funding is spread across 51 weeks, so the weekly funded allocation is smaller than the term-time entitlement. Funded hours can contribute towards private sessions or pay for government-funded sessions; additional private time is charged separately.

Meals are cooked on site and included in wholly private session fees. When funding is applied to private sessions, meals and consumables attract additional charges; for fully funded sessions, those charges are optional.

The consumables charge includes items such as nappy creams. Sports, music lessons and Montessori Education are also chargeable activities, with those activity charges included when families choose the all-inclusive package. The funded-hours package deserves close attention because opting into extras changes what families pay beyond their entitlement.

A registration charge applies when accepting a private place, with no registration charge for funding-only places. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Different session endings. A private morning ends at 1.30pm, while the funded morning ends at 1pm. At a visit, discuss which booking and funding combination matches your collection arrangements.
• Paid additions to funded care. Fully funded sessions have optional meal and consumables charges, and the all-inclusive package includes activity charges. Ask how the chosen package affects participation in Montessori Education and the other activities.
• Time for settling. At least three introductory sessions precede the regular start, with further sessions adjusted to the child. Build those appointments into your plans for returning to work.
• Changing bookings. Session changes require four weeks' notice and depend on accommodation of the request; bank holidays remain chargeable. Families with changing work patterns should weigh those terms alongside the choice of morning, afternoon and full-day sessions.

Little Acorns suits families choosing morning or afternoon attendance as well as those combining full days with breakfast or evening club. Its clearest educational thread is independence made practical: choosing learning, handling objects and gradually managing everyday tasks.

The August 2024 Outstanding judgement gives that approach a substantial inspection basis. The practical trade-off is the distinction between funded and private session windows, together with the extras attached to funding. Families who can match those terms to their routine have a nursery with a clear educational character and a structured introduction for new starters.