Tiny Treasures Lancaster

A small nursery with an enclosed outdoor area and a carefully staged move between its younger and older rooms: Tiny Treasures Lancaster has a clear appeal for families who prefer a compact setting. It has capacity for 30 children from birth to five years, with an open-plan layout that allows furniture and play areas to be rearranged around children’s needs. Size and adaptability are the practical attractions here.

At its 16 June 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective. That dated judgement sits alongside a current offer built around play, individual learning records and support coordinated with parents. The address is 6-8 Winchester Avenue, Lancaster, LA1 4HX.

Attendance choices include morning and afternoon sessions as well as full days.

Rooms and Ages

The Caterpillar Room serves children aged birth to two, combining construction, imaginative and exploratory play with a cosy space and flooring suited to different activities. That gives babies and toddlers somewhere softer to play alongside an area where eating and messy exploration can happen.

For children aged two to four, the butterfly room organises learning across accessible resources, photograph-labelled storage and shelving that shows where items belong. Children can choose materials and take part in putting them away. The room arrangement makes independence a practical part of the day rather than an abstract ambition.

Movement between rooms is gradual. Children begin visiting the older room before the formal change, initially alongside their existing key person and later spending a morning or afternoon with the new one. The move generally happens around the second birthday, with parents and practitioners considering physical and social readiness. A child who needs longer in the younger group can make the change later.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides learning through play, conversation and activities suited to children’s development. It is the common framework for early years care and education; here, children’s interests help determine how practitioners put it into practice.

In the moment planning means staff respond to emerging interests with questions and challenges that extend play. Children choose resources, with quiet spaces for relaxation and larger areas for movement.

In June 2022, a small-world airport prompted children to talk about holidays, while a world map helped them connect those experiences with destinations. Another activity developed from an interest in the weight of building blocks, with weighing scales introduced so children could test their ideas. These were examples of familiar play opening up language, geography and mathematical thinking.

During the same month, babies explored dry cereal while staff supplied words for the sounds and actions. Older children played listening games, and books were accessible outdoors as well as inside. Those observations show how communication could be supported across different ages, from experimenting with sounds to listening closely and sharing stories.

Outdoor and Community Life

The enclosed outdoor area extends play beyond the rooms, with easy access from indoors. Nearby park areas provide opportunities for nature exploration and movement.

The building has level play areas, wheelchair access at both entrances and wider rear doors. Freestanding wooden furniture can be repositioned. Together, those features give staff practical ways to change the layout when a child needs a different route, arrangement or activity space.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key worker who oversees their learning record, assessments and relationships with parents. Settling starts with information about home routines, preferences and favourite things, gathered through All About me. This gives the adults caring for a child useful starting points rather than requiring the child to adapt immediately to unfamiliar routines.

Settling sessions are free and begin two weeks before the start date, lasting between 10 minutes and an hour, with as many offered as needed. A parent attends an induction during one of those sessions. The arrangement provides time to build familiarity with the adults and setting before regular attendance begins.

Parents can add photographs and observations to an online Learning Journey and access their own child’s information through a password. Reports, progress discussions and a termly newsletter provide further contact. Contributions from home can help staff connect nursery activities with a child’s interests and experiences elsewhere.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the June 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that children with SEND received prompt referrals and targeted help while awaiting external support, with additional funding used to support their progress. The practical mechanisms include a SENCO role and Targeted Learning Plans, which identify what needs support and what parents and nursery can do together.

Plans are reviewed each half term, with parent meetings helping to agree next steps. Links include Portage, Speech and Language Therapy, an Inclusion Teacher and educational psychology support. Sensory balls, sound games and sensory lights are among the resources available, giving practitioners concrete options when adapting activities.

Dual-language books and practitioners learning relevant words help children whose home language differs from English. Electronic information can be sent for translation, while basic signing supports communication. These are specific ways of sharing information and adapting interaction, rather than a blanket promise about every child’s experience.

School preparation includes summer-term visits or visiting Reception teachers, transition reports and play centred on starting school. For children with SEND, meetings can bring parents, nursery staff and the receiving school together. The purpose is continuity: passing on interests, development and support needs so the next setting has a useful starting point.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates for 51 weeks, closing on bank holidays and for a week at Christmas. Families can contact it by telephone on 01524 61622, email or the contact form.

Morning sessions run from 8.30am to noon, and afternoon sessions from 1pm to 4.30pm; the lunch hour can be added to sessional attendance. A full day runs from 8am to 6pm, while the standard day is 8.30am to 4.30pm. Early-start attendance covers 8am to 8.30am, and late-finish attendance covers 4.30pm to 6pm.

Funding-only patterns run from 8.30am to 4pm or 9am to 4.30pm. The different start, finish and lunch arrangements help families fit attendance around work and home.

Funding and Paid Extras

Universal 15hrs funding can be used over 38 term-time weeks or stretched across 51 weeks at 11 hours a week. Children receiving 30 funded hours can use them over 38 term-time weeks or across 51 weeks at 22 hours a week. Hours beyond a child’s entitlement are privately charged at the rate for their age, and billing is monthly.

Hot lunches are optional and charged separately, including alongside funded attendance; families can instead send a packed lunch. There is no consumables charge. Lunch and additional hours sit separately from the funded allocation.

Current prices come in the nursery’s written quotation. The fees and funding page sets out the attendance options and charge structure.

• Learning between nursery and home. In June 2022, home-learning support and planning children’s next steps both needed development. During a visit, ask to see how an assessment now informs an activity and a practical suggestion for home.
• The move at two. Room changes are introduced gradually and take readiness into account. Discuss how the Caterpillar Room visits would be paced for your child, especially if they need more time with familiar adults.
• Lunch and attendance. Sessional attendance has an optional lunch hour, and hot lunches carry a separate charge. When agreeing a booking, establish how the chosen session and meal arrangement fit together.

Tiny Treasures Lancaster suits families seeking either morning or afternoon sessions, or a continuous standard or full day, within a small setting. Accessible resources, an enclosed outdoor area and gradual room transitions give that compact model practical substance.

The June 2022 Good judgement provides a dated quality reference. The improvement points on home learning and planning next steps remain useful subjects for a visit.