Little Buttons Nursery

A former church, a garden with insect houses and a baby room with separate spaces for sleep and sensory play give Little Buttons Nursery a recognisable character. In Churwell, between Leeds city centre and Morley, the setting combines a partitioned main room with Baby Buttons, giving families different environments to consider as their child grows.

At the 6 May 2026 inspection, Ofsted judged achievement, welfare and wellbeing, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, and leadership and governance to be Strong standard, with behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines at Expected standard and safeguarding standards met. The distinction matters: learning and care earned the stronger judgements, while consistency in behaviour expectations and mealtime routines remained areas for improvement.

Little Buttons caters for children aged 0 to 4. Full-day and flexible childcare arrangements sit within weekday opening hours, with the practical detail below.

Rooms and Ages

Baby Buttons takes children from 3 months and has a separate sensory room alongside a dedicated sleep room, providing different spaces for exploration and rest. It also has its own outdoor area. For parents of a younger baby, that combination makes the room's layout an important part of a visit: sleeping, sensory activity and outdoor play each have a physical place.

The main room uses partitions to organise reading, construction, messy play and early mark-making within a shared space. Natural materials feature in the resources and furniture. The arrangement gives children different activities within the same broad environment, rather than making each type of play depend on moving to another room.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage shapes the curriculum: children learn through play, developing communication, movement and relationships alongside early literacy, mathematics, creativity and understanding their surroundings. Activities are planned around each child's stage of development. This gives the framework a practical meaning for parents: the next step for a child influences the play offered to them.

In May 2026, books travelled between nursery and home, supported by reading packs containing props and related activities. That creates something concrete for families to share, beyond a general update about what their child has been learning. Children also chose books for themselves during play, making books part of their self-chosen play.

Other May 2026 examples show how small physical tasks contributed to learning. Children threaded pasta, shaped dough and cut spaghetti; older children practised making marks with pencils. Colour-matching puzzles supported children learning to recognise and name colours. These are useful examples of how play can give repeated practice in hand control and language.

During song and dance activities in May 2026, children joined familiar songs using scarves and shakers. Older children also expressed choices through voting pom-poms. Both examples put participation into the day: children could join an activity physically or communicate a preference through an accessible object.

Outdoor and Community Life

The grounds wrap around the former church, combining hard and soft surfaces with predominantly natural play resources. A vegetable patch, herb garden and insect houses sit alongside sand and water activities and a mud kitchen. Children have continuing access to outdoor play, with activities led by their interests. The garden therefore provides several ways to explore, rather than serving only as a space for running around.

In May 2026, children explored living plants in the mud kitchen and worked together on pretend biscuit-making there. The physical resources supported both investigation and shared play. Outdoor development plans at that time included further opportunities for challenge, physical development and taking risks; these were plans, rather than completed additions.

Relationships and Communication

A key person system gives parents an identified relationship with the staff caring for their child. Parents evenings and opportunities for discussion during the day provide different ways to exchange information, so communication need not depend on one formal meeting.

In May 2026, arrangements covered children's key person being absent from work. Stay-and-play sessions helped families with settling and provided occasions to discuss learning and progress. Flexible timing across the year also helped working parents take part. These details matter because a child's relationship with nursery involves both the familiar adult and the arrangements surrounding that relationship.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At its May 2026 inspection, Ofsted found that staff identified additional needs promptly and adapted provision, including furniture height, specialist referrals, sensory equipment and individual health care plans, to support children's access and wellbeing. The useful detail is the mechanism: support involved changes to the environment and work with families and other services, rather than a general promise of inclusion.

In May 2026, sleep routines were adjusted for individual children. Everyday care also included opportunities to practise independence, such as washing hands, disposing of tissues and helping one another with aprons. Age-appropriate self-service at meals gave children another practical task they could learn to manage.

Food is freshly prepared, with organic local ingredients used where possible, and breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner are provided. In May 2026, meals were cooked on site, with chickpea curry among the examples.

Moving towards school received practical support in May 2026: leaders worked with local schools and alternative provisions and accompanied families on transition visits. This describes help with the change of setting, rather than an admissions advantage.

Sessions and Attendance

Little Buttons offers full-day and flexible childcare arrangements. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday; these are the nursery's opening window. It operates across the year, with closures for bank holidays and Christmas.

For families balancing work and childcare, the combination of full-day and flexible arrangements is the relevant starting point. The weekday window establishes when the nursery operates, while the two attendance patterns allow families to consider how their own routine fits.

Getting There

The address is St. Brigid’s Church, Elland Road, Churwell, Leeds LS27 7QR, between Leeds city centre and Morley. Enquiries can be made by telephone, email or the contact form, and a visit request can include a preferred date and time.

• Daily routines. In May 2026, mealtime practice varied between rooms, sometimes creating waits and awkward transitions, and leaders were working towards more consistent behaviour expectations. During a visit, ask how those two improvement priorities have been addressed.
• Baby Buttons. A dedicated sleep room, separate sensory room and its own outdoor area make the layout relevant to younger children. A visit is a useful opportunity to discuss how an individual baby's day moves between those spaces.
• Attendance and costs. Full-day and flexible arrangements offer different starting points for planning childcare. What booking commitments and funded-hours arrangements would apply to your proposed pattern, and how would meals and consumables be treated in the written quotation?

Little Buttons suits families seeking either full-day childcare or flexible attendance, with a separate baby environment and a shared main room for learning through play. The former church and its grounds give that offer substance: sleep and sensory spaces for babies, partitioned indoor activity areas, and a garden with planting and investigative play.

The May 2026 judgement profile supports a positive assessment of learning and care, while keeping daily routines in view. Families choosing it should weigh the physical spaces and practical approach to independence alongside the need for consistent mealtimes and behaviour expectations across rooms.