Little Owls Nursery City and Holbeck

Growing produce in a potting shed and garden gave City and Holbeck a practical character in June 2023. Language support groups form part of its current offer. In June 2023, children grew produce, investigated insects and used pictures to support understanding. These are useful examples of learning that connects words with things children can handle and explore.

Ofsted rated Little Owls Nursery City and Holbeck Outstanding at its 22 June 2023 inspection. The nursery welcomes children aged three months to five years on Hunslet Hall Road in the Holbeck/Beeston area of Leeds. Its current offer includes indoor and outdoor play, a room for under-twos and funded childcare.

Relationships have a clear structure. Each child has a key worker and a second familiar practitioner, called a significant other, giving families two main contacts who know their child.

Rooms and Ages

The under-twos room has staff with specific training in caring for babies. For parents choosing care early in their child's life, that is a more useful detail than a general promise about staff experience.

In June 2023, younger children explored materials through touch and practised threading, while older children investigated insects beneath stones and tyres. Toddlers climbed wooden play equipment; older children tackled an obstacle course. The experiences served different stages of development rather than expecting every child to do the same task.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care, with play helping children build communication, physical and social skills. Staff receive curriculum support from qualified teachers. That support sits alongside the framework rather than replacing it.

In June 2023, staff extended children's interests into further activities. An interest in rockets led to a launch video and model-making, while photographs helped children revisit making apple crumble and discovering snails. This gave children something concrete to talk about and remember, linking a new activity with an earlier experience.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor learning had a practical purpose in June 2023: staff planned it with children who had limited access to gardens or other safe outdoor spaces in mind. Children harvested potatoes and grew fruit and vegetables in the garden and potting shed. An incubator let them observe chicks emerging from eggs.

Community experiences at that time included meeting police community support officers and visiting a dance company. Dance and drama workshops also combined stories, songs and movement. These examples broadened the nursery day beyond activities at a table.

Relationships and Communication

The free Tapestry app is an online journal that shares moments from the day alongside detailed observations. Together with the key worker and significant other, it gives parents both familiar people to speak to and a written picture of their child's experiences.

In June 2023, relationships began with home visits and detailed exchanges with families. Parents joined craft workshops, received activity packs and could use a library. Staff also demonstrated songs and storytelling online and in activity sessions, giving families practical examples to use at home.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Having Fun With Language, Social Interaction and BLAST are support groups offered within the nursery's SEND provision. They sit alongside the everyday contact with practitioners, rather than replacing that relationship.

At the June 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and identified successful early support for developmental needs, including work with other professionals and targeted use of additional funding. In June 2023, staff used picture prompts for children with SEND and those learning English as an additional language; visual timers also helped with taking turns and preparing for changes in activity.

The June 2023 menu was designed by a nutritionist and used seasonal, locally sourced ingredients, including produce grown by the children; it also included a baby-weaning menu. Food therefore connected with the gardening experiences children were having.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, across the year. The centre closes for five staff training days annually. Bank holidays and a week over Christmas are also closures, so families need to account for these breaks when arranging care.

The nursery is at Hunslet Hall Road, Leeds, LS11 6TT. Enquiries can be made on 0113 378 9945 or by registering interest through the nursery's form.

Funding and Paid Extras

City and Holbeck offers 15 and 30-hour funded places. Eligibility should not be confused with the nursery's participation: the offer establishes that funded childcare forms part of its provision, rather than guaranteeing a particular place or attendance arrangement. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

• Language support. Having Fun With Language, Social Interaction and BLAST form part of the SEND offer. At a visit, ask how these groups would fit your child's needs and daily experience.
• Annual closures. Five training days sit alongside bank holidays and the Christmas closure. Families relying on year-round care need an alternative arrangement for those dates.
• Inspection timing. The Outstanding judgement dates to June 2023. Treat the gardening, workshops and home visits described here as examples from that period when weighing them alongside the current offer.

City and Holbeck suits families seeking care from babyhood through the preschool years, with familiar practitioner contacts, an online learning journal and language support groups. Its weekday opening window is useful for families organising care across the working day.

The June 2023 picture gives the review its strongest character: children growing food, investigating nature and revisiting experiences through pictures and conversation. The judgement is dated, but the examples explain what earned attention. The practical trade-off is planning around the nursery's annual closures.