Little Owls Nursery Quarry Mount

Two gardens, wooded school grounds and a bug hotel give Little Owls Nursery Quarry Mount a clear outdoor identity. Children can move between imaginative play, construction and physical activity, with quieter reading spaces alongside the more energetic options. This is a setting with room for different interests.

Ofsted rated the nursery Good on 29 November 2023, with a recommendation to make staff understanding of the curriculum more consistent. The practical question is how clearly each activity connects to what an individual child needs to learn next.

The nursery welcomes children from three months to five years and has capacity for 67 children in total. Its setting within Quarry Mount Primary School’s grounds is an important part of its character, but nursery attendance does not guarantee a Reception place.

Rooms and Ages

Acorns Room takes children aged six months to two years five months; Oaks room serves older children up to four years. These room bands sit within the nursery’s broader accepted age range. Families with the youngest babies, or children approaching school age, should explore the room arrangements in the visit discussion below.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides the framework for learning through play, including communication, physical development and growing independence. Here, children have both activities they choose themselves and adult-led small-group experiences, including baking. That gives the day opportunities for individual exploration as well as shared tasks.

Language has concrete support. In November 2023, staff expanded children’s sentences, introduced vocabulary and used objects alongside stories to help bring books to life. Children also borrowed books to enjoy at home, connecting nursery reading with family time.

Counting grew out of play rather than sitting apart from it. In November 2023, staff used songs with younger children and extended brick-counting activities by introducing another brick. The example shows how an ordinary construction activity could become a mathematical conversation.

Outdoor and Community Life

The two gardens provide space for bikes, climbing and painting, while construction areas and a mud kitchen give children materials for practical and imaginative play. Older children can make dens and explore the bug hotel. The appeal is the variety of ways to use the outdoor space, rather than a single activity taking centre stage.

In November 2023, younger children practised climbing on a low wooden structure, while older children ran, jumped and balanced on beams. These were opportunities to work on movement and coordination at different stages of development.

Each child has a key worker and another familiar staff contact, called a significant other. Both know the child and provide contact points for families. This gives parents identifiable people with whom to share changes in routines or needs.

Tapestry, the free online journal used here, shares photographs, details of activities and observations of learning, alongside everyday updates such as lunch. It gives families a way to connect conversations at home with what their child has been doing at nursery.

At the November 2023 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and identified SEND support as a strength, including sensitive decisions about when children needed individual attention and when they could participate independently in groups. Current arrangements include individual support plans for children with specific needs; these provide a practical starting point for discussing a child’s support.

In November 2023, staff used family photographs and stories connected with calendar occasions to help children talk about different families. Children practised cooperation and taking turns, with staff explaining expectations. Familiar examples made these social ideas accessible.

Meals also formed part of learning: in November 2023, children received nutritious food and snacks, tried unfamiliar foods and practised managing cutlery. For older children, everyday self-care was part of preparing to move on to school.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates throughout the year, closing for bank holidays and Christmas. That calendar matters for families whose childcare needs continue beyond school terms.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 0113 378 2555, and families can register their interest through the nursery’s enquiry form. Opening hours describe the operating window; the attendance arrangement should be part of the visit discussion.

Getting There

The address is Pennington Street, Leeds, LS6 2JP. The nursery occupies wooded grounds at Quarry Mount Primary School, close to Woodhouse and Headingley, with Woodhouse Lane nearby.

Sharing school grounds does not secure a Reception place. Families still need to use the local authority admissions process for a state-school application.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers 15- and 30-hour funded childcare. Eligibility conditions still apply, so an entitlement should not be treated as an automatic allocation of a place. Current prices for paid childcare come in the nursery’s written quotation.

• Curriculum consistency. The November 2023 improvement priority was for staff to share a clearer understanding of children’s next learning steps. During a visit, ask how the team connects activities with those individual steps.
• Room transitions. Acorns Room and Oaks room have age bands narrower than the overall three-month-to-five-year offer. Discuss where your child would begin and how a move between rooms would be managed.
• Funded attendance and costs. With 15- and 30-hour funding offered, request a written breakdown covering the attendance pattern, meals, non-food consumables and any paid hours before agreeing a booking.
• Address for a visit. Pennington Street, LS6 2JP, and Quarry Street, LS6 2JU, are both given for this nursery. Confirm the entrance and postcode when arranging a visit.

Quarry Mount suits families who value outdoor play, familiar staff contacts and communication that connects nursery with home. Its gardens, mud kitchen and bug hotel give children several ways to explore, while baking and small-group activities add shared experiences indoors.

The weekday opening window and year-round calendar are useful for families needing care beyond school terms. The balance to examine is curriculum consistency: the November 2023 improvement priority makes the explanation of each child’s next learning steps a worthwhile part of the visit.