Shantona Early Years Nursery

Home languages have a place in the learning here. Shantona Early Years Nursery combines bilingual practitioners, a Communication Friendly Setting accreditation supporting language and confidence, and an outdoor garden for children aged two to four. This charity nursery on Shepherds Lane in Leeds has a clear emphasis: helping children communicate while valuing the cultures and families they come from.

At its March 2024 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Outstanding across all areas, found safeguarding effective and highlighted children’s language development and preparation for school. The detail behind that judgement matters: younger children joined songs with actions and props, while older children worked on recognising letter sounds. These were activities pitched at different stages of development.

There is capacity for 36 children in total. Attendance is term-time, with morning and afternoon sessions alongside flexible childcare arrangements for working parents and those in training.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS shapes the nursery day through play, planned activities and support for individual children’s learning and development. Children take part in practitioner-led learning as well as choosing their own play, with group activities and one-to-one support. That gives staff different ways to introduce an idea, practise it together or spend time with a child individually.

Communication Friendly Setting accreditation adds a specific language emphasis to this framework. Bilingual practitioners also give the nursery a practical connection to children’s home languages. For families using more than one language, this is a meaningful part of the offer rather than a general statement about inclusion.

In March 2024, younger children copied movements and tried familiar song words, using fabric stars as props. Older children identified objects by their initial sounds and recalled sounds they had learnt before. The contrast illustrates the progression from joining in with language to listening closely to its smaller parts.

Learning also followed children’s discoveries. In March 2024, finding a spider outdoors led to closer examination with magnifying glasses and counting its legs. The equipment made a small garden discovery into an opportunity to observe and use numbers. Children’s interests could change the direction of an activity.

Outdoor and Community Life

An inclusive, renovated outdoor garden provides space for movement and exploration. Trips and outings extend the nursery day beyond its indoor provision. The garden is a concrete feature for families weighing how much opportunity their child will have to play outside.

In March 2024, an outdoor growing area gave children opportunities to garden, including those whose homes had no garden. Community outings introduced practical experiences such as taking a bus and crossing roads safely. These experiences connected learning with things children encounter beyond nursery.

Ramadan, Eid and Chinese New Year featured in children’s learning in March 2024, alongside discussion of different family arrangements. Family photographs helped represent the children’s own lives within the nursery. Visits from a dentist and a local builder brought further practical experiences: learning about teeth and handling real tools, respectively.

Relationships and Communication

Stay-and-play sessions are part of settling in, allowing parents and children to spend time together at nursery while becoming familiar with it. The arrangement gives families an active part in that early transition rather than treating settling as something that happens only after separation.

In March 2024, staff also visited children at home during settling to help ease worries about being apart from parents. Children helped agree expectations for how they treated one another. This connected behaviour with shared decisions and everyday relationships.

At the March 2024 inspection, Ofsted identified partnership with parents as a strength, including support for parents who used English as an additional language. Staff offered practical activities involving songs, books and stories that parents could use at home. The value was in making learning part of ordinary family time, rather than relying only on nursery activities.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Bilingual staff and the celebration of children’s cultures are part of the current nursery offer. Group work sits alongside individual support, so learning can happen with other children or through a more personal activity. These are concrete arrangements for participation; families can consider how they match their own child’s way of communicating and joining in.

In March 2024, practitioners used children’s home languages during both play and learning. Family photographs and conversations about differences also gave children ways to recognise themselves and others in nursery life. This links the language emphasis with everyday belonging, rather than confining it to a separate activity.

Sessions and Attendance

Morning sessions run from 8.45am to 11.45am; afternoon sessions run from 12.30pm to 3.30pm. The nursery operates during term time only. Flexible childcare times are also offered for working parents and people in training, adding another attendance option alongside the two session windows.

Registration begins with contact by telephone, email or an in-person enquiry during opening times, followed by an admissions form. Funded-place eligibility is checked before the child’s start date and attendance arrangements are agreed. The process includes support with the form and stay-and-play settling sessions.

Getting There

The address is Shepherds Lane, Leeds, LS8 5AW, at Shantona Women’s Centre in Harehills. General enquiries can be made on 0113 249 7120 or by emailing admin@shantona.co.uk.

Funding and Paid Extras

The nursery offers funded childcare of 15 or 30 hours for three- and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds, with eligibility checks forming part of registration. Provision is term-time, so the attendance calendar matters as much as the weekly entitlement when planning childcare around work or training.

• The term-time calendar. Morning, afternoon and flexible arrangements operate within a term-time nursery. Families whose work or training continues through school holidays will need a childcare plan for those periods.
• Settling together. Stay-and-play sessions involve parents in the transition. At a visit, discuss how these sessions would work for your child and the attendance pattern you intend to use.
• The funded-place budget. Funded hours are subject to eligibility checks. What, if anything, would your proposed arrangement require you to pay for meals or consumables, or provide from home?

Shantona suits families seeking morning or afternoon nursery sessions, as well as working or training parents who need flexible attendance during term time. Its bilingual team, Communication Friendly Setting accreditation and garden give the offer a clear identity. The March 2024 judgement adds substantial weight, while the practical choice rests on whether its session windows and holiday calendar fit family life.