Little Footprints Nursery

A child's learning record travels with them at Little Footprints Nursery: Tracker Plus gathers observations and examples of their work, welcomes contributions from home and helps shape an individual learning plan. That gives parents a practical part in the nursery day, rather than leaving communication until their child moves on to school.

At 459 Uppingham Road in Leicester, the nursery takes children from birth and combines baby, toddler and preschool provision with holiday and before- and after-school care. It has 75 places in total. Ofsted rated it Good at its inspection on 16 December 2022, with everyday independence, conversation and outdoor activity prominent in the account of children's experience.

Morning, afternoon and full-day attendance patterns give families several ways to organise care. The important distinction is between the nursery's opening hours and the hours booked for an individual child.

Rooms and Ages

The Caterpillar Room serves babies, combining space for eating, sleep and activity with outdoor sensory exploration supported by a key person; books, imitation play and objects with different textures give early movement and communication a practical starting point.

For toddlers, The Busy Bees Room brings together a book area, sand and water, pretend play and movement resources indoors and outside, supporting exploration alongside the beginnings of expressing feelings and managing frustration.

The Learning Ladybirds Room is the preschool space, where construction, role play, language games and mark-making sit alongside outdoor contact with changing seasons, giving children opportunities to practise cooperation and use words, numbers and materials for their own purposes.

These are different stages of provision, rather than interchangeable playrooms. The baby environment makes room for rest as well as exploration; older children have resources that invite shared play, building and increasingly complex conversation.

Learning and Activities

EYFS provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: here, play with books, movement, materials and other children gives those learning areas a place in the day. Tracker Plus adds an individual record, bringing planned activities and spontaneous discoveries together with parents' observations. It accompanies the child through nursery and goes home with them when they leave for school.

The preschool resources make the learning concrete. Construction materials invite children to join and balance objects; language games and early writing offer ways to communicate; sorting, matching and counting introduce mathematical relationships. Sand and water also support experimenting with quantities. These activities give children reasons to use developing skills, rather than treating learning as a separate lesson.

In December 2022, staff used books with babies, toddlers and preschool children, inviting older children to discuss pictures and predict a story's next turn. Mathematical conversation also emerged through play, including comparisons of toys' weight, shape and size. The practical implication is useful: language and early mathematics were part of ordinary interactions, rather than confined to a group activity.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden was used daily in different weather conditions in December 2022. Babies and toddlers practised moving and steering wheeled toys, while staff helped children learn to manage outdoor clothing. Frost became something to investigate and a reason to talk about careful movement on slippery ground.

That same December, preschool conversations linked the weather with changes in season, and children learned about celebrations and traditions within their community. These examples connect physical activity, independence and discussion. They also show how an ordinary outdoor space can supply material for learning throughout the day.

Relationships and Communication

All About Me is the starting point for sharing a child's routines and preferences. It asks families about eating, sleep, communication and favourite activities, with questions adapted for different stages. For a baby, that includes food texture and familiar sleep arrangements; for older children, it extends to self-care, books and developing language. The value is the detail: staff receive information about the individual child, not simply an age and a start date.

The key person also has a role in conversations about behaviour. Parents receive updates, and recurring difficulties are considered jointly using observations to understand what is happening. The behaviour policy favours naming feelings, offering comfort and helping children find another response; it rejects physical punishment and exclusion through a naughty chair or time-out arrangement. This gives families a clear account of how upset and conflict are meant to be handled.

Occasional Stay and Play events invite parents to take part at nursery. Alongside Tracker Plus, they provide another way for home and nursery to connect around the child's experience. The contract also provides for working with parents on toilet training, including continuing a method that is already working at home.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the December 2022 inspection, Ofsted found safeguarding effective and described targeted help developed with parents and other professionals, including work with the speech and language therapy team. Those are dated findings, useful for understanding the care assessed at that visit.

The admissions policy provides for translated material and interpreter access when families need them, with other accessible formats considered where necessary. This matters before a child starts: understanding the arrangements and communicating a child's needs should not depend solely on a family's confidence with written English.

Health information is collected through the registration form, including allergies, dietary needs, medical conditions and long-term medication instructions. Collection arrangements also require parental authorisation, with identification checks for someone collecting outside the usual authorised arrangements. These are practical procedures for sharing essential information and controlling handover, rather than a substitute for the dated safeguarding judgement.

Sessions and Attendance

The main opening window is Monday to Friday, 7am to 7pm, with year-round operation except bank holidays; Christmas and New Year hours can change, with advance notification to parents. Booked days are shorter than that overall window: full-day options run from 7.30am, 8am, 8.30am or 9am until 6pm.

Morning sessions finish at 1pm, with starts at 7am, 8am, 8.30am or 9am; a separate part-time morning pattern runs from 7.30am to 1.30pm. Afternoon options include noon to 6pm and 1pm to 6pm. The booking terms request at least two part sessions or two full days each week, and extra sessions can be arranged in advance on a casual basis.

Before-school, after-school and holiday care extend the offer beyond the nursery rooms. Attendance flexibility is subject to preserving continuity for children. Families therefore need to distinguish the pattern they want from occasional additional hours.

Getting There

The address is 459 Uppingham Road, Leicester, LE5 6RA, and parking is available for collection and drop-off. A collection and drop-off service is also offered.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01162 412020 or by email to enquiries@littlefootprintsnursery.co.uk. Individual viewings are arranged by appointment, and an Open Day is scheduled each year.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government funding is accepted for eligible children, including the Nursery Education Grant for three- and four-year-olds. Funding is credited against the invoice, while parents remain responsible for charges beyond the subsidy; current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The fees and funding page sets out the attendance and charging structure.

Meals are included with the listed full-day options, while additional hourly care excludes food and meals and snacks also have separate charges. Parents bring formula where needed, nappies, wipes, cream and sun cream; replacement nappies supplied by nursery are billed separately.

A non-refundable registration charge and a fees deposit form part of joining. The contract makes the deposit refundable after withdrawal when the required notice has been given and fees are settled, but cancellation before starting does not attract a refund. Fees continue during sickness and family holidays, so the financial commitment follows the booked pattern rather than actual attendance.

Withdrawal or a reduction in hours requires a full month's written notice. The PDF contract adds a term-end condition for funded children, making the agreed notice arrangements an important part of the quotation and contract discussion.

• Teaching priorities. In December 2022, staff feedback needed sharper individual targets, and some practitioners did not fully understand how learning should build in sequence. At a viewing, ask how supervision and curriculum planning now address those two points.
• Hours and waiting-list rules. The main opening window is 7am to 7pm, but the HTML contract gives 7.30am to 6pm; the waiting-list form uses first-come ordering suited to requested days, whereas the admissions policy uses birth order with possible sibling and locality considerations. Establish the applicable hours and allocation rule before committing to a pattern.
• Funded attendance and extras. Funding is offset against invoices, and the PDF contract ties funded withdrawal to term-end. Request a written quotation that separates funded hours, private hours, food and consumables, and identifies the attendance and notice terms for your child.
• Starting with a baby. All About Me gathers sleep and feeding preferences, and The Caterpillar Room accommodates both rest and activity. Use an individual viewing to discuss how those routines work in the room and its usual group size.

Little Footprints suits families choosing between morning, afternoon and full-day care, as well as those needing before-school, after-school or holiday provision. Its most useful features are practical ones: stage-specific rooms, an individual learning record that includes parents, and a joining form that captures home routines in detail.

The December 2022 teaching priorities deserve attention alongside the Good judgement. A decision should rest on the child's room, the agreed attendance pattern and clear written funding and contract terms. Tracker Plus and All About Me give families concrete starting points for that conversation.