Love 2 Learn Nursery

Loose parts, real plants and a vegetable patch give Love 2 Learn Nursery a clear character: children learn by handling, growing and experimenting. Its Curiosity Approach uses everyday objects, natural materials and recycled resources to support play led by children's ideas. A cardboard tube can become part of a construction rather than a toy with one fixed purpose.

At its 3 January 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and judged that its carefully sequenced learning supported children's progress across the areas of learning. There were also practical weaknesses in how babies changed rooms and how information reached staff when children first started. Those deserve attention alongside the positive judgement.

The nursery has 52 places in total for children aged 1 to 60 months. Babies, Toddlers and Pre-school are its room stages, giving families a setting that spans early infancy and the years before school. Full Day and Part Day sessions provide different collection times; funded term-time attendance is another option.

Rooms and Ages

Babies is the room stage for the youngest children. Toddlers provides the next stage. Pre-school completes the room sequence before children move on to school.

Across the nursery, resources change with children's interests and the seasons. Natural objects are part of the room environments rather than confined to an occasional activity. This gives children materials they can examine and use in different ways, with the same object potentially serving several purposes in their play.

In January 2025, low furniture helped younger children reach activities and practise doing things independently, while preschool children explored counting and written numbers. Children interested in writing their names encountered letter shapes through painting, sand and cards. The useful point is the variety of routes into an idea: practising a skill did not depend on repeating one seated task.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for children's learning, development and care, with play bringing together communication, physical skills and social learning. Love 2 Learn adds its Curiosity Approach to that foundation. Its emphasis is on children choosing how to use materials, with adults supplying resources that can extend their ideas.

Blocks, chutes, cardboard tubes and reused packaging make that approach tangible. These can be rearranged into different constructions rather than retaining a single purpose. Cars, dolls, trains and dinosaurs remain part of the play offer too. The practical distinction is the combination of familiar toys and adaptable materials, rather than a literal absence of toys.

Books and reading belong to the daily routine. Singing also accompanies ordinary moments, including handwashing and movement between rooms or outdoors. Dingle, Dangle Scarecrow and Baby Bumblebee are among the songs used. For children, language therefore accompanies what they are doing as well as appearing in a separate reading or singing activity.

Daily yoga and mindfulness sit alongside cooking, baking and gardening. These add different kinds of participation to the day, from movement to practical tasks. World Book Day, birthday celebrations and Christmas dinner with Santa's visit punctuate the year, while graduation ceremonies and leaver parties mark the end of nursery attendance.

Outdoor and Community Life

In October 2021, the nursery described its Weather Warrior approach to outdoor play through changing weather: children experienced the seasons rather than waiting for a dry day. Suitable clothing mattered. Families were asked to send puddle suits, wellington boots and spare clothes for colder weather, and hats and sunscreen for summer.

The October 2021 account described warmer-weather meals on the veranda and naps under gazebos. In March 2023, children planted vegetables in the mini onsite allotment and waited for produce they could taste. That spring, sunflower-growing bags connected nursery and home, with planting in both places. Gardening and vegetable-patch maintenance remain part of the nursery's activities, giving children practical experience of growing food.

Indoors, real vines, leaves and flower heads become play materials. Living plants also bring practical care into the environment through watering and careful handling. Excursions include parks, libraries, museums, gardens and bus journeys, extending experiences beyond the nursery itself.

Relationships and Communication

Settling begins with two free sessions, each lasting an hour. Parents stay for the first, with paperwork completed while they remain close by; during the second, children spend time with staff apart from their parents. Extra settling sessions can then be arranged according to the child's response. This makes the initial introduction a staged process rather than one immediate separation.

In January 2025, key-person relationships were shaped around the staff members children bonded with. Families shared their children's interests and routines, but practitioners looking after new starters sometimes received those details too late. The delay mattered because staff could begin caring for a child without the details needed to follow familiar routines.

Babies received comfort through cuddles and familiar games at that time. However, some room moves took insufficient account of their routines and individual needs, leaving them unsettled. A warm response in the moment and a carefully planned room transition are different parts of care; families should weigh both.

Stay and Play sessions let parents participate in their child's learning, alongside workshops and opportunities to take part during focus weeks. These offer a way to understand activities through involvement rather than relying solely on a description afterwards.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

Personal care was handled with attention to children's participation in January 2025: staff gave children time to finish playing before a nappy change and encouraged dressing and toileting skills. Sharing difficulties were met with practical help, including finding similar toys so children could continue playing together. These are concrete examples of adults helping children manage everyday situations.

Families can feed babies in the foyer or a quiet private area within the preschool room, and the nursery supports both bottle and breast feeding. Its sleep approach includes waking children gently and following The Lullaby Trust's safer-sleep advice. These arrangements connect care with routines that matter beyond nursery hours.

Food is prepared by an in-house cook, with meals made using locally sourced ingredients and without added salt, sugar or sweeteners. The nursery's dietary arrangements cover allergies and food preferences, while baby-led weaning is supported through collaboration with parents on new tastes and textures.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 194 London Road, Leicester, LE2 1NE. Opening hours are Monday to Friday, 7.30am to 6pm, across 51 weeks of the year; weekends and public holidays are closed, alongside a week at Christmas.

Full Day sessions run from 7.30am to 6pm. Part Day sessions run from 8am to 4pm, providing a shorter attendance window with an earlier collection. Breakfast, snacks, lunch and tea are included in both paid session packages. The choice has a direct practical consequence: families can select between a later finish and a day that ends in the afternoon.

Holiday club care extends to children up to age 8, with three attendance windows: 7.30am to 4pm, 7.30am to 5pm and 7.30am to 6pm. This is a separate holiday offer alongside the early-years nursery sessions.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 0116 255 8088 or by email at info@love2learnnursery.com. Tours can be booked.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered, with 15 or 30 hours per week described alongside additional paid hours. Term-time-only places run across 38 weeks; the 30-hour entitlement can be stretched to 22 hours a week for attendance across 51 weeks. These arrangements need to be read separately from the Full Day and Part Day packages, because a funded entitlement does not itself describe a complete paid session.

For funded attendance, meals and snacks are charged separately, as are consumables. Other charges cover events, celebrations, trips and an IT package, with the funding and charges page setting out the categories. Additional hours are paid for separately. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Families may opt out of additional services while retaining funded hours. Funded-only sessions operate outside prime session hours, and there is a waiting-list route for this attendance model. That timing is an important distinction for families comparing funded-only attendance with the nursery's paid day packages.

The consumables arrangements combine charges with supplies from home: nappies and wipes feature among the additional funded provision, while the packing guidance asks parents to bring nappies, wipes and care cream, plus seasonal sun cream. The written quotation should distinguish the child's own supplies from charged provision.

• Baby room changes. In January 2025, some moves between rooms overlooked babies' routines and left them unsettled. During a visit, ask how a move is planned around your baby's sleep, comfort and familiar relationships.
• Information before the first day. January 2025 findings included delays in sharing parents' information with the staff caring for new children. Ask how the practitioners receiving your child get feeding, care and routine details before attendance begins.
• Funded-only timing. These sessions operate outside prime session hours, with an opt-out arrangement for additional services. Compare their timetable and the written charge breakdown with the Full Day and Part Day options before choosing a booking pattern.
• Food allergies. The in-house cook accommodates dietary requirements. Families affected by allergies should confirm current preparation and serving procedures, including how their child's requirements are communicated to staff.

Love 2 Learn suits families seeking either Full Day attendance or the shorter Part Day pattern, with a strong preference for practical, child-led play. Adaptable resources, seasonal outdoor experiences and growing food give that preference substance. Its funded term-time and funded-only arrangements also create different attendance choices, although their timing and charges require careful comparison.

The January 2025 concerns make settling and room transitions the decisive care questions, especially for babies. The overall picture combines a Good inspection judgement with a recognisable play approach and specific weaknesses families can discuss. For parents comfortable with muddy clothes, real materials and outdoor activity across the seasons, the nursery has a clear appeal.