Little Oaks Children's Nursery

A role-play supermarket and a garden divided for different ages give Little Oaks Children's Nursery a recognisable character. This purpose-built Leatherhead setting combines separate spaces for babies, toddlers and preschool children with shared imaginative play, visiting specialists and outings into the surrounding community. The practical appeal is the combination: children have an age-specific base, while their experiences extend beyond it.

Little Oaks accepts children from 3 months to 5 years and has 83 places in total. At its 14 March 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and described children as emotionally settled, keen to learn and closely attached to their key person. That is a positive dated assessment, with two important reservations about older children's independence and the consistency of teaching.

Attendance runs across the year, with full-day, morning and afternoon bookings plus early-start and late-finish extras. For families comparing care arrangements, the distinction between those patterns matters as much as the overall opening window.

Rooms and Ages

The Baby Room, for children aged 3 months to 2 years, combines a sensory area, construction and messy play, a quiet place for stories and a sleep corner with cots and mats; its own milk kitchen and changing facilities keep everyday baby care close to the play space, with supervised garden access too.

For children aged 2 to 3 years, the Toddler Room brings together creative work, early number activities, role play and exploration of the world, with a reading corner, toilets intended to support increasing independence and an artificial-grass garden emphasising balance and coordination.

The Pre-School Room serves children aged 3 to 5 years, using a more organised routine and smaller working groups for school preparation, alongside freely accessible outdoor play and practical responsibilities such as serving food, pouring drinks and preparing the table.

Those are different emphases, rather than one classroom model repeated across ages. Babies have sensory exploration alongside nearby care facilities; toddlers practise emerging independence; older children take on everyday tasks that require coordination and responsibility. The preschool's smaller working groups describe how activities are organised, rather than a fixed room size.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the common framework: children develop language, movement and social understanding alongside early reading, number work, creativity and knowledge of the world. Little Oaks plans within those areas while adjusting activities to children's interests and development. Room expectations help organise progression, but individual development shapes the curriculum too.

Beyond that shared framework, Ezeesport hosts sports lessons, Jo Jingles runs music classes and Silverwoods Forest School provides Forest School sessions, an approach centred on learning outdoors. These named providers add sporting, musical and outdoor experiences to the classroom day. They are useful points of comparison for families who want more than room-based activities.

The Little Oaks Supermarket is shared across age groups and provides a dedicated setting for imaginative role play. Its purpose is practical as well as playful: pretending to shop gives children opportunities to communicate, explore social roles and make sense of familiar experiences. A separate room gives that activity a physical home within the nursery.

In March 2023, children used leaves and pine cones to press patterns into dough and mixed colours after learning about Holi. At that inspection, Ofsted also identified occasions when adults controlled older children's artwork too closely, restricting experimentation, and called for stronger observation of staff practice to make teaching more consistent. The question for parents is how readily children can take an activity in their own direction.

Outdoor and Community Life

Picket fencing separates the garden into three spaces, allowing different age groups to use it simultaneously. Two outdoor classrooms offer shelter and UV protection. This makes outdoor learning part of the setting's physical organisation, with space for different stages of development rather than a single shared outdoor area.

Outings include farms, shops, the theatre and visits connected with animal care and public services, such as the vet, dentist and fire station. Within the nursery, experiences include police visitors, a travelling zoo and ducklings hatching. Families can join stay-and-play sessions, craft afternoons and seasonal celebrations. These experiences connect children's learning with people, places and living things beyond their usual room.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key person who acts as the family's main contact, takes responsibility for their pastoral care and provides a daily account of activities and developmental milestones. That gives parents a clear person to speak to about both the ordinary day and emerging concerns, rather than leaving communication to whoever happens to be free.

Famly is the nursery's online learning journal. Parents can see observations, photographs and videos, comment on them and contribute experiences from home. This is a two-way arrangement: staff can connect nursery learning with family life, while parents can follow specific developments rather than relying only on a general account of the day.

Complimentary settling sessions are planned around the individual child and provide time for parents and the new key person to exchange information. Changes between rooms happen gradually, with timing adjusted to the child's needs. The value is continuity: moving to the next age group involves preparation and familiarity rather than simply reaching a birthday.

School preparation includes sharing children's needs through transition meetings with local primary schools. Social Stories can also be prepared, using information about the next teacher, classroom and playground to help a child understand the change. This is preparation for the next setting, with concrete details that can make a new routine easier to recognise.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The manager holds the designated safeguarding lead and SENCO roles, supported by a deputy with corresponding responsibilities; both hold Level 5 childcare qualifications. The safeguarding policy provides for a designated person to be on duty throughout opening hours. These are identifiable arrangements for raising concerns and coordinating support, rather than a current inspection judgement about their effectiveness.

For additional needs, the SENCO can prepare an Individual Support Plan with up to three targets, reviewed every 12 weeks and informed by relevant external professionals. Parents' consent is sought before seeking professional advice about an emerging difficulty. The building has wheelchair access and a disabled toilet, providing a concrete accessibility feature alongside the planning process.

Behaviour support emphasises naming feelings, helping children regain calm with an adult and working with parents on consistent responses. Individual behaviour plans can draw on observations and family discussions. The distinction is useful: the response is organised around what a child needs and what may trigger distress, rather than treating every incident alike.

The illness policy requires children with sickness or diarrhoea to remain away until they have been clear for at least 48 hours. When illness develops during the day, parents are contacted to collect their child, with the key person providing care in a calm space wherever possible. Families need backup care that can accommodate both an unexpected collection and the exclusion period.

Sessions and Attendance

Full Day runs from 8am to 6pm, Morning session from 8am to 1pm and Afternoon session from 1pm to 6pm. Early start extra covers 7:30am to 8am, while Late finish extra covers 6pm to 6:30pm. These are additions to the core patterns, allowing parents to distinguish the booked session from extra time at either end.

Bookings are all year round rather than term-time only. Little Oaks operates for 51 weeks, closing for a Christmas week and bank or public holidays; there are also two staff training closure days each year, charged at the usual rate. Absences do not attract a fee reduction, and booked sessions cannot be exchanged between days. Those terms make a regular weekly pattern important.

Leaving or reducing attendance requires a full calendar month's written notice. A non-refundable joining fee and a deposit form part of reserving a place; bookings made more than two months before the start date also require the first month's fees, and reservation payments are non-refundable if the family withdraws before starting. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Getting There

The address is Upper Fairfield Road, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 7HH, with a public car park opposite offering 30 minute drop off bays. Leatherhead mainline station is a 5-minute walk from the nursery, with direct services to Victoria and London Waterloo, as well as Guildford, Dorking and Epsom.

Funding and Paid Extras

Government funding is accepted for children aged 9 months, 2 years, and 3 and 4 years, with funded hours stretched across 51 weeks. Subject to eligibility, funding begins in the term after a child reaches the relevant funded age. The working parents entitlement is delivered as 22.35 hours a week when stretched, rather than 30 hours during term time. Eligible families must reconfirm their funding code every three months; a lapsed code results in full nursery fees.

Private-session fees include the applicable meals and snacks, while funded attendance carries separate meals and snacks charges. Funded attendance also has a consumables charge covering wipes, nappy bags, sun cream and Calpol, whereas parents supply disposable nappies and formula for children who need them.

Additional private hours are charged separately, as are the funded-place additional services and activities, which include specialist teaching, trips and enhanced settling. Complimentary community experiences therefore need to be read alongside the funded-place charge structure, rather than taken as a promise that every part of funded attendance is free. The written quotation should distinguish childcare hours from the associated charges.

• Creative freedom for older children. The March 2023 findings identified adult direction that narrowed children's choices, alongside inconsistent teaching. On a tour, ask how staff now allow preschool children to experiment and how their practice is reviewed.
• Year-round commitment. Bookings continue beyond term time, absences are charged and sessions cannot be swapped between days. Compare the morning, afternoon and full-day options against the pattern your family can sustain through school holidays.
• Funded attendance costs. Meals, consumables, additional hours and additional services have separate charges. Request an itemised written quotation for your intended sessions, including which activities and settling arrangements it covers.
• Baby sleep and individual care. The Baby Room has a sleep corner within the room, and nappies and formula come from home. During a visit, discuss how sleep is managed alongside play, and confirm current dietary and allergy arrangements if these affect your child.

Little Oaks suits families seeking either morning or afternoon sessions, as well as those needing full-day attendance with extra time at the edges. Its strongest practical attractions are the age-specific rooms, the shared Little Oaks Supermarket, sheltered outdoor spaces and named sports, music and Forest School provision. Famly and the key person arrangement give parents clear ways to contribute to and follow their child's learning.

The trade-offs are concrete: attendance is year round, funded care comes with associated charges, and older children's freedom to direct their learning deserves attention following the March 2023 findings. Families comfortable with those booking terms have a purposeful mix of classroom, outdoor and community experiences to consider.