Tiny Toes Private Nursery

A former family home, shared activities across ages and meals around a family dining table give Tiny Toes Private Nursery its character. This Hambleton setting has capacity for 20 children, with an age range from birth to 96 months. Its model brings younger children and school-age children together for parts of the day, rather than keeping every age group apart throughout.

At its July 2021 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good overall, judged safeguarding effective and found that staff understood children's special educational needs and worked with other professionals to support them. Those findings are dated. The strongest current detail is the family-group approach: staff help children of different ages play and communicate together.

Both full-day and half-day bookings are offered, alongside care before and after school.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage framework shapes child-led learning through play, with activities following children's interests. For parents, that means the nursery day develops learning through what children choose to explore, rather than relying only on adult-directed tasks.

Mixed-age activity is a central part of that day. Children come together for play, meals, circle time and outdoor activity, while staff guide their interactions. Some activities take place separately before the groups reunite. This arrangement makes contact with older and younger children part of everyday nursery life; it is an important consideration for families choosing between shared groups and more consistently separated age groups.

In July 2021, children explored light by layering transparent coloured shapes and comparing their appearance near a window and on the floor. They also counted while stacking empty tins, with staff encouraging them to extend their towers. These examples show how simple materials were used to connect experimentation with early number learning.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor activity supplied physical challenges as well as opportunities to investigate. In July 2021, children practised moving on inclines and matched pictures of trees to trees outdoors. Painting fabric suspended from a washing line added another challenge: the wind moved the surface they were trying to paint.

During that same month, staff joined children's pretend horse play and encouraged them to increase the spacing of block-built jumps. The practical emphasis was on trying a little more, with encouragement attached to a concrete achievement. These are examples of the nursery day at that time, rather than a timetable of current recurring activities.

Settling is tailored to each family, allowing children and parents time to become familiar with staff and the setting. That matters in a nursery where shared groups form such a substantial part of the day: familiarity with both the adults and the social arrangement helps families understand the care their child will experience.

The former home's family dining table is used for shared meals and conversation. School-age children can talk about their school day alongside children who have spent their sessions at nursery, giving the mixed-age approach a practical setting beyond play.

In July 2021, children welcomed others into existing games and shared materials readily. Staff introduced new vocabulary during play, including language about drinking water in hot weather. Conversations therefore offered opportunities to develop both social habits and language.

At the July 2021 inspection, Ofsted identified questioning as an area to improve: staff needed to give children more opportunity to think and respond, and to use questions to extend their ideas. This is the clearest qualification to the positive account of children's confidence and engagement.

School transition also involved coordination with a local school in July 2021. That work concerned continuity in children's care and learning, rather than an admissions advantage.

Sessions and Attendance

Tiny Toes is at 33 Gateforth Lane, Hambleton, Selby, North Yorkshire, YO8 9HP. Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday; weekends are closed. The nursery operates throughout the year, excluding bank holidays.

The booking choices include a 10-hour full day and a five-hour half day. These booking lengths should be distinguished from the wider opening window. Breakfast club provides care before school, with children returning for tea afterwards, so the offer also serves families arranging childcare around the school day.

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01757 229943 or by email at enquiries@tinytoesnursery.com. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Funding and Paid Extras

In July 2021, the nursery provided funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. That is a dated participation statement, rather than a promise of a current funded arrangement for an individual family.

• Shared age groups. Children combine for activities, meals and outdoor time. Consider whether this family-group model matches your preference for your child's daily contact with older and younger children.
• Booking length. Full days last 10 hours and half days last five hours, within a longer opening window. Which start and finish times would apply to your booking, and how would funding and any additional charges fit that pattern?
• Developing conversation. In July 2021, staff questioning needed to extend children's thinking more effectively. During a visit, look for children having time to consider questions and explain their ideas.

Tiny Toes suits families seeking either full-day or half-day childcare, as well as those needing care around school. Its clearest appeal is the shared family-group day in a former home, with staff guiding interactions between ages and meals bringing children together.

The July 2021 findings give useful examples of exploratory play and physical challenge, balanced by a specific improvement point about questioning. Parents drawn to mixed-age care have a concrete model to assess here: shared experiences are part of the nursery's everyday organisation.