Little Tigers Day Nursery and Preschools

A teepee den for babies, climbing space for toddlers and a preschool room with its own garden give Little Tigers Day Nursery and Preschools a clear progression through early childhood. This Ravensthorpe setting has capacity for 90 children, with a current age range of one month to five years. The appeal is concrete: rooms organised around different stages, outdoor access for older children and daily communication that includes the small details parents need.

At its September 2022 inspection, Ofsted judged the nursery Good overall and found safeguarding effective, with strengths in communication, individualised activities and support for children with special educational needs and disabilities. That is a dated judgement. The current offer includes term-time and year-round contracts, with full days, school-hours days and shorter sessions serving different family routines.

Rooms and Ages

Tiny Tigers serves babies up to 24 months, with rugs, a teepee, an indoor climbing area and sensory resources including bubble tubes and projectors; cots and sleep mats occupy a sleeping area within the playroom. Its room description starts at two weeks, while the nursery's current overall age range starts at one month.

Little Leopards, for two- to three-year-olds, combines space for crawling and climbing with construction, pretend play, books and creative work, plus direct access outside and quieter places to rest. Resources sit within children's reach. That gives toddlers scope to choose their own activity rather than depend on an adult to fetch everything.

For preschool children, Cheetahs takes children from two and a half to five and combines a smaller playroom with direct garden access, a structured routine and opportunities to rest. Lions serves three- to five-year-olds in a larger playroom, with an outdoor connection and activities such as baking, music and yoga alongside time to relax.

Panthers, also for three- to five-year-olds, operates during term time and has a garden of its own, freely accessible from the room, with a routine geared towards preparing for school. The different preschool rooms make attendance pattern and room environment useful parts of the choice, rather than treating preschool as one uniform offer.

Learning and Activities

EYFS is the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care: here, children learn through play, with activities built around their interests and the skills they are developing. A key person plans next steps and shares ideas for continuing learning at home. Parents can contribute observations too, giving staff a picture of what interests a child beyond nursery.

The rooms add practical experiences to that foundation. Music, movement and stories form part of Little Leopards' day; preschool activities include using technology, making marks, baking and physical games. These are ordinary parts of nursery learning, with opportunities to talk, experiment and practise doing things independently.

In September 2022, children used wooden pieces to extend a bridge they were building together, while babies' early sounds were answered with speech from adults. Such examples show how play and conversation worked together at that time. The September 2022 improvement recommendations concerned making outdoor teaching more purposeful and reducing distractions that interfere with listening and speech development.

Outdoor and Community Life

Outdoor access is built into the older rooms. Lions and Panthers provide waterproof clothing, so wet weather need not end garden play. Across the setting, sheltered parts of the gardens give children somewhere to play out of the sun or rain; babies also spend time outside, although their room does not open directly onto the play area.

Families can take part in regular stay-and-play sessions. These offer a practical connection between home and nursery: parents share some of the activities their children know, while staff gain another opportunity to understand family interests. The emphasis is participation, alongside the photographs and written updates sent home.

Relationships and Communication

Every child has a key person based in their room. This practitioner takes responsibility for development records and carries out much of the child's personal care, helping make the relationship part of everyday routines. A key person can change as children move rooms or develop a closer bond with another member of staff.

Settling is organised into three sessions, once the deposit or funding form and the required paperwork are complete. Where possible, these take place during the three weeks before the child starts. The first includes a parent and a conversation about the child; subsequent sessions build up time spent apart. Families can telephone to speak to the key person during nursery hours.

Online journals carry observations and photographs, while care diaries cover eating, sleep and toileting where relevant. Parents can add their own observations, and a separate communication system handles messages, absence reports and forms. This gives families both a developmental account and the practical information needed to understand their child's day.

Planned parent meetings are generally twice yearly, with additional meetings possible when needed; Little Leopards has three virtual meetings a year. The room difference matters for parents comparing how regularly they will have a scheduled conversation about progress.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

SEND support has a defined structure. A lead professional and a second support professional work with families on individual plans, drawing on observations made at home and nursery. Where speech needs assessment, the Rainbow clinic is one route to external support. Parents give consent before further intervention, and nursery forms are shared for their approval.

Written progress reviews for two-year-olds are shared with the health visiting team. If concerns arise, an integrated review brings the parent, health visitor and nursery together to agree strategies. The Area SENDCO can also work with the child's key worker on targets, reviewed every eight weeks depending on attendance. These are specific mechanisms for support, rather than a general promise that every need will be met in the same way.

Sleep follows children's individual routines. Babies under 18 months use cots, while older children have small floor beds; bedding is washed daily. Staff use approaches agreed with parents to encourage rest. For a family whose child has a familiar sleep routine, that conversation is part of planning the nursery day.

Collection arrangements require an authorised adult, and staff may request identification if they are unsure who is collecting. Families need to keep collector details current and arrange security information when someone different will collect. Visitors also show identification and remain supervised by staff.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is at Brigstock Court, Peterborough, PE3 7NB, next to Ravensthorpe Primary School. It opens Monday to Friday, 7.45am to 6pm, throughout the year apart from bank holidays. Families can enquire by telephone, email or the contact form.

Booking choices are detailed. A full day runs from 7.45am to 6pm; the school-hours option runs from 9am to 3pm. Morning sessions finish at 1pm after a 7.45am start, while afternoons run from 1pm to 6pm. For children aged two and over, three-hour sessions can be booked at 9am to noon, noon to 3pm, 1pm to 4pm or 3pm to 6pm.

The minimum booking is two sessions each week. Contracts can follow term dates or continue across the year, while Panthers opens from 9am to 3pm during term time. This is a useful distinction for families choosing between a school-shaped routine and care that continues through the holidays.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered for eligible two-year-olds and for three- and four-year-olds, with additional paid sessions possible. The basic entitlement can be taken as 15 hours weekly during 38 term-time weeks, or stretched to 11 hours weekly across 52 weeks. The working-family entitlement is accepted as 30 hours weekly during term time or 22 hours weekly across the year, subject to eligibility.

Home-cooked food is adapted to children's dietary needs, and food and drinks are included in sessions. The daily meal pattern covers breakfast, a morning snack, lunch and tea, so the food received depends on the hours a child attends.

Nappies and wipes are included in paid sessions. For fully funded sessions, parents supply nappies or pay separately for those used; nappies and wipes are excluded from those sessions. Parents using reusable nappies provide them, and families supply a particular suncream if their child needs it.

A deposit secures the booking and is refundable with four weeks' written paid notice; it is not refunded if the booked place is never taken. Invoices cover calendar months, so totals vary with the booked days, and payment is required in advance. Booked sessions remain payable during illness or family holidays, while bank holidays carry no charge. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation; the fees and sessions page sets out the booking structure.

Attending the nursery does not guarantee a Reception place at Ravensthorpe Primary School. Families still apply through the local authority admissions process.

• Baby-room age and routines. Tiny Tigers' room description begins at two weeks, while the current nursery age range begins at one month. At a show-round, establish the starting age for your baby and discuss how their sleep routine would work in the room's sleeping area.
• Outdoor teaching and listening. September 2022 brought recommendations about extending learning outside and limiting background distractions. During a visit, ask how practitioners develop garden activities and organise quieter opportunities for conversation.
• Funded-session supplies. Paid sessions include nappies and wipes, while fully funded sessions exclude them. Discuss the supplies your child will need and how the selected session pattern combines funded and paid hours before committing.
• Notice and absences. The deposit refund depends on four weeks' written paid notice, and booked sessions remain chargeable during illness and holidays. These terms matter if your attendance needs may change.

Little Tigers suits families choosing between full days, morning or afternoon care and a school-hours routine, with both year-round and term-time contracts. Its clearest strengths as an offer are the progression through named rooms, practical daily reporting and a SEND process that involves parents and outside professionals.

The September 2022 Good judgement provides a dated assessment of quality, alongside clear improvement points about outdoor learning and listening conditions. For parents, the useful decision is how the chosen room, attendance pattern and care routines fit their child, with particular attention to baby sleep arrangements and the supplies needed for fully funded sessions.