Little Explorers Nursery

Chicks, vegetable growing and a sustained emphasis on language give Little Explorers Nursery in Kiveton Park a clear character. Children have living things to care for and real experiences to talk about, alongside communication activities tailored to their stage of development. This is learning with something concrete behind the words.

At its May 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Outstanding, judged safeguarding effective and found that children made consistent progress from their different starting points. The practical offer covers children from 3 months to 5 years, with capacity for 59 children in total. Sunshine Room, Garden Room, Rainbow Room and Pre-School organise the early-years provision by age.

A Communication Friendly Setting Status accreditation, awarded in September 2024, supports the emphasis on children's language development. Attendance choices include a full day, morning or afternoon sessions, with early care also offered. Those different patterns matter for families fitting nursery around work or choosing a shorter nursery day.

Rooms and Ages

Sunshine Room serves the youngest children, within its 0-2 years age band: separate spaces for play, feeding and sleep sit alongside opportunities to crawl, roll and practise walking, while treasure baskets and activities involving water, sand and finger painting introduce different textures.

For 2-3-year-olds, Garden Room combines a large ground-floor space and direct outdoor access with an emphasis on independence, conversation and social development, using role play, creative activities and sand and water play.

Rainbow Room, for children aged 3-4+ years, occupies the first floor and combines independent choices with short phonics activities, early writing, stories and mathematics as children prepare for school.

Pre-School, for 3-4-year-olds, shares the first-floor arrangement and the emphasis on children's interests, early literacy and mathematics, with more adult-directed activities alongside independent choices.

These are different stages rather than interchangeable rooms. The younger provision makes space for movement, sensory exploration and rest; the older rooms introduce reading materials and opportunities to write a name. Garden Room bridges those stages, with pencil control, shapes and numbers introduced when children are ready.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for children's learning and care, covering language, movement and emotional development alongside literacy, mathematics, creative expression and understanding the world. It is the shared foundation for early-years provision. Little Explorers adds a pronounced emphasis on communication through named activities and support schemes.

Makaton is used to support communication, with signs shared through weekly activity updates. The ICAN scheme supports children's language development through Babbling Baby for babies and Toddler Talk for toddlers; older children use Letters and Sounds alongside other phonics activities. Tiny Talkers provides further language intervention. The progression makes communication a continuing thread through nursery, rather than an activity confined to the oldest room.

Membership of Rotherham Loves Reading adds a named connection to the nursery's emphasis on books. Stories also have a practical role in everyday learning: in May 2025, children used them to explore feelings including sadness, happiness and anger. Books were tools for discussing behaviour and emotions as well as developing language.

Outdoor and Community Life

Sunshine Room has an outdoor area surfaced with artificial grass for its youngest children. Elsewhere, outdoor seating provides a place for stories, music and phonics. The nursery also grows vegetables and cares for chicks and other animals, giving children experiences that connect conversation with the natural world.

In May 2025, older children discussed hatching chickens and demonstrated how to look after hens. Outdoor mathematics involved balancing large scales and comparing quantities, while construction and sorting with natural materials connected counting to objects children could handle. These examples show how practical experiences gave children something to explain, compare and remember.

Movement had its own progression at that time. Babies reached towards bubbles, two-year-olds accompanied songs with instruments, and children practised climbing, balance and obstacle-course building. Learning involved bodies as well as words.

Relationships and Communication

A key carer helps each child settle, takes a lead in their development and maintains their records. Families are encouraged to exchange everyday information with that person. For babies, routines from home shape settling, and a daily diary records activities and achievements. That gives continuity a practical form: familiar routines are part of the care arrangement.

Ovivio, the nursery's parent app and online learning record, carries daily information about meals, nappy changes and activities, together with observations and next learning steps. Parents can contribute observations from home and share their child's current interests, which inform room planning. Communication runs in both directions.

Development Meetings, Parents Meetings and Play and Stay Sessions create opportunities to discuss progress beyond daily app updates. Home learning challenges are voluntary. For families who want to participate, the arrangement offers several ways to contribute, from a brief update about an interest to a longer conversation about development.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the May 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities received carefully tailored support, with speech and language and inclusion professionals involved and additional funding used to develop sensory and personal awareness. A SENDCO role provides a contact for families with concerns, and the nursery may also provide enhanced staffing to support some children's learning needs.

The staffing policy favours qualified, permanent practitioners, with continuing training both internally and externally. Qualified childcare staff hold first-aid training; nursery cooks also undertake allergy-awareness training. Safeguarding arrangements include a designated lead, a deputy and annual staff updates. These are concrete arrangements, separate from the dated safeguarding judgement.

Rest remains part of the day beyond the baby stage. Garden Room accommodates sleep or rest according to individual needs, rather than treating the move into the toddler room as the end of daytime sleep.

The nursery cook makes meals from scratch, with breakfast, a cooked lunch and dessert, and a later tea of sandwiches, fruit or yoghurt. Weekly menus are displayed, and water is offered throughout the day.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 230 Wales Road, Kiveton Park, Sheffield, S26 5RE. Nursery opens on weekdays between 7.30am and 6pm. Its full-day booking runs from 8am to 6pm; the morning session is 8am to 1pm, and the afternoon session is 1pm to 6pm. Early care covers 7.30am to 8am.

The nursery operates for 50 weeks a year, closing for a week at Christmas, a week around Spring Bank at the end of May, and bank holidays. Those closures are not charged. Families therefore need to plan cover for the closure periods as well as choosing the session that fits their usual week.

Invoices arrive monthly through Ovivio and are payable in advance by the fifth of the month. Enquiries can be made by telephone on 01909 774752. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation.

Getting There

Parents may use the nursery car park, which operates an in and out system to reduce congestion. Parents remain responsible for their child's safety while using it.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible working families can claim and stretch up to 15/30 funded hours for children aged 9+ months. There are also three-hour, term-time funded sessions for children aged 2, 3 and 4. These are different funding arrangements, so the child's age and family eligibility matter to the pattern being considered.

Private full-day, morning and afternoon prices include the stated snack and meal charges; the term-time funded sessions carry a separate voluntary snack contribution. For babies aged 3-9 months, parents supply formula and bottles daily. Families may also bring baby-food jars or use nursery food suited to their child's needs.

The hours and fees information sets out the attendance and payment structure. Funding, paid childcare and food charges need to be considered together when assessing the arrangement for a particular child.

• Funding pattern. Stretched funding for eligible working families sits alongside three-hour term-time sessions for older children. At a visit, ask how the relevant entitlement would fit your intended attendance and which food contributions would apply.
• Babies' daily routine. Sunshine Room follows routines from home and separates feeding, sleep and play spaces. Discuss how your baby's sleep and feeding pattern would work, including the daily supply of formula and bottles for babies aged 3-9 months.
• Annual closures. A week at Christmas, a week around Spring Bank and bank holidays interrupt the usual weekday pattern. Families needing continuous childcare will need cover during those periods.

Little Explorers suits families choosing either a full day or morning and afternoon sessions who value communication development, practical learning and regular exchanges with a key carer. Its language schemes, animal care and vegetable growing give that offer substance, while the different room environments recognise changing needs as children grow.

The May 2025 Outstanding judgement is an important part of the picture. So are the everyday arrangements: baby routines, toddler rest, parent contributions to learning records and a choice of session lengths. Families should weigh the funding pattern and annual closures against the attendance they need.