Little Stories Day Nursery

A growing patch for babies, child-height toilets for toddlers and a sensory room with soft lighting give Little Stories Day Nursery a practical emphasis on learning through everyday experience. Children have outdoor spaces attached to their rooms, while independence develops through small tasks such as pouring drinks and serving food.

At its March 2025 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found that its curriculum helped children make good progress, although questioning techniques and the matching of activities to children's development needed attention. The strengths were concrete: children explored frog life cycles, practised physical skills in the garden and learnt to manage tasks for themselves.

Based at Croft Day Centre on Ulleries Road, Solihull, B92 8ED, the nursery accepts children from three months to five years and has 62 places in total. Attendance choices include several day lengths, morning and afternoon sessions, and a preschool School Day.

Rooms and Ages

Brilliant Babies has a maximum of 12 children, with sensory play and movement supporting physical, social and emotional development, plus a garden where children grow fruit and vegetables. This is a room maximum, distinct from whole-nursery capacity.

Terrific Two’s caters for up to 16 children aged two to three, combining two indoor rooms with a garden containing a sandpit and gardening area, while low toilets and potties support growing independence. Child-height facilities help children practise personal care.

Pre-School Room accommodates up to 32 children, with activities emphasising independence and solving problems alongside a large garden offering opportunities to practise taking manageable risks. School preparation includes confidence in everyday tasks.

Learning and Activities

The EYFS sets the framework for children's learning, development and care, covering communication, physical development, relationships and learning through play alongside areas such as literacy and mathematics. Little Stories uses in the moment planning: staff respond to children's interests as play develops and adjust what they offer. The practical value is a connection between what engages a child and what they learn next.

Development Matters and Birth to Five Matters are used together as non-statutory guidance for planning children's learning. These sit alongside the EYFS rather than replacing it. The emphasis includes linking language with reading and writing, exploring shape and space, and learning about the world through creative activities. The learning approach also describes short and medium-term planning, so responding to an immediate interest sits within a planned programme.

In March 2025, conversations, songs and new vocabulary accompanied children's play. Books about frogs helped children explore how living things change, and children could recall the stages they had discussed. There was a clear limitation too: some adults moved too quickly between questions or supplied the answer themselves. Children consequently had less opportunity to work out and explain their own ideas.

Outdoor and Community Life

The sensory room uses gentle lighting, textures, sounds, water and bubbles. This offers a different kind of experience from the outdoor gardens, with softer stimulation rather than relying on bright colours or loud sound. Outdoors, nature, insects and weather provide material for exploration; the Insect Motel gives children a feature through which to investigate insects and changing conditions.

In March 2025, garden activities included an obstacle course, ball play and wheeled toys. Children practised balance and coordination through movement rather than only following instructions indoors. Some group activities were less successful: when the task did not fit children's ages or abilities, their attention drifted. Matching the challenge to the child is an important consideration alongside the physical resources.

Relationships and Communication

A dedicated key person forms part of the care arrangements. Famly, the parent app, brings together development updates, photographs, messages and notifications, and parents can add photographs and activities from home. This lets families share interests from home alongside nursery updates.

In March 2025, staff knew children well and babies were comfortable with familiar adults. Observations and assessments informed the next learning steps, while parents received updates and ideas for continuing learning at home. Staff also encouraged considerate behaviour and taking turns.

Continuing professional development is part of the staff approach, with an emphasis on observing children, extending their learning and identifying additional needs. For families, the relevant point is how that knowledge translates into an activity or response suited to their child. In March 2025, some group activities did not suit children's ages or abilities.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the March 2025 inspection, Ofsted judged safeguarding effective but recorded a failure to notify it about an allegation against a staff member; leaders investigated promptly and contacted local safeguarding partners appropriately, with no impact on children recorded. Both parts matter. The favourable judgement does not remove the significance of the notification failure.

In March 2025, children practised handwashing before eating, learnt about caring for their teeth and received encouragement to put on coats and manage personal tasks. Daily routines provided opportunities to practise independence. The current food arrangements extend that approach: toddlers and preschool children serve themselves with age-appropriate help, make sandwiches and pour drinks from porcelain jugs.

An onsite chef prepares fresh food each day, including cooked meals and snacks, with provision for religious, cultural and medical dietary needs. Families managing a particular dietary requirement should discuss how that need will be handled during their visit.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. Day bookings run from 7.30am to 6pm, 8am to 6pm, 7.30am to 5.30pm or 8.30am to 5.30pm. Morning and afternoon sessions each last five hours, while the preschool-only School Day runs from 9am to 3pm.

The minimum booking is two sessions each week. The nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays, two training days and a week at Christmas; usual charges continue during those closures. Fees are calculated across 52 weeks and paid monthly in advance. Sickness and holidays do not qualify for exchanges, credits or refunds, which matters when comparing a nursery bill with the hours actually attended.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form or by telephone on 0121 213 5866. Tour booking is also offered.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare includes the 15-hour and 30-hour entitlements, subject to eligibility. Families can use funding over 38 term-time weeks or stretch it across 51 weeks, with funded blocks of up to 10 hours. Extra hours are privately charged. Funded hours are allocated in the order Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, then Monday; the Early Bird session cannot be funded.

For funded attendance, meals and other consumables attract separate, optional contributions, alongside a contribution towards additional activities. Meal charges include consumable items. Families declining nursery meals must supply food for the relevant meals under the packed-lunch policy: the choice covers all meals rather than selected meals, and opting out requires one month's notice.

A non-refundable registration charge is credited against the first invoice after a child's start, except for a fully funded place. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. Comparing quotations should include additional hours and the chosen meal arrangement, rather than treating the funded entitlement as the whole attendance package.

• Questioning and group activities. In March 2025, adults sometimes left too little thinking time and some tasks did not match children's development. During a visit, ask how staff now give children space to answer and adapt a group activity for different abilities.
• Safeguarding notification. The March 2025 notification failure concerned an allegation against a staff member. Ask how responsibilities for reporting allegations are assigned and monitored.
• Funding and family routines. The two-session minimum, funding allocation order and all-meals opt-out rule can affect the practical fit. Discuss a proposed attendance pattern and, where relevant, the handling of medical dietary needs before choosing it.
• Closure charges. Normal charges apply during bank holidays, training closures and the Christmas week, with no credits for sickness or holidays. Allow for these terms when judging the ongoing cost.

Little Stories suits families choosing between morning or afternoon attendance, different day lengths and a preschool School Day. Its strongest practical attractions are the gardens attached to the rooms, opportunities to practise independence and the Famly connection with home. The baby room's stated maximum also gives parents a concrete starting point when considering the youngest children's care.

The March 2025 findings support a positive assessment, tempered by the need to improve questioning, adapt activities and address the safeguarding notification failure.