Lilliput Day Nursery, Spalding

Play, garden time and familiar home routines give Lilliput Day Nursery, Spalding its character. Children can bring a comforting object or family photograph, while staff gather information about their routines before they start. That makes the move into nursery a shared task between staff and parents, with practical ways to keep home life recognisable.

The nursery accepts children from birth to five years. At its June 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged it Good overall and found safeguarding effective. That is a dated judgement: the useful detail beneath it includes physical play, conversation and individual support, alongside specific improvements needed in home learning, oral hygiene and toddler story sessions.

Full-time and part-time attendance are offered. The combination of an early opening, different attendance patterns and a choice between term-time and stretched funding gives families several ways to organise care.

Rooms and Ages

The daily routines distinguish Babies, Toddler's and Pre School, while the staff structure also includes a Tweenie Room Lead. These are different stages of nursery life rather than one timetable applied to every child.

For Babies, the routine combines outdoor play, stories and songs with key worker time, nappy changes and sleep. Toddler's activities include craft, choices about play and time outside, with space for either sleep or play after lunch. Pre School has free-flow play and garden time alongside key person group activities, stories and songs.

The balance matters. Babies have care routines built into their day; older children have opportunities to move between their own play and activities with an adult. These timetables describe the rhythm of care, rather than the attendance hours a family books.

Learning and Activities

The nursery follows the EYFS, the framework for children's learning, development and care, with learning through play and exploration indoors and outside. Its daily routine gives that broad framework a practical shape: stories support language, craft gives children opportunities to handle materials, and outdoor play brings movement into the day.

Pre School includes Key Person Group Time, an opportunity for children to spend part of the day in a group with their key person. The routine also includes Circle Time. Together with free-flow play, these activities mean the day includes both shared experiences and opportunities to choose what to do.

In June 2023, activities included making paper aeroplanes around a topic about what was overhead, using keys to tackle locks, and following instructions involving body movements. The examples joined imaginative play with problem-solving and physical activity. Older toddlers also encountered new vocabulary through conversations about a telescope, giving them something concrete to discuss rather than simply hearing a new word.

Outdoor and Community Life

Garden time is part of the current routine, with outdoor play included for babies and toddlers as well as preschool children. It is woven into the day rather than reserved for a special event.

In June 2023, children helped grow radishes and strawberries in the garden, connecting food with something they could tend themselves. Baby-room equipment included coloured windows and soft play with ramps. These are useful examples of the physical experiences available at that time, rather than a promise about today's equipment.

Relationships and Communication

Settling begins with information from home. Staff gather details about children's routines and encourage a familiar object or photograph, giving parents a concrete role in helping their child adjust. Religion, language and culture are also considered when planning care and learning.

The baby and toddler routines include key worker time, while preschool children have key person groups. This makes time with a familiar adult part of the planned day, alongside play with other children.

In June 2023, staff shared photographs and information about children's activities with parents, and younger toddlers were offered books while waiting for a walk. The communication had a limitation, however: some parents needed more practical ideas for continuing learning at home. An update about an enjoyable activity is useful; a suggestion for building on it at home serves a different purpose.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The staff structure includes a SENCO, a safeguarding lead and a health and safety lead, alongside room leadership roles. These give families identifiable responsibilities to discuss when explaining their child's needs.

At the June 2023 inspection, Ofsted found that children with SEND received targeted help, including visual prompts for daily routines and additional funded adult support. The concrete mechanisms matter more than a broad assurance about inclusion: pictures helped make the day understandable, while support could be adjusted to a child's needs.

In June 2023, a traffic light system supported behaviour through consistent acknowledgement of children's achievements. Staff also used gentle reminders about manners. Oral hygiene needed more consistent attention with younger children, and older toddlers sometimes lost engagement during group stories. Those findings belong alongside the positive examples when assessing the care and learning picture.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is at 12 High Street, Spalding, PE11 1TW. Opening hours are 7am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, and both full-time and part-time places are offered. The nursery opens for 51 weeks annually, closing between Christmas and New Year.

Enquiries can be made by telephone or contact form, and appointments can be arranged through either route. The opening window offers useful scope around work, but the distinction between opening hours and a child's booked attendance remains important.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered from nine months, subject to the working-parent entitlement guidelines. Funding can be used during term time at 15 or 30 hours weekly, or stretched across 51 weeks at 12 or 22 hours weekly. Funded hours are deducted from monthly invoices before additional charges are applied; attendance beyond the entitlement is charged separately.

A nursery cook prepares fresh food on the premises each day; breakfast, snacks and drinks are included in the charge for hours beyond the funded entitlement, while hot lunch and tea are optional paid extras, with the tea charge waived when a child attends all day and is already paying for lunch. Parents are encouraged to bring named sun cream, nappies and wipes; nursery-supplied items are charged separately, with the sun cream charge determined seasonally.

The fee structure explains how these categories fit together. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation, so the useful comparison is the cost of the family's intended attendance with its chosen food and supplies.

• The June 2023 improvement points. Home-learning suggestions, younger children's oral hygiene and older toddlers' engagement during group stories all needed attention. At a visit, ask how these three areas now work in practice.
• Settling with your child. Taster sessions before the confirmed start date and a parent-and-child stay-and-play session are offered. These give families a practical way to explore the nursery day together before regular attendance begins.
• Funding and extras. Term-time funding and the stretched arrangement use different weekly hours, while food and nursery-supplied consumables have separate charging arrangements. Compare a written quotation for your intended pattern, including whether you will supply nappies, wipes and sun cream.

Lilliput suits families seeking either full-time or part-time attendance, with familiar home routines carried into care and outdoor play built into the nursery day. Its term-time and stretched funding arrangements add another practical choice.

The June 2023 judgement provides a positive starting point, with concrete examples of individual support and active learning. The improvement points deserve equal weight. For parents, the strongest decision combines those dated findings with the settling opportunities and a quotation matched to their actual attendance and supplies.