Little Stars Day Nursery

A story becomes a week's worth of play at Little Stars Day Nursery in Ossett. Book with a Hook takes a shared book into discussion, creative work and role play, while visits to Ossett market connect learning with the town beyond the nursery. These are useful anchors for families who want books, practical exploration and outdoor activity to shape their child's day.

At its 23 May 2023 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and judged safeguarding effective, while identifying weaknesses in daily transitions and the supervision of staff practice. That judgement belongs to that visit. The practical question for parents is how smoothly care and learning fit together across the day now.

At 20 Horbury Road, the nursery has 60 places in total. Sunbeams serves babies up to two, Moonbeams caters for two-year-olds and Starbeams is the preschool room. Morning and afternoon sessions sit alongside full-day and term-time attendance, giving families different ways to organise care.

Rooms and Ages

Sunbeams combines sensory exploration, music, small world play and a reading corner in its main space, with a separate area for sleep and routines shaped around individual babies. Its Heuristic play uses baskets of everyday and natural objects for babies to investigate through touch, sound and movement. The emphasis is on exploration: an object can be handled and examined rather than having one prescribed use.

Moonbeams gives two-year-olds access to sand and water, mark making, music, a reading corner and role play, with activities shaped by their interests and next steps. The nursery describes its usual staffing here as one adult to four children, better than the statutory minimum of one to five for this age. That is a staffing measure, not a statement about the size of the group.

Starbeams brings together early writing, mathematics, imaginative play and a reading area, with an emphasis on independence before school. Across the rooms, the progression is from exploring materials towards using them to express ideas and practise skills. Parents can judge the fit by their child's stage rather than treating preschool preparation as the purpose of every room.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care; here, children work across its areas of learning through play, with staff observing their interests to plan what comes next. It is the common foundation for nursery education. Little Stars adds a recognisable story-led approach through Book with a Hook, explained on its curriculum page.

Each room uses a Book of the Week as a starting point for making, conversation and pretend play. Scrapbooks preserve the activities and ideas that follow, then return to circle time so children can revisit experiences and talk about them together. A book therefore has a life beyond the reading session: it becomes something children can explore and discuss in different ways.

Topics include Living Things, Investigation and People and Communities. Celebrations such as Diwali and Eid introduce different traditions, while Earth Day and Recycle Week provide further starting points for activities. These themes sit alongside planning for individual interests rather than replacing it.

In May 2023, babies explored coloured rice and patterns made by lights, with adults adding descriptive language. Preschool children examined caterpillars through magnifying glasses and discussed their development into butterflies. These examples show what hands-on learning looked like at that time: children had real materials to investigate and something concrete to talk about.

Outdoor and Community Life

A partly covered outdoor space supports daily use, with ride-on toys and climbing equipment alongside construction, water play and mark making. Outdoor time is therefore more than an exercise break. Children can carry practical and imaginative learning outside, while families need clothing that suits play in changing weather.

Community outings include the library, parks and Ossett market. Some trips use local buses, introducing children to another form of transport; parents can opt their child out of outings. In May 2023, outdoor activities included den building and experimenting with buckets and ropes on a pulley, linking physical activity with working out how things operate.

Relationships and Communication

A key person is allocated before a child starts, learns about their routines and interests, plans learning and shares observations with parents. That person changes as children move rooms, keeping the relationship within the room where care takes place. The handover matters: knowledge about a child's needs has to travel with them.

Settling begins around three or four weeks before the start date. An initial hour includes a parent, followed by a short session apart and then longer visits as confidence develops; additional settling sessions can continue according to the child's needs. Sessions are arranged around feeding and naps, allowing familiarity to build through manageable experiences of the nursery day.

Room moves begin approximately 12 weeks before a child's birthday, with visits to the next room and an early introduction to the new key person. Parents meet that practitioner too, while staff exchange information about development and routines. This is a gradual process rather than a single changeover day.

Ovivio provides daily information about meals, sleep and nappy changes, plus development updates and messaging with practitioners. Conversations at collection complement the app, and parent evenings take place twice a year. Story bags and baking boxes offer ways to extend activities at home; regular Stay & Read sessions invite families to share reading in nursery.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The team includes a practitioner with specialist early-years special educational needs coordinator training, alongside qualified practitioners and apprentices. Prescribed medicines require signed parental permission, and staff can work with ongoing healthcare plans. All practitioners, including apprentices, hold paediatric first-aid certificates. These are specific arrangements, rather than a blanket assurance about meeting every child's needs.

Sleep follows individual routines. Sunbeams has four main cots, while older rooms create resting areas after lunch with individual mattresses and blankets. Potty training is coordinated with parents according to each child's readiness, and a familiar comforter can accompany a child during settling and rest.

In May 2023, changes between daily activities sometimes kept children waiting until their attention drifted, and supervision had not picked up some weaknesses in staff practice. There was also a delay in notifying a significant event, which did not affect children. These findings make the management of ordinary routines an important subject for a visit.

The cook prepares meals on site each day, with alternatives for weaning, dietary requirements and allergies. The nursery has a nut-free policy; families affected by allergies should discuss current practice and their child's individual arrangements before starting.

Sessions and Attendance

The nursery is at 20 Horbury Road, Ossett, WF5 0BN, and opens Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 6pm. Morning sessions run from 7.30am to 1pm; afternoon sessions begin at 1pm and finish at 6pm. Full Day and Nursery Wraparound are also booking options. Children may be dropped off or collected within their booked session, with notice helpful where timing affects sleep or meals.

Attendance can be across the year or during term time. Bank holidays are closures, and the Christmas break starts at 1pm on Christmas Eve, with reopening at 7.30am on 2 January. Paid nursery sessions remain chargeable during family holidays; bank holidays are charged, while the Christmas closure week is not. Four weeks' notice is required when leaving.

Funding and Paid Extras

Eligible families can use the working parent entitlement for up to 30 funded hours from the term following a child's ninth month, continuing through ages two and three. An eligibility code and supporting documents, including the child's birth certificate, are required. Private childcare is also offered, with current prices obtained in a written quotation.

Meals are included, with no additional meal or consumables charge. Families nevertheless supply nappies, wipes and nappy cream, and normally bring labelled sun cream; the nursery provides a backup if it is forgotten. Those supplies still belong on the family's packing list, including for funded attendance.

Invoices are monthly, with payment due on the first of the month. Additional sessions are billed separately, and Tax-Free Childcare is accepted. Enquiries can be made through the contact form or by telephone on 01924 281806.

In May 2023, preparation for moving to school included sharing information and arranging visits with local schools. That describes transition work at the time, rather than an admissions advantage.

• Daily routines. The May 2023 findings concerned waiting between activities and weaknesses missed through supervision. Visits require an appointment by phone or email: ask how room teams now organise meals, rest and changes of activity, and how managers review practice.
• Toddler staffing. Moonbeams' usual one-to-four arrangement is better than the one-to-five minimum for two-year-olds. During a visit, ask how that deployment works across the session and how the group is organised.
• Closures and paid absences. Bank holidays and family holidays remain chargeable for paid sessions, while the Christmas closure week is excluded. Consider those terms alongside the attendance pattern you need.
• Allergies and daily supplies. A nut-free policy and alternative meals sit alongside a requirement to tell the nursery about allergies. Confirm your child's arrangements, and plan to send nappies, wipes, nappy cream and sun cream.

Little Stars suits families seeking morning or afternoon sessions as well as full-day attendance, with term-time and year-round patterns to consider. Book with a Hook gives learning a clear organising idea, while Sunbeams' exploratory play, Moonbeams' toddler staffing and outings around Ossett offer concrete reasons to look closely.

The balance rests on everyday care as much as activities. Gradual settling, room handovers and daily communication are useful structures; the May 2023 concerns make the pace of routines and oversight of staff practice central questions when choosing it.