Little Cubs Nursery

A baby suite with its own sleep room, a garden pirate ship and music sessions that introduce Mandarin give Little Cubs Nursery a recognisable character. This Kenilworth setting combines practical care arrangements for babies with increasingly independent play as children move towards school. The physical detail matters: rest, movement and exploration each have space of their own.

At its 5 January 2024 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good, found safeguarding effective and identified positive support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, alongside improvements needed in assessment-led planning and the challenge offered during activities. That is a useful balance for parents: care and learning received positive judgements, but the next steps in teaching were specific.

Little Cubs accepts children from 3 months to 5 years. Its four rooms are Little Bears, Little Foxes, Little Pandas and Little Tigers, covering babies through to preschool children. Full days and morning or afternoon sessions provide different attendance patterns.

Rooms and Ages

Little Bears has a maximum of seven babies, with carpet for crawling, a hard surface for messy activities, a dedicated sleep room and direct access to a separate outdoor play area. This gives the youngest children a defined base rather than requiring every part of their day to happen in the same busy space. Home sleep routines inform their care.

With six places, Little Foxes emphasises language, taking turns and sensory exploration, with an indoor climbing slide adding movement to the room. Little Pandas has sixteen places and brings together imaginative play, creative materials and growing awareness of personal needs, supported by a reading corner and its own bathroom. In Little Tigers, the emphasis shifts towards independence, early number and letter work, and understanding emotions, using a mixture of child-chosen play, key-person groups and shared activities.

Movement between rooms follows readiness. The progression therefore has a practical purpose: the surroundings and expectations change as children develop, while outdoor play and the shared sensory space remain part of their experience.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provides the framework for learning through play, including communication, physical development and social relationships. Little Cubs builds its day around children's interests, with staff using observation, conversation and assessment to shape activities. Its curriculum approach connects this play with individual development rather than treating activities as an end in themselves.

Weekly visiting classes add identifiable experiences. Drama Tots uses imaginative adventures, movement and music, supported by puppets, instruments and props. Little Kickers Football develops ball control and coordinated movement through games that involve choices and imagination. Twirling Toddlers brings dance, songs and movement props into activities such as clapping, turning and jumping.

Mini Mandarin Music combines music and language: younger children explore instruments and sensory experiences, while older groups encounter Chinese stories and theatre alongside music. Little Bears has weekly Mini Mandarin Music and Twirling Toddlers sessions; Little Tigers takes part weekly in Mini Mandarin Music, Drama Tots and Little Kickers football. These additions give families concrete ways to understand what sits alongside the everyday play-based curriculum.

In January 2024, babies investigated sand with a sieve, toddlers worked through jigsaw puzzles, and older children acted out jobs such as dentistry and hairdressing. These examples show how ordinary resources can support explanation, persistence and imaginative conversation. The improvement priorities were to use assessment more precisely when deciding what comes next, and to take play further when opportunities arise.

Outdoor and Community Life

The garden has a construction zone, a music wall and a growing area for seasonal flowers and vegetables. A Hobbit house supports social play, while the Pirate ship and Climbing wall give children equipment for physical exploration. Ride-on vehicles can follow a road with traffic lights. The variety allows outdoor time to include building, pretend play and movement rather than relying on one type of activity.

Little Bears has its own outdoor area, with a canopy, soft grass surface, mirrors and windmills. Inside, the space-themed Soft play/sensory room combines a slide and soft shapes with a starry ceiling, bubble tubes and light projectors. It adds a different setting for exploration and quieter time, shared across the nursery's age groups.

Relationships and Communication

Settling begins before regular attendance. Families complete All about me booklets covering routines, preferences and dislikes, and settling sessions take place in the weeks leading up to the start date. The value is practical: staff begin with information about the individual child, while families have time to get to know the team.

Each child has a key person in every room, responsible for observations, records and feedback. Room changes therefore come with an identified contact. Families are also encouraged to build relationships with the wider room team, so communication does not depend entirely on one member of staff.

Famly handles the daily diary: sleep, nappies and meals are logged, families can message the room team, and accident and medication forms can be acknowledged through the app. Tapestry is the learning journal, bringing together photographs, videos and descriptions of activities linked to the EYFS. Families can add experiences from home. The distinction is useful: one channel explains the care day, while the other records learning over time.

Borrowing resources extends that relationship beyond updates. Books, games and activities can go home, alongside support packs for experiences such as toilet training, a new sibling or a hospital stay. These give families specific material to use during changes in their child's life.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

A SENDCO works with families and liaises with Speech and Language services, CAMHS and IDS. Designated Safeguarding Leads receive training and updates through Warwickshire County Council, and the staff team has paediatric first aid training. These are arrangements and points of contact families can understand, rather than a general promise about support.

In January 2024, staff worked with other agencies on individual education plans and organised activities around children's targets. Staff also explained unfamiliar vocabulary and sustained conversations with children, including those learning English as an additional language. The practical mechanisms are the important detail: support involved planned targets and everyday interaction.

The nursery cook prepares meals and snacks on site using fresh ingredients, with menus rotating over four weeks and changing between the warmer and colder seasons. Menu adaptations for allergies can be discussed with staff, and dietary requirements and parental preferences are taken into account.

Sessions and Attendance

The address is 73-75 Priory Road, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 1LQ. Opening hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, with Bank Holiday closures and a week closed at Christmas.

Full days run from 8am to 6pm; mornings run from 8am to 1pm, and afternoons from 1pm to 6pm. The minimum booking pattern is two full days or four half-day sessions each week. Term-time attendance is offered on a limited basis, following Warwickshire's 38-week calendar. The registration form includes a Breakfast period from 7.30am to 8am; the difference between that and the opening hours needs resolving before an early start is arranged.

Enquiries and visit arrangements go through the contact form, email or telephone. The registration form records preferred sessions and the intended start date, as well as information about dietary and medical needs. Together with the settling process, this gives joining a defined sequence rather than beginning with the first full session.

Funding and Paid Extras

The fee schedule covering 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 allowed eligible families to use funded hours within full-day and half-day sessions. Under those dated terms, funded-session food was charged separately when families wanted the nursery to supply meals and snacks; families could instead bring packed food during funded hours. This historical arrangement should inform a discussion about costs, rather than serve as a current quotation.

Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. Families comparing attendance patterns need the quotation to distinguish childcare, food and any other charges, especially when funded hours form part of the booking.

• Learning beyond the activity. January 2024 improvement priorities concerned sharper planning from assessments and more challenge during play. On a visit, ask how staff decide the next step for an older child and extend an activity that has become easy.
• The weekly booking commitment. The minimum is two full days or four half-day sessions. Consider whether that pattern fits the attendance you need, particularly when choosing morning or afternoon care.
• An early start. The registration form includes Breakfast from 7.30am, while opening hours begin at 8am. Confirm which arrangement applies before building an earlier start into your working day.
• The quotation and food arrangements. The dated 2025-26 terms separated funded-session food charges and allowed packed food. Request the current written terms, including meals, consumables and registration charges, and confirm current allergy arrangements where relevant.

Little Cubs suits families choosing between full days and morning or afternoon sessions who value a small baby-room cap, a separate sleep space and clearly organised parent communication. Its garden equipment and weekly visiting classes give older children several ways to explore movement, language and imaginative play.

The main educational question is how precisely staff build on what each child already knows. That sits alongside a substantial practical offer: staged rooms, a named key person, planned settling and separate channels for care updates and learning. Families whose schedules fit the minimum booking pattern have a clear basis for assessing the nursery.