Mini Me's Nursery

A baby garden with a mud kitchen, connected rooms for the youngest children and a messy room for toddlers give Mini Me's Nursery in Fleetwood a practical, hands-on character. Children have spaces for experimenting, making choices and becoming more independent as they grow. The appeal lies in the detail: babies can explore textures, while older children can choose materials and take their play outdoors.

The latest overall judgement is Outstanding (9 January 2025), with safeguarding assessed as effective. That dated assessment provides a strong quality benchmark alongside the everyday arrangements that matter when choosing childcare.

Based on Melbourne Avenue, FY7 8AY, the nursery has 84 places in total and accepts children from three months to five years. That is whole-setting capacity, rather than the size of any individual room. Full days, morning sessions and afternoon sessions are offered, alongside term-time and grant-funded-only attendance.

Rooms and Ages

Daisy Room serves babies aged three to 15 months, combining sensory objects, dens and comfortable quiet areas with access to Willow Room and a baby garden containing artificial grass, decking, a mud kitchen and opportunities to explore water and sand. For families choosing a first nursery place, the combination gives babies both quieter spaces and materials to investigate as their interests develop.

Willow Room serves children aged 15 to 24 months, with movement, independent choices and exploration indoors and outdoors shaping its day, plus access to Daisy Room and garden facilities. The connection between the baby rooms gives this part of the nursery a linked layout, while the emphasis shifts towards children doing more for themselves.

Primrose Room and Garden serves two- to three-year-olds, offering freely accessible resources, a home corner, books, a messy room and outdoor choices including bikes, balls, den building and a mud kitchen. Choosing an activity is part of the learning here. Children can decide between making something, imaginative play, reading or active outdoor play, rather than having every choice made for them.

Pre-School & Garden serves three- to four-year-olds, with independent play, challenges and garden exploration supported by literacy and mathematics roles within the team. Preparation for school runs through this stage, with opportunities to take more responsibility for the day. The emphasis is on practising independence alongside learning.

Learning and Activities

The Early Years Foundation Stage guides learning through play, movement and exploration, with communication, physical development and relationships developing alongside literacy, mathematics and creative activities. This is the shared foundation for early years provision. The useful distinction is how those areas become real experiences for children, from choosing materials in Primrose Room and Garden to investigating textures in Daisy Room.

In January 2025, woodwork brought problem-solving and safety into the same activity: children considered where to drill and explained why goggles protected their eyes. It was a concrete example of being allowed to tackle a demanding task while thinking about other people and their own safety. The activity required concentration as well as practical effort.

Language also threaded through play in January 2025. Songs and visual cues helped the youngest children participate, while older children listened to expressive storytelling and answered questions that encouraged fuller responses. These were different ways into communication, suited to different stages of development. Conversation was part of ordinary activity rather than confined to a separate lesson.

Swimming lessons also formed part of the experiences recorded in January 2025. Together with woodwork, they broadened the account of learning beyond familiar room-based play, although neither should be read as a promise of a particular current timetable.

Relationships and Communication

Famly, the nursery's online communication system, brings together information about development, eating and sleep. For parents, that connects the practical details of a childcare day with the longer picture of how their child is developing. It gives families information they can use when discussing routines and progress with staff.

In January 2025, a lending library helped extend children's learning into family life. Its value was the connection between nursery experiences and activities at home, rather than treating learning as something that stopped at the end of a session. Communication with families took several forms at that time, supporting ongoing conversations about children's development.

The two-year-old developmental check in Primrose Room and Garden links with the health visitor's check. That makes this stage more than a room change: it is also a point for bringing together information about how a child is developing. Families can use that connection to discuss strengths and any areas needing extra attention.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

At the January 2025 inspection, Ofsted found that staff worked effectively with professionals supporting children with SEND, used additional funding to widen participation and supported excellent progress across the children attending. This is a dated finding about practice and outcomes. It gives families a substantive assessment of inclusion rather than a general promise that every need will be met in the same way.

In January 2025, preschool children used yoga and meditation before lunch, noticing how their breathing altered as they relaxed. Younger children practised putting on outdoor clothing themselves. Both examples show care routines being used as opportunities to develop skills: recognising changes in the body in one case, and managing a practical task in the other. Clear behavioural boundaries also helped children understand expectations and consider one another during the nursery day.

Sessions and Attendance

Full Day runs from 8am to 6pm, Morning from 8am to 1pm and Afternoon from 1pm to 6pm. These are separate booking patterns, so families can choose between a whole day and attendance on either side of lunchtime. Term-time and grant-funded-only patterns are also offered, giving the attendance model more breadth than the opening window alone conveys.

Opening hours are 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. The nursery operates throughout the year and closes on bank holidays. For families comparing attendance options, that distinction matters: an all-year nursery can still offer a term-time booking pattern, and the session selected determines the hours of care.

The Fleetwood contact number is 01253 778253, and enquiries can also be sent to info@minimesfleetwood.co.uk. The address is Melbourne Avenue, Fleetwood, FY7 8AY. Use those Fleetwood contact details when discussing an attendance pattern, as Mini Me's also has a separate Beach Nursery.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare and privately paid attendance are both offered. Eligible working parents and carers of children from nine months to school age may qualify for 30 funded hours during term time, or spread their entitlement over up to 52 weeks by using fewer hours each week. This gives eligible families a choice between concentrating hours in term time and distributing them across more of the year.

Some families receiving additional government support may qualify for 15 funded hours for a two-year-old, delivered during term time or spread over up to 52 weeks with fewer weekly hours. Three-year-olds have a 15-hour entitlement, with the same term-time or spread-out arrangement. The distinction between the entitlements matters: the working-family and two-year-old routes have qualifying conditions.

Fees are payable in full on the first day of each month by bank transfer, and Tax-Free Childcare is accepted. Current prices come in the nursery's written quotation. The funded entitlement, privately purchased attendance and the payment arrangement are separate parts of planning childcare, so the chosen pattern needs to work both for family routines and for the funding route being used.

• The baby-room layout. Daisy Room and Willow Room connect, and both have outdoor access. On a visit, explore how movement between the rooms works for a baby who needs quieter play or a familiar routine.
• Choosing the right session. Morning care ends at 1pm, while Afternoon begins then; Full Day covers 8am to 6pm. Compare those boundaries with the times your family actually needs care before selecting a pattern.
• The complete funded arrangement. Funding can be used during term time or spread across more weeks, with qualifying conditions applying to some entitlements. Ask how meals and non-food consumables are handled within your proposed booking, so the full arrangement is clear before committing.

Mini Me's suits families seeking either full-day attendance or morning and afternoon sessions, with term-time and grant-funded-only options adding further flexibility. Its connected baby rooms, tactile outdoor resources and toddler choices give the nursery a recognisable character.

The January 2025 Outstanding judgement is a strong starting point for a decision. The practical attractions are equally clear: Famly connects parents with daily information, and the rooms offer different opportunities as children grow. Families who value independent play, communication and hands-on learning have concrete reasons to consider this Fleetwood nursery, while the exact attendance and funding arrangement remains an individual choice.