Little Minds Nursery

About this day nursery

Little Minds Nursery provides full-day childcare for children aged 9 months to 5 years, focusing on a play-based learning approach where children lead their own play, supported by adults. The nursery prioritises children's well-being as fundamental to their engagement in learning, emphasising the importance of outdoor education as a classroom without limits.

It aims to foster perseverance, overcome challenges, and develop independence in children by providing ample time for them to learn, think, speak, and do. The nursery cultivates a strong family ethos, creating a home-like atmosphere for children, families, and staff.

It strongly believes that a happy team leads to happy children and, in turn, happy families. Located in a beautiful rural countryside setting, Little Minds Nursery offers unique learning opportunities and is easily accessible from local towns, including Yate.

The curriculum, referred to as "FUTURE," focuses on foundational life skills, understanding the world, a love of language, recognising each child's uniqueness, building resilience and independence, and providing engaging experiences. The nursery's pedagogy centres on the child, utilising a blended approach with a strong focus on child-initiated play and planning in the moment, guided by the Birth to 5 matters framework.

Staff act as facilitators, encouraging exploration, interaction with materials, and imitation of positive role models to support children's natural desire to learn. The nursery monitors progress through an online journal, keeping parents updated, and key workers provide two reports annually with achievable and aspiring targets for each child.

The ultimate goal is to nurture every child's independence, self-esteem, and full potential as they transition to "Big School" or their next learning adventure.

Our ethos

At little Minds we believe: - That children have the right to play, children learn by leading their own play and taking part in play guided by adults. - That supporting children’s well-being is fundamental to engaging them in learning - The outdoors provides a classroom with no limits - To allow children to achieve we need to allow time for children to learn, to think, to speak and to do. - We must give children time to persevere, to overcome challenges and to develop independence. We have a strong family ethos, a home from home feel. It is what we believe makes Little Minds unique. We want the best for all of our children, families and our team. We have a strong belief that building a happy team makes for happy children: **Happy team = Happy Children = Happy families**

What it's like

Staff sensitively support babies' and children's emotional and physical well-being, building strong bonds and closely following dietary requirements. There is a calm atmosphere, children are taught respect, and they make good progress as staff focus on their learning needs.