Little Owls Scunthorpe Ltd

Little Owls Scunthorpe Ltd
Unique reference number (URN): 2747050
Address: Side By Side, South Leys Campus, Enderby Road, Scunthorpe, DN17 2JL
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 03/08/2023
Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR
Registered person: Little Owls (Scunthorpe) Limited
Inspection report: 27 January 2026
Exceptional
Strong standard
Expected standard
Needs attention
Urgent improvement
Safeguarding standards met
The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for
governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open
culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively
identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.
How we evaluate safeguarding
When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:
Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding.
Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all
legal requirements are met.

Strong standard
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard
Leaders and staff have high expectations for children's positive behaviour and attitudes
throughout the nursery. Staff establish clear and consistent routines from the start that help
to ensure babies and children learn to feel confident and assured in the nursery. Staff work
closely with parents to reflect home routines, such as sleep and nappy changing
procedures, to help babies and young children start their nursery life with confidence and
security. Staff are consistently positive role models. They listen well to children, for example,
and help children to make decisions about their play and learning. Children are very well
behaved and show increasing awareness and care for others.
Staff plan systematically to help children who find it hard to recognise others' needs to share
and take turns. For instance, babies learn to choose books together and understand that
they cannot all be read at the same time. Older children take turns to mix and stir their
sensory play buns outdoors. Staff work with parents to ensure that children attend regularly
and are on time. There are well-established routines for staff and parents to communicate if
there are any unexplained absences.
Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard
Leaders establish an inclusive and caring ethos throughout the nursery. The support and
care all children receive, including those who have special educational needs and/or
disabilities and disadvantaged and vulnerable children, is built on accurate assessments of
their wellbeing needs. These processes precisely identify children's individual learning and
development needs. Leaders ensure that the children's key workers and other staff receive
carefully matched training to understand and support those who need additional help. All
groups of children learn to be confident and happy as a result.
Staff strongly support and promote all aspects of children's welfare and wellbeing. For
example, children's wellbeing is systematically enriched through regular dance and other
physical activities that build children's strength and body control, nutritious snacks and
healthy eating role play in the mud kitchen. Consequently, children learn the value of regular
exercise and healthy food choices. They learn to wash their hands regularly before meals
and after toileting. Staff provide guidance to parents to support many aspects of children's
welfare, such as weaning, sleep and behaviour management.
Staff make strong use of routines and rewards to help children achieve independence and
self-awareness. Children know, for example, how to work together to leave their play area
tidy before they start their next activity.
Inclusion Strong standard
Leaders create a strongly inclusive culture within the setting and the wider community. Staff
know all the children in their care well. They build strong bonds with babies and children and
accurately assess their needs and achievements. Staff swiftly identify any gaps in children's
learning at an early stage and work closely with parents and senior staff to identify and plan

Expected standard
for the next steps in the children's development. Leaders are rigorous in ensuring that
children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), disadvantaged and
vulnerable children receive the prompt support they need to achieve their potential overall.
For example, they support staff to access high-quality specific training and guidance from
other educational and medical professionals. They carefully consider the use of additional
funding, such as early years pupil premium funding, to improve outcomes and raise
children's achievement, for example through providing toys closely matched to personal
interests and sensory activities that reduce gaps in children's experiences.
Leaders have strategically reviewed all aspects of the provision to make sure that the
environment supports a fully inclusive setting. For example, they have created a high-quality
safe and quiet place for children, including those with SEND, who sometimes find larger
classroom spaces challenging.
Leadership and governance Strong standard
The experienced and well-qualified leadership team has focused on creating a strongly
inclusive, caring and engaging environment. Leaders have a clear understanding of the
nursery's strengths and weaknesses. They have thoughtfully identified and started
implementing a programme of professional development and support for newer members of
staff. There are robust procedures to gather the views of parents, children and staff through,
for instance, regular focused questionnaires and discussions to evaluate and improve the
effectiveness of the nursery. Leaders and other senior staff work towards challenging
actions, such as strengthening the good practice in inclusion and provision for babies, to
have a sustained impact on children's achievement and wellbeing. They support this through
strategic research, training and links with the local community. For example, they have
developed increasingly sharply focused procedures based on high level training to monitor
teaching and learning and increasingly address the identified inconsistencies and raise
achievement to the highest standards for all staff.
Leaders value staff's wellbeing and welfare. They use staff's self-evaluation, induction
procedures, regular supervision discussions, staff meetings and training days to support and
motivate staff. As a result, staff morale is high, and they feel valued. The leadership has
established good relationships with other agencies, such as educational psychological
services and social services, to ensure all children, including those with special educational
needs and/or disabilities, disadvantaged and looked after children, are prepared for their
future learning.
Achievement Expected standard
Children make progress from their starting points and learn to express themselves clearly
and with confidence. They benefit from regular opportunities to explore books and stories,
which help them learn about the world around them. For instance, children learn about arctic
conditions and the animals that live there through well-chosen stories. However, very
occasionally, children do not make the very best progress they are capable of when

teaching is not sharply matched to their needs, for example when the resources, such as
flash cards or written numbers, are too difficult for children to understand and remember.
Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and other vulnerable learners
make positive progress as they build their communication skills in small, manageable steps,
including using Makaton and other communication strategies. They make progress that
prepares them well for the next stage in their learning. Children benefit from support that
helps them to build securely on what they already know and can do.
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Leaders have established an imaginative and systematic curriculum that supports children
to build on earlier learning from their individual starting points. Staff make effective use of
assessment to meet children's needs, including those with special educational needs and/or
disabilities and disadvantaged children. Leaders have effective induction procedures to
support staff, several of whom are new to the nursery, to develop the knowledge and
understanding to support children's learning and development overall. However,
occasionally, some staff do not adjust their teaching sharply enough to fully embed new
learning and deepen understanding. For example, sometimes, they do not vary their
questions to check all children's understanding and occasionally resources are too complex
or undemanding.
Staff in the baby room are well trained in early communication skills, safe sleeping, feeding
and weaning to provide a secure foundation for future learning. Staff are knowledgeable and
confident in building children's vocabulary and their knowledge of the world. For example,
young children become inquisitive communicators as they handle different textures in their
sensory play. Older children use zebra crossings and are aware of other vehicle uses in
their physical role play.
Children's mathematical skills are systematically developed. For example, younger children
learn to securely count and match quantities to 5. Older children use their strong knowledge
of numbers to compare weights and balance scales with toy animals.
Compulsory Childcare Register requirements
This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.
How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Compulsory Childcare
Register
When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can
have the following outcomes:
Met
Not met

Voluntary Childcare Register requirements
This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register.
How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Voluntary Childcare
Register
When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can
have the following outcomes:
Met
Not met
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children are very happy throughout their time in this stimulating and constantly developing
nursery. They make progress from their individual starting points in all areas of learning.
Overall, children are prepared well for the next stage in their learning, including starting
school. Staff work closely with babies and their families, for instance to establish early
routines that help babies to feel safe and confident.
Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, become
independent and confident as they learn to follow instructions safely and organise their own
play. They learn to be patient and take turns in their games and support each other. Babies
learn to play alongside other children and build their early physical and sensory skills as
they sprinkle rice and other tactile substances through their fingers. Children who find it
difficult to understand and communicate their own feelings are skilfully helped to identify and
manage their own emotions. Children feel valued.
Babies learn to listen, enjoy and join in with the many familiar action songs, nursery rhymes
and stories staff share with them. This helps to establish a firm basis for emerging language
skills. Older children build on this knowledge and understanding through, for example,
games and group activities that help them recognise rhymes and initial sounds of words.
They extend their vocabulary and enjoy talking about exotic fruits such as pineapples and
mangoes they have explored through stories and creative activities. Children make strong

Inspector:
Andrew Clark
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): 2747050
Address:
Side By Side
South Leys Campus, Enderby Road
Scunthorpe
DN17 2JL
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 03/08/2023
Registered person: Little Owls (Scunthorpe) Limited
Register(s): EYR, CCR, VCR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 17:00
progress in their understanding of early mathematical skills and language as they explain
that one side of the weighing scale 'is the heaviest because it is the lowest'.
Next steps
Leaders should focus sharply on the improvements planned to support newer members of
staff, so high-quality teaching practice is fully embedded to continually enrich children's
learning experiences and accelerate their progress.
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with children, leaders, the special educational needs coordinators,
practitioners and some parents during the inspection.
We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the
quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The
registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for
children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage.

Local authority: North Lincolnshire
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 27 January 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
0 to 4
Total number of places
70
Our grades explained
Exceptional
Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.
Strong standard
The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of
them.
Expected standard
The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are
following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional
standards expected of them.
Needs attention
The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary
improvements.
Urgent improvement
The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of
education and/or care.

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspects
services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects
and regulates services that care for children and young people.
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