Little Acorns Day Nursery Ltd

Little Acorns Day Nursery Ltd
Unique reference number (URN): EY104025
Address: Cooks Lane, Kingstone, Hereford, HR2 9EY
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 03/01/2002
Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR
Registered person: Little Acorns Day Nursery Limited
Inspection report: 14 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.

Expected standard
Achievement Expected standard
Children are well prepared for each stage of transition, whether moving between rooms or
progressing to school. They benefit from smooth transitions, which helps them to settle with
confidence. Pre-school children develop their independence, social skills and the knowledge
they need to be ready for school. However, younger children have do not have the same
opportunities to develop their self-care skills as consistently.
Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities or emerging needs benefit from
timely support and clearly identified next steps. This helps them to make steady progress.
Babies develop their physical skills through daily opportunities to crawl, pull themselves up
and practise early walking. Older children continue to build coordination and confidence in
movement.
Children engage in daily singing and enjoy a range of stories. During storytelling, they join in
enthusiastically, often finishing familiar sentences confidently. Children respond to positive
adult interactions during play. Overall, children typically develop the skills and confidence
they need for the next stage, while enjoying engaging learning experiences.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard
High expectations for children's behaviour are evident across the setting. Children
understand routines and what is expected of them. For example, during forest school, rules
are clear and children follow them confidently. Leaders actively promote punctuality and
regular attendance, working closely with parents to ensure children arrive on time and
engage fully in daily routines. Staff reinforce established routines, such as snack and sleep
times with cues, including songs, and carefully consider each child's age, stage of
development, individual needs and circumstances, when supporting them to meet the
setting's expectations. This helps children to settle and engage in daily activities. Staff
promote and model good manners throughout the day. They support children through
routines, such as singing a 'lunchtime song'.
Staff support children to maintain focus and engagement. They adapt their teaching when
children become distracted. For example, during a pre-school story time, staff adjust their
interactions to maintain children's interest and concentration. Staff tailor their support to
children's individual abilities and stages of development. This ensures that all children can
participate meaningfully and benefit from learning opportunities. Children play collaboratively
with their peers or alongside each other across all rooms, demonstrating positive social
interactions.
Staff also prepare children well for times of change. This helps them to develop confidence
and regulate their emotions as they move between rooms. Relationships between staff and
children are secure and trusting. Leaders ensure that staff maintain effective partnerships
with parents and carers to meet children's needs effectively. Children demonstrate

appropriate behaviour, engagement and respect for routines. This helps them to develop
social skills, confidence and positive attitudes toward their learning.
Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard
The nursery provides a warm, welcoming, and safe home-from-home environment. Children
enjoy learning and play in well-organised indoor and outdoor spaces. Staff plan access to
outdoor play and forest school sessions to support children to develop physical skills,
curiosity and confidence. Established routines promote children's security and help them to
understand expectations.
Staff prioritise healthy lifestyles throughout the setting. They promote toothbrushing in the
pre-school room, and good hygiene and healthy eating across all rooms. Children engage in
discussions about their food, understanding how it supports their health. Staff use social
times, including mealtimes, to reinforce manners with staff modelling positive behaviour.
Staff support children to recognise, express and manage their emotions, helping them
develop a secure sense of emotional wellbeing. Secure and responsive relationships and
attachments are established between key persons and children. Staff respond sensitively to
children's needs and support each other to ensure all babies' needs are consistently met.
Settling-in processes are individualised, with staff responding sensitively to babies' and
toddlers' needs, including reassurance, cuddles and following parental guidance. Staff
consistently observe safer sleep practice, with personalised sleep plans in place. Staff
manage transitions effectively. Key persons support children when moving between rooms.
They plan shared routines between age groups to prepare younger children for upcoming
transitions.
Staff promote children's independence in the pre-school room. Children practise toileting,
putting on their coats and wiping their faces. However leaders recognise the need to extend
this teaching more consistently across all baby and toddler rooms and staff, to ensure that
children receive routine encouragement to manage their personal care and self-help skills
that are age-appropriate.
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
There is a clear sequence of learning across all rooms in the nursery. Leaders and staff
share a clear vision for what children should learn and how their learning builds as they
move through the setting. This is evident across all areas of learning and supports children
to make steady progress from their starting points. Staff use regular assessments to check
what children know and can do, ensuring planned activities reflect children's current learning
and development.
In the baby room, staff appropriately prioritise babies' personal, social and emotional
development, focusing on establishing routines and secure attachments. Practitioners use
observations and assessments to understand each babies' abilities and interests. They plan
experiences that support early their social skills, alongside other areas of learning. Physical
development is a consistent focus across the nursery, beginning with babies' early mobility
and progressing to more complex skills, such as riding bicycles in the pre-school room.

Staff promote children's communication and language development through activities, such
as role play and storytelling, using effective questioning to extend children's thinking. They
encourage children to engage with books. Leaders recognise the importance of continuing
to embed these opportunities consistently across all rooms, building on the information
gathered through assessments to meet children's individual needs.
Staff introduce mathematics through children's play and daily routines. They make
considered choices about activities and resources, though this remains an area to focus on.
Staff use assessment to check what children know and can do, enabling them to plan
activities that match children's current understanding. Leaders should continue to strengthen
mathematical provision by ensuring a wider range of purposeful activities and resources are
consistently embedded across all areas of play and in all rooms.
Transition processes between rooms are effective and help children to move on with
confidence. Staff differentiate children's learning and provide appropriate support for
children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Children access forest school
provision, which supports all areas of children's learning well.
Inclusion Expected standard
Leaders and staff know children well. From the start, they build positive working
relationships with parents and carers. Staff complete observations and assessments that
identify promptly any support children may need. Key persons are clear and secure in the
targets and next steps they set for their children. They ensure that they are relevant to their
individual needs and ambitious for each child. Leaders work in purposeful partnership with
other professionals to ensure that staff are knowledgeable and supported to meet all
children's learning needs. Staff are robust in keeping children's progress and the impact of
support under review. This helps them to adjust approaches when needed. This in turn
impacts positively on children's feeling of belonging. Staff adapt the curriculum, where
necessary, to ensure that all children can achieve.
Children with speech and language needs benefit from high-quality support from staff. This
helps them to develop effective communication skills, to support them in the next stage of
their learning. Parents and carers are very positive about the way staff ensure that their
children feel included and continue to enjoy and experience opportunities in the setting.
Leaders and staff support parents of children with special educational needs and/or
disabilities through processes. They communicate regularly about any changes or updates.
These positive partnerships with parents further strengthen outcomes for children.
Leaders use early years pupil premium funding to support children's individual needs. For
example, they provide children with their own resources, such as musical instruments, to
support their speech and language development. This enables children to engage more fully
in learning activities and supports inclusive practice.
Leadership and governance Expected standard
The leadership team provides stability, clear direction and a supportive culture. Leaders
have a shared vision for the setting and a clear understanding of its strengths and areas for
development. They value and nurture staff's wellbeing. Leaders provide guidance, maintain

an open-door approach and ensure that staff's workloads are manageable. Staff report
feeling supported and valued, which helps them provide consistent care and learning for
children.
Partnerships with parents and carers and professionals are effective. Leaders actively value
and respond to parental feedback, using it to develop the quality of the provision. Parents
share extremely positive views about the care and education their children receive,
highlighting the supportive and welcoming environment.
Leaders have identified essential training that staff have taken part in and are given access
to. However, staff recognise the need to access further professional development and are
working to overcome barriers, such as time constraints and staffing, to ensure they can
engage fully. Leaders have not consistently increased professional development
opportunities to enhance staff's skills and knowledge, to directly benefit the quality of the
setting and outcomes for children.
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
Leaders and staff create a very welcoming and homely environment. They work closely with
families and the close-knit community, including the local primary school. Children arrive
happy and content and receive a warm greeting from staff. Key persons build strong bonds
with children, know them very well and meet their needs consistently. Staff help children to
feel safe and secure and build trusting relationships with them. As a result, children make
the progress they are capable of.
Staff individualise the settling-in process for new babies to meet each child's needs. They
cuddle and reassure babies and follow children's routines using information shared by
parents. Staff respond quickly to children's needs and support each other to ensure that they
meet all babies' needs. Leaders and staff ensure that transitions from room to room run
smoothly for each child.
Staff provide lots of engaging and meaningful resources, indoors and outdoors. They create
an inclusive environment, where all children can access learning opportunities that meet
their individual needs. Staff listen closely to children's thoughts and ideas and use these to
build children's confidence. They use their knowledge of each child to plan play
opportunities that children enjoy most.
Staff ensure that all children enjoy regular outdoor play throughout the day. They provide
age-appropriate opportunities for children to develop their physical skills. For example,
babies dig in the sandpit, toddlers climb the steps to the slide and pre-school children ride
tricycles. Staff take children to weekly forest school sessions and local trips to the village hall
for music time. They support children to grow produce in the setting's allotment and use this
food in nursery meals. Staff use these experiences to teach children about healthy eating
and help them to understand which foods are good for them and why.

Inspector:
Lauren Stringfellow
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): EY104025
Address:
Cooks Lane
Kingstone
Hereford
HR2 9EY
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 03/01/2002
Registered person: Little Acorns Day Nursery Limited
Register(s): EYR, CCR, VCR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 17:30
Next steps
Leaders should focus professional development more precisely to enable staff to build
further on their knowledge and skills.
Staff should teach children more consistently to become independent in managing their
personal care needs.
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with leaders, staff, the special educational needs coordinator, the
designated safeguarding lead, the manager and parents and carers 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.
A quality assurance visit by an additional inspector was carried out at this inspection.

Local authority: Herefordshire
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 14 January 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
0 to 4
Total number of places
48
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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