Blog.
Welcome to the Leaps & Bounds Blog. Here you’ll find our latest nursery news and useful information from the world of early years education, childcare and parenting.
Welcome to the Leaps & Bounds Blog. Here you’ll find our latest nursery news and useful information from the world of early years education, childcare and parenting.
Leaps & Bounds Nursery
161 Gillott Road
Edgbaston
Birmingham B16 0ET
0121 246 4922
Email us here
Our nursery is open
from 7.30 am to 6.15 pm
Monday to Friday.
(Closed Bank Holidays,
Public holidays & from
Christmas to New Year)
Leaps & Bounds is a high quality nursery & pre-school in Edgbaston, Birmingham, B16. It offers outstanding childcare near Harborne, Ladywood, Bearwood & Smethwick.
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Rough Guide to Free Childcare Through Universal Credit
Support for Children Under 5 with SEND: a Guide for Parents
Predicting Your Baby’s Eye Colour: Fact vs. Fiction
Dyspraxia in Early Childhood: Signs, Support & Solutions
As parents and caregivers, we all want the best for our children’s development and well-being. While every child is unique and may have their own set of challenges, it’s important to be aware of conditions that might affect their growth and learning. One such condition is dyspraxia, a developmental* disorder that can impact a child’s motor skills, coordination, and overall daily functioning. In this article, we’ll provide you with a comprehensive overview of dyspraxia, explain how to recognise its signs, and suggest what can be done to support children who have been diagnosed with the condition.
A Fun Guide to Composting for Kids – Let’s Get Composting!
Young environmental enthusiasts and parents — welcome to the exciting eco-adventure that is composting! Composting is a fantastic way to turn food scraps and garden waste into nutrient-rich soil that helps plants grow big and strong. In this guide, we’ll explore the wonderful world of composting, explain how to set up your compost area and highlight the amazing benefits it brings to your family, garden, wildlife and the environment.
30 Minibeasts for Children to Look Out For (With Free Poster!)
Today’s post is all about this wonderful new minibeasts poster for children to download. It’s free and features 30 small creatures that children, including under-fives, can try to spot when they’re out and about. It’s a great introduction to just some of the thousands of minibeast species found throughout Britain. In a typical year, children should indeed be able to spot many of the minibeasts we show, as they’re mostly quite common. Printing the poster out for them, either as A3 for display or reduced to A4 for them to take on outings, is a great way to encourage them to take an interest in nature and The Great Outdoors. As we’ve said before, spending time around nature is extremely beneficial to children, as is outdoor play, so this is a very worthwhile and beneficial children’s activity. It is fun, interesting, educational, supports the EYFS curriculum, and a whole lot more. Read on to learn how to quickly and easily download the free poster for your child.
The Big Butterfly Count – a Nature-Based Activity for Kids
25 Reasons to Choose Leaps & Bounds Nursery
In today’s article, we give you 25 reasons why Leaps & Bounds Day Nursery would make an excellent choice for your child’s early education and childcare needs. What’s more, Ofsted independently back up many of them. With that in mind, we’ve included several comments from the Ofsted Inspector, who most recently inspected the setting and released her official report in April 2023. Her comments make good reading and represent useful independent feedback about the setting. What’s clear is that, if you have a baby, toddler or preschooler and live or work around the Edgbaston/Birmingham area, Leaps & Bounds Day Nursery would make an excellent choice for your childcare. Let’s take a look.
1. A ‘Good Provider’ Says Ofsted
Quality of education is good at Leaps & Bounds Day Nursery and that’s official! Here’s how Ofsted graded us in their latest report (April ’23):
Overall effectiveness — Good
The quality of education — Good
Behaviour and attitudes — Good
Personal development — Good
Leadership and management — Good
We’ll take a closer look at some of these below.
Talk To Your Little One (Here’s Why)
Introduction to the Leuven Scale of Well-being & Involvement
The Leuven Scale is a simple but powerful tool that can be used in early years education and childcare settings like Leaps & Bounds Day Nursery. The scale is used, through observation, to assess different aspects of children’s development and behaviour, including those with any challenges. The scale is so named because it uses a five-level scale in assessments. For example, the engagement scale will assess whether a child has little or no interest in an activity (Level 1), is easily distracted from the activity (Level 2), superficially engages with the activity (Level 3), shows some motivation and is concentrating on the activity (Level 4) or is highly motivated and interested in the activity (Level 5). Once assessed, the findings can be used to identify areas where additional support may be needed and to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions and programmes designed to provide that support.
Assessment, planning, actioning and reviewing are approached in a continuous, circular way, as illustrated in the accompanying diagram. In this way, any interventions designed to help a child are fully optimised and positively impactful.
The Leuven Scales most widely used in early years settings monitor well-being and involvement, engagement, relationships and classroom behaviour. However, well-being and involvement is usually the prime area of focus in early years settings, so that’s what we’ll concentrate on today.
Read on to learn more about how the Leuven Scale is used in childcare settings, see some examples, learn about its benefits and more.