Providing your child with the best possible start in life!
Our nursery has grown and developed and now offers full time day care to 42 children a day aged 0-5 years.
Our dedicated team of nursery staff is led by Linda Norman (NNEB) and Claire Burgess (BA Hons with Qualified Teacher Status) with the support of Senior Manager Jenni Collins (BA degree in early childhood studies) and manager Olivia Galpin (Level 3 Diploma).
Our commitment to high standards of childcare and exciting and engaging learning environments and activities ensures Little Pips Nursery in Cheltenham brings the best out in all of our little pips!
We are open all year Monday to Friday 8:00am-6:00pm, except for bank holidays and Christmas Eve.
Linda, a mother of four, has worked in Education for over 30 years. With four children of her own Linda trained as a NNEB in the 1990s, working in specialist schools and childcare settings.
In 2006 the Little Pips journey began, originally through the acquisition of the Chippenham setting and adding the Cheltenham setting 9 years later in 2015.
Claire, a mother of three, qualified as a teacher in 1995 working in a middle school as well as primary schools and finally as an assistant head teacher for 5 years.
Claire joined Linda to develop the business in 2010 and together they have created the two full, thriving day care settings that make the Little Pips Family.
With over 25 years in the business, Jenni has been instrumental in the development of the Little Pips Nurseries. Working closely with Claire and Linda, Jenni now works across both settings supporting the senior management teams in helping to maintain high standards. Jenni’s own experience as a mother of two as well as her extensive experience in settings enables her to use her expertise to support our strong staff team in providing the highest possible level of childcare.
Olivia has worked for Little Pips for over 7 years and joined us with a strong childcare background including raising her own three children. She leads our fantastic Cheltenham team with the support of her Deputy Manager, Victoria and Executive Manager Jenni as well as Claire who all work closely together on a daily basis
In addition to this Olivia also oversees and supports our apprentices in her role as Apprentice Manager, helping them to become outstanding practitioners and continuing to build and develop our fantastic team.
Working with Little Pips Nursery for many years, Victoria has led every room enabling her to gain a good insight into the leadership of all age groups. As well as supporting Cheltenham in her Deputy Manager role, Victoria is also our Preschool Room Leader as well as working closely with our families and multiple agencies in her role as SENDCo, ensuring our children receive the best possible care and support.
These roles enable Victoria to oversee every aspect of the nursery with the support of the Manager Olivia.
Little Pips in Cheltenham is divided into three main learning areas. These are the dedicated Baby Unit (Baby Bunnies), Toddler Room (Happy Hedgehogs) and Preschool Room (Wise Owls). All of our rooms have free flow access to our exciting outdoor learning environment where the fun continues!
Our Baby Bunnies room is homed in a purpose-built unit which is a warm and nurturing space offering the highest standards of care during these important early days. Double doors lead from the unit into the dedicated Baby Garden ensuring our youngest pips have regular fresh air and are encouraged to explore both indoor and outdoor learning environments.
Our babies go out for daily walks as we believe fresh air and learning about nature are an important part of our children’s development.
We also offer a dedicated sleep room for when tiny minds need a rest!
Our Happy Hedgehogs room is a home from home offering a safe, warm and exciting environment for our adventurous toddlers to learn in. Our staff have been specifically trained to deliver a high quality of care while also creating a supportive, fun and engaging learning environment for the children to develop in. The room offers different areas for the children to explore and their learning is carefully supported by our hard-working ladies.
Our toddlers have free flow access into our wonderful garden where they can sail the high seas on the pirate ship, dig for treasure in the sand pit, make mud pies in our mud kitchen, build in the construction area, help look after our plants in the growing area, explore minibeasts at The Bug Hotel and much more! Our older toddlers regularly enjoy visits to our Wise Owls room as they prepare to transition into preschool.
Our Wise Owls room is a hub of exciting and engaging activities where young minds are actively encouraged to create and explore. Our children are very much a part of this room and help to design the role play area as well us giving input on fun ideas for activities. Our daily routines enable the children to play and explore freely and independently while also understanding the importance of group activities such as singing, dancing, stories, acting, circle time and much, much more!
This also helps our children to start developing their understanding of routines that will be followed when they start big school. In addition to this we also encourage the development of key skills including phonics, mark making (writing), numbers and shapes through fun activities for all and our daily ‘Graduate’ sessions for our children who are starting school the following year. These short, 20 minute, fun sessions ensure our children start Big School with a firm understanding of crucial key skills and knowledge.
It is an extension of the indoor learning environments enabling the children to explore independently as well as take part in more structured activities. Our mud garden (which is incredibly popular!) encourages the children to role play as well as developing their mathematical and scientific knowledge about textures and mixing.
Occasionally they can also find out about living things here too with the help of a wiggly worm or two! We also offer a music area with a range of fun, homemade instruments to play with, a story area with circle of logs, an obstacle course complete with a ‘Wow’ box full of material, nets, bits of wood and carpet tiles for the children to create their own dens, and a huge sand pit for the children to play in. We also offer water play, drawing, painting and much more.
A wooden playhouse, equipped with lots of resources fosters a love of role play and as well as all of this we are very proud of our growing area where the children grow plants, herbs and vegetables from seeds. They help to nurture these and eventually eat the fresh produce!
At Little Pips Nurseries we strongly believe in the importance of fresh air and an understanding of nature for children’s learning and development. Our wonderful garden enables us to ensure that our children have access to the best possible learning environments both inside and outside.
At Little Pips Nursery we believe that full children are happy children! Our dedicated cook prepares all snacks and meals from fresh and we work very hard to ensure our menu provides healthy, balanced meals for all of our children.
The children have a healthy morning snack, a two-course lunch, an afternoon snack and milk and a two-course tea (if staying on after 4pm). All meals and snacks are complimented with water or milk.
Our cook is a talented baker, always ensuring a healthy approach is taken to treats such as cakes. The children also take part in baking a snack once a week which they thoroughly love!
Allergies and medical dietary requirements can be catered for as well as vegetarian options.
Allergies and medical dietary requirements must be endorsed by a medical professional.
Please discuss with the nursery.
Little Pips Nursery provides children with the best possible start in life.
5-7 Arle Avenue
Cheltenham
Gloucester
GL51 8JP
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