Happylittlesunbeams

About Us

We are so proud to offer high quality childcare in the centre of Middlesbrough. The nursery has a warm, loving, enriched environment where all children shine!

Come and visit us so that you can see for yourself! We are situated just off Linthorpe Road, really easy to get to, on site parking and 5 min walk to the University of Teesside.

My name is Allison, my nursery is called Happy Little Sunbeams Day Nursery Ltd, previous to this I was an Ofsted Registered Childminder and now have a nursery off Linthorpe road, Middlesbrough. I have cared for children of all ages for many years and I have a genuine caring and loving nature. The nursery is very involved in the local community and we try to support our families to the best of our ability to ensure they receive the support from their community if required, we have been involved with local food banks and supported local charities to support the community and some of our families at times of need especially with the increased cost of living. We offer coffee mornings for our parents including discussions and support about their topic of choice i.e. toilet training, teething etc.

My staff are fully trained and we operate safer recruitment, very stringent interview process and a thorough induction programme. Parents are trusting us with their precious goods and we pride ourselves on the wonderful care we provide. The setting offers an interesting, welcoming and warm environment for your child and we have kept it very home from home.

I worked as a Probation Service Officer for 17 years, this was prior to me setting up my childminding business, I had my second child through IVF and decided to take the leap into childcare. During my job with the Probation Service I worked with families, I loved being involved with the children of the families and established some lovely relationships.

My children were in childcare in the past, so I understand your anxieties, I remember feeling so upset when I left my children, after a short time my children thrived with their learning and development and became so confident mixing with other children. Most children settle after a couple of weeks, I think as parents we struggle more with separation, it is hard but in my nursery we offer such a family orientated approach. I can guarantee that your child will eventually be fine and so will you when you feel safe in the knowledge that they are settled. You know when they are settled, they get used to the routine, they know that your coming back to collect them at the end of the day they soon adapt to this, Trust me, it does get easier!

In order to settle your child into the setting we work with you to support this transition, offering 2 hours free settling in sessions. It is also important to us that you and your child feels comfortable prior to them starting the setting and throughout their stay. We will work together with you to ensure that your child achieves their full potential and prepare them for school and life in general and help them to gain in confidence.

We constantly communicate with parents via the baby 's days system that we use in our nursery, we are paperless! you will receive diaries, photographs of your child enjoying their time, menu's and observations, the list is endless, this system has proven to be extremely beneficial for us to work in partnership to ensure your child receives the best start and achieves their developmental milestones in preparation for school life. At the same time your child will have thoroughly enjoyable days at the nursery, we love outings so we visit the local parks, playgroups, sessions at the central library and other visits throughout the term and holidays. Your child will learn through play supported by their key worker and a full curriculum of activities planned through out the term, we incorporate celebrations, we are inclusive and very diverse.

We strive to provide each child in our care with the essential knowledge that children need to prepare them for future success, this is defined by Ofsted as 'Cultural Capital'. It is about giving children the best possible start to their early education. Furthermore, our practitioners ensure that British Values are incorporated and demonstrated through carefully planned activities with the children, as well as embedding these into their daily practice. The four British Values in the EYFS are; Individual Liberty, Mutual Respect and Tolerance, Democracy and Rule of Law.

Our staff

All staff are trained in paediatric first aid, safeguarding and child protection, they are qualified in food hygiene and constantly training in all areas of health and safety. They are qualified at different levels in childcare. We have a SENDCO who strictly adheres to the requirements of the Send Code of Practice and she works with other professionals to ensure children receive the best start by identifying support needs early on in their development.
We operate Safer Recruitment and all staff are placed on a lengthy induction, we constantly revisit this via supervision sessions, appraisals, inhouse training and workshops. A full DBS is required and update service is checked each year to ensure disclosures of changes are discussed at the earliest opportunities.

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WHAT WE CAN OFFER

We can provide a home from home experience for your child within our setting, the Nursery is based on Park Road North - off Linthorpe Road in Middlesbrough.

Teaching and learning:

We will provide lots of wonderful activities, outings and groups e.g. sing and sign (we have a lady who attends during the week to teach the children sign language, dental hygiene and messy play. We strive to ensure that your child enjoys themselves and feels settled in our setting and that they have an excellent relationship with their key worker. We provide a full curriculum of topics, activities and play, we complete observations and summative assessments of your child's learning and development, termly reports and statutory documents e.g. Age 2 year progress checks and transitions before reception age. We also meet with school staff to ensure that when your child is moving to school nursery the transition is smooth to support you as parents/carers and your child to enjoy the experience.

We fully adhere to the Early Years Foundation Stage and the 7 Areas of Learning. We incorporate the areas into the play and topics that we will cover to help your child to develop in the areas of learning to prepare them for school.

Prime Areas:

1 Personal, social & emotional development
2 Communication & Language
3 Physical Development

Specific Areas:

4 Literacy
5 Mathematics
6 Understanding the World
7 Expressive Arts & Designs

Food, drinks and health:
Children are provided with breakfast, morning snack, afternoon snack and lunch and evening meal.
We have an in-house cook who is trained in Level 2 and Level 3 Food Hygiene and intensive training in awareness of allergens. She has catered for all dietary needs over the time we have been open and she prides herself on the quality of food she provides. She involves the children in cooking activities and teaches them the eat well plate. We offer individual named drinks bottles filled with fresh water and they are replenished frequently and offer juice or milk with meals. We have received a "Good" rating 5 stars from the Food standards agency on 3 inspections since we have been open. We have achieved the new Early Years Eatwell Award and all staff are trained in healthy eating and all aspects of this. We are registered with the breastfeeding Welcome scheme and we provide a separate fridge to store breast milk.

We ensure that the children are involved in our toothbrushing scheme, this is monitored by NHS and they observe us frequently to ensure we are meeting guidelines. We provide your child with a toothbrush and toothpaste in the setting, these are stored appropriately and are replenished regularly. We have two cleaners and they work on both floors to ensure the cleaning in the nursery is thorough and deep cleans take place each evening. Staff also clean all toys after sessions to ensure the spread of infection is kept to a minimum. We remained open throughout the pandemic and we had minimal cases of Covid, we managed this brilliantly and supported our families who continued to attend over this period. We keep a well organised, clean and cared for environment for our children, all repairs are carried out immediately, we are covered for everything in the nursery and the following checks are completed annually, quarterly or as and when required; health and safety checks, fire safety, fire extinguishers and other fire safety equipment, all children are involved in the fire evacuation drills, electrical testing, gas safety, emergency lighting, CCTV security, legionella. Our IT company ensure our server is encrypted and adheres to GDPR and Data Protection regulations.

We have achieved the "Millie's Mark" accreditation, all staff are qualified in Paediatric first aid and refresher training annually.

Children have plenty of fresh air, either in our own outdoor area or to the local park, museum or play area.