how We Help

Little Stars U5s

Little Stars provides specialist early years support, helping children with additional needs learn, grow, and thrive in a caring environment.

Little Stars is our specialist provision for children aged 2–4 with additional needs, created to offer a warm, nurturing and accessible environment where every child can shine.

Many children with additional needs are unable to access mainstream nurseries due to unsuitable environments or their needs being perceived as beyond a setting’s capabilities. At Little Stars, we believe that early identification and intervention are crucial in helping children reach their full potential.

We specialise in supporting young children who benefit from this personalised environment, providing high-quality childcare that actively develops communication, interaction and social skills, giving our youngest stars the very best start in life.

What Makes a SEN Nursery Special?

We understand that all children learn and develop in different ways and at different times. This is even more prominent amongst SEN children and therefore specialised care from an early age gives them the best start on their educational journey. Just a few of the steps we take to make our setting so special are:

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  • We recognise that each child is different and unique and will work with them individually to ensure each child reaches their full potential as they follow the EYFS curriculum.
  • We have well established professional development processes for staff to ensure they are well trained to care for children with conditions such as epilepsy, diabetes and those that require gastrostomy feeding.
  • High ratios of staff to children including additional intervention for those who we feel would benefit from extra support.
  • We have fostered an understanding community that takes a holistic approach to care meaning we take time to consider the whole family dynamic. We understand the impact a child’s physical and/or learning disability may have on the family unit and aim to support this.
  • Our experience with children with disabilities and additional needs mean we have an extensive awareness of the additional vulnerabilities of children with SEN. We focus on creating a culture of safety and prioritise safeguarding in all of our services.
  • Experienced early years educators come together in partnership to use their combined teaching styles, experiences and knowledge to plan different styles of play and learning.
  • Specialist experience means that we can provide guidance and empower parents to advocate for the child in cases that require EHCPs or additional support.
  • We work in close partnership with a range of external professionals and agencies, including Occupational Therapists (OT), SEND Early Years teams, Speech and Language Therapists (SaLT) and Educational Psychologists (EP), to ensure each child receives coordinated, consistent and well-informed support.

What We Offer

At Little Stars we use a nurturing child centred approach to allow children the freedom of choice to explore their environment and the resources around them. This allows us the opportunity to gain an insight into the children’s interests, which we can then use when planning focus-led activities to help them achieve their development goals and next steps. Below are just a few examples of the specialist care we provide:

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  • Children are all allocated a key person who they can build trusted and secure relationships with as an essential part of their development. This person monitors progress and creates individual, setting-based support plans, ensuring interventions are targeted, consistent and embedded throughout daily practice.
  • We have a variety of activities and resources available, including but not limited to role play, arts and crafts, messy play, maths and literacy activities. All of which, we use to link with the EYFS National Curriculum to promote equal opportunities to develop their learning and skills.
  • All of our facilities have been curated for those with special education needs such as our sensory room and soft play. These are used to help a child regulate their emotions and can be used to relieve the tension, built up energy or frustration that come with communication delays.
Two children in jackets draw colorful chalk pictures on an outdoor blackboard.
  • We use specific resources to optimise learning. This can include communication aids like visuals and Makaton. If a child requires additional resources we work on an individual basis to put these in place.
  • We value our relationship with parents and carers and are extremely committed to working in partnership with them to provide top quality care and services for the children. We regularly receive positive feedback regarding our communication with parents including being praised for it in our 2025 Ofsted report: "Partnerships with parents are excellent. Leaders and staff provide parents with an abundance of support and guidance...Parents talk incredibly highly of the progress their children make and how they feel part of a family at the setting.”

Opening Hours, Sessions & Fees

ItemDetails
Opening HoursMonday 9am - 2:15pm, Tuesday & Wednesday 9am - 3pm (term time only, closed bank holidays)
Morning SessionsMonday - Wednesday: 9am - 11:45am
Afternoon SessionsMonday: 12:15pm - 2:15pm, Tuesday & Wednesday: 12:15pm - 3:00pm
Full Day SessionsMonday: 9am - 2:15pm, Tuesday & Wednesday: 9am - 3:00pm
Funding OptionsEarly Years Entitlement - For more information please see the document below.
Fees and Funding Rates£8.37/hour (2 year olds), £5.70/hour (3–4 year olds)
Little Stars Funding

Admissions & Support

Admission to Little Stars is organised by the Little Stars Manager, and we use a waiting list system when the need arises. The waiting list will be operated at the discretion of the managers.

We understand that obtaining a diagnosis for a very young child can be challenging, so we work with families and external professionals to establish concerns and needs. More information about this process can be found in our Little Stars Admission Policy. Please visit our Referrals Page or contact the Little Stars Manager, Verity via email verity@crtcharity.org if you are interested in your child attending Little Stars.

For those that appreciate the value this service adds to our local community, please visit the ‘Support Us’ tab to find out more on how you can help our Little Stars shine!

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