Little Rascals

Welby Lane Nursery

Funded 30 hours for 3/4 years & Funded 15 hours for 9 months + and 2 years

Learning & Development

Our approach is based upon the belief that every child is born with the intrinsic desire to learn and explore. We believe in providing children with real first-hand experiences that inspire children and build on their existing knowledge. Our beautiful homely rooms are filled with resources that offer the children opportunities to experience discovery awe and wonder. Our skilled and experienced practitioners encourage the inquiring, expanding thoughts and imaginations of the children.


Throughout the day there is an excellent balance between child-initiated play and adult-led learning. At Little Rascals, we put huge emphasis on the importance of learning through play and allowing children to self-direct their learning. We aim to teach the children how to think instead of what to think.

Learning & Development

Our approach is based upon the belief that every child is born with the intrinsic desire to learn and explore. We believe in providing children with real first-hand experiences that inspire children and build on their existing knowledge. Our beautiful homely rooms are filled with resources that offer the children opportunities to experience discovery awe and wonder. Our skilled and experienced practitioners encourage the inquiring, expanding thoughts and imaginations of the children.


Throughout the day there is an excellent balance between child-initiated play and adult-led learning. At Little Rascals, we put huge emphasis on the importance of learning through play and allowing children to self-direct their learning. We aim to teach the children how to think instead of what to think.

We were awarded a ‘Good’ rating in our latest Ofsted report in 2020.

The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills is a non-ministerial department of the UK government, reporting to Parliament. The body inspects schools and nurseries in order to provide a consistent rating based on the provision and quality of services. Good is next to Outstanding, the highest rating that can be awarded.

Click here to read our latest report.

Fun Activities

Throughout their time at nursery, the children enjoy lots of additional activities that embellish their learning opportunities such as Yoga, Fun Fitness, Baby sign, and Music Classes. Working with small ‘family groups’ of children allows staff to form excellent relationships and enables an individualised family-centred approach to our care thereby ensuring the best outcomes for all children.

By providing an enriched and stimulating environment filled with open-ended learning opportunities, we allow the children to learn and grow in skills necessary to become autonomous, confident individuals.

Out & About

Outdoor play and experiences form an integral part of the nursery day. Many children today miss out on valuable childhood experiences due to the risk-averse society that we live in. It goes without saying that children must be safeguarded, but too much protection can hinder development, depriving them of opportunities to discover and understand their world. Children must learn how to asses risk for themselves.

At Little Rascals, we aim to encourage and inspire children through positive outdoor experiences. We believe only in inappropriate clothing and not inappropriate weather. We have a nursery minibus that enables us to take the children on regular outings such as Twycross Zoo, Twin Lakes, White Post Farm, and many other great places. Local facilities are also well utilised with trips to local parks, Libraries, Swimming baths, and museums.

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Understanding Schematic Play at Little Rascals

At Little Rascals, we believe that how a child plays can tell us just as much about their learning as what they’re playing with. One fascinating part of early childhood development is schematic play the natural, often repetitive behaviours children use to explore ideas and make sense of the world.

What is schematic play?

Simply put, schematic play is the way children investigate a concept through repeated actions and patterns. These patterns might look puzzling or even a little messy to an adult, but for a child, they are meaningful experiments.

Everyday examples of schematic play

You might have seen a child carefully paint a picture, only to cover it completely in scribbles moments later.

Or perhaps you’ve wrapped a gift, only to find the box becomes more fascinating than the toy inside.

Maybe you’ve watched them pour water from one cup to another… again and again and again.

What looks like random or even “messy” behaviour is actually a child’s way of investigating how things work. Each repeated action is part of a bigger experiment, a natural, self-directed process of testing ideas and learning through play.

Why Recognising Schemas is Important

Schemas aren’t something we need to teach; they happen on their own. But by spotting the patterns in a child’s play, we can offer activities and resources that deepen their exploration. Instead of stopping repetitive actions, we can guide them toward safe, creative ways to keep testing their theories.

Nine common play schemas

While every child’s play is unique, these patterns often appear:

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Seeing the learning in action

Some schema behaviours, like throwing objects in trajectory play, might look inconsiderate at first. But when we view them through the lens of schematic play, we can see the careful experimentation behind them. Each repeated action is a child’s way of forming and testing ideas, just like a little scientist at work.

How we support schematic play at Little Rascals

Our educators observe children’s play closely to identify the schemas they’re exploring. We then provide open-ended materials, safe spaces, and activities that give them the freedom to keep testing their ideas. Whether it’s rolling balls down ramps, building intricate patterns with blocks, or creating ‘potions’ at the water table, schematic play is a valued and supported part of our curriculum.

At Little Rascals, we see every box emptied, every tower knocked down, and every “again!” not as repetition for its own sake, but as powerful, joyful learning in progress.

A curious approach

to learning

Children are born with a natural desire to explore the world around them. At Little Rascals, we believe in providing children with natural, open-ended resources. When children play with such materials they are exposed to decision-making and problem-solving skills.

Children can become innovators, designers, planners, explorers, artists, and collaborators as they build, sort, design, manipulate, arrange and stack in a variety of different ways.

Click here to find out more about The Curiosity Approach.

“The wider the range of possibilities we offer children, the more intense will be their motivations and the richer their experiences”

Loris Malaguzzi

Contact Us

Welby Lane Nursery
80 Welby Lane
Melton Mowbray
Leicestershire
LE13 0TD

Little Rascals

Welby Lane Nursery, 80 Welby Lane, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, LE13 0TD

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Our Parent Pack

Our Parent Pack

parent pack from Little Rascals

We'd love to send you out a FREE parent pack, full of helpful information about Little Rascals...

We’d love to send you a FREE parent pack, full of helpful information about Little Rascals…

Free Parent Pack from Little Rascals Day Nurseries
Little Rascals

Welby Lane Nursery

80 Welby Lane

melton Mowbray

Leicestershire

LE13 0TD

Contact Us

Welby Lane Nursery
80 Welby Lane
Melton Mowbray
Leicestershire
LE13 0TD

Little Rascals

2021 © Little Rascals Day Nurseries

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