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Little Diggers Montessori Bosham

Little Diggers Montessori Bosham is a day nursery in Chichester for children aged 0 to 4, with 85 registered places. Ofsted report card, 28 August 2026: Expected standard in 6 areas; safeguarding standards met.

1-3 Broadbridge Business Centre, Delling Lane, Bosham, Chichester, PO18 8NF

Key facts

Type
Day nursery (Full day care) (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Ages
0 to 4 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Registered places
85 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Registered
2 September 2025 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)

Opening hours

Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 18:00

Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 28 August 2026

Who runs it

Little Diggers Montessori Bosham is run by Little Diggers Montessori Bosham Ltd (Ofsted register).

Latest inspection

  • Inclusion: Expected standard
  • Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
  • Achievement: Expected standard
  • Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard
  • Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard
  • Leadership and governance: Expected standard
  • Safeguarding standards met

Source: Ofsted, inspection on 28 August 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children experience a welcoming, calm and nurturing environment, where staff know them well and support their individual needs. Most children separate confidently from their parents and carers at drop-off times and settle quickly, supported by secure bonds with staff. For children who struggle with separation, staff provide close emotional comfort. They use tools, such as family photo books, successfully to provide reassurance and establish a sense of belonging at the start of the day. Children move around the environment with confidence, independently accessing resources. They take part in regular outdoor play and forest and beach school activities. Children benefit from minibus trips to explore local parks and neighbourhood spaces. For example, they take walks in the community to a local quay.

Children typically demonstrate positive behaviour and a clear awareness of the nursery's rules. They treat each other with kindness and practise turn-taking. Children manage their self-care and hygiene routines well, independently washing their hands before eating. During mealtimes, children show positive levels of independence. At snack time, they serve themselves using spoons and pour water from open glass jugs into cups. Children clear away their dirty bowls onto a trolley when finished.

Children participate well in activities tailored to their individual needs. Babies and toddlers explore sensory resources and materials with curiosity. They take part in creative imaginative play. For example, children pretend to fly to the moon while wearing colanders as space helmets. Children expand their literacy and mathematical language. They use terms such as 'full' and 'empty' during water play and use toy diggers to scoop soil in the mud kitchen. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities achieve typical progress from their starting points. They benefit from targeted communication strategies, such as the use of sign language, and an adapted outdoor layout that supports their accessibility.

What Ofsted found in each area

Inclusion: Expected standard

Staff generally ensure that children who require extra help receive effective support through tailored and typically high-quality care that promotes their development. For example, staff collaborate closely with portage workers and occupational therapists to manage care for children with identified developmental needs. They successfully implement specialist advice to help children to develop small-muscle control. This includes practising handling open cups securely during daily routines. Staff often receive additional training and support to implement these inclusive approaches across the nursery. This joint work ensures that individual care plans remain responsive to each child's circumstances.

Leaders maintain a secure understanding of children's individual needs and their ongoing progress. They use appropriate evidence to inform their decisions about targeted funding, ensuring all families access equal learning opportunities. Staff share targets during regular review meetings with parents and carers to build a shared approach to home learning. Typically, leaders identify children's needs quickly and accurately, including any emerging or changing developmental difficulties. Staff maintain high expectations for all children. They provide regular help to make learning accessible and support children's wellbeing.

Leaders work closely with outside professionals and children's social care services. They ask for and use advice from specialist teams whenever it is needed to support children and their families. For instance, leaders take part in joint planning meetings with speech therapists, health visitors and family support workers. This regular collaboration ensures that targeted help is organised quickly for children who need extra support with their learning and wellbeing.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders maintain an accurate understanding of the quality of curriculum and teaching across the nursery. They design a curriculum that covers all learning and development requirements of the early years foundation stage. Leaders use assessments to check what children know to plan activities for their different starting points and needs. For example, staff use regular check-ups to see how each child is doing and to pick their next learning steps.

Staff prioritise children's physical, personal, social and emotional development across all age groups. They introduce mathematical concepts and vocabulary purposefully during daily play. For example, staff model descriptive words during routines. Furthermore, staff use clear interactions to support children's language and communication skills. Overall, leaders make sure that the curriculum is typically taught well. However, at times, there is a degree of inconsistency between the delivery of the intended learning. For example, while staff are typically successful at identifying what children enjoy doing, they occasionally focus more on documenting the activity, rather than on interacting with children to extend their learning.

Leaders successfully structure learning areas to help prepare older children for school. They carefully adapt these learning goals so that younger children can also join in at their own pace. Staff provide targeted help and make secure adaptations to ensure that the curriculum is inclusive for all children. For instance, staff use visual aids and specific learning tools to make activities accessible to everyone. Leaders combine a variety of different teaching methods across the curriculum, such as forest school, beach school and a Montessori classroom. They use these to provide more well-rounded learning opportunities, such as to help children build independence and learn to stay safe.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children generally make steady progress through the curriculum from their individual starting points. They securely build their communication and language skills. For example, younger children look at picture books and copy the colour names that staff label. They practise focusing their attention, listening carefully and following daily instructions. This helps children to share their thoughts with staff and their friends during group activities. However, minor inconsistencies in teaching mean children occasionally do not consistently achieve even more.

Children who face barriers to learning or with special educational needs and/or disabilities typically achieve well. For instance, children who find transitions difficult learn to manage room changes smoothly. They benefit from staff breaking these changes down into small and familiar steps to build their confidence. Children learn to participate happily in group games and share space and resources well.

Furthermore, children are suitably prepared for the next stage of their education. They generally build early literacy skills by listening to songs and stories frequently. Older children count objects and explore mathematical ideas during daily play. They successfully learn the routines required to be ready for school. For example, children practise wearing their uniforms and enjoy back-and-forth conversations about their interests.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Leaders establish a positive environment, with commonly understood expectations for behaviour. Children build warm and trusting relationships with their key persons and interact confidently with staff. Staff support children to develop positive social skills, encouraging them to treat others with kindness, care and respect. For example, staff actively sit with children during table activities to model and support positive interactions. They teach children how to talk through disagreements and understand their emotions. Younger children learn to play collaboratively and share equipment happily within the outdoor spaces.

Leaders promote regular attendance and punctuality by keeping a close record of attendance patterns. They work closely with parents and carers to identify and overcome any specific challenges families face. Staff carefully consider children's individual needs, family circumstances and developmental stages when supporting them. This sensitive and targeted approach helps children to establish healthy daily routines and settle into nursery life smoothly.

Staff use positive behaviour management strategies. For example, they use gentle and calm reminders to redirect children safely if they get distracted. Staff use explicit praise to reinforce positive choices. For instance, they give warm encouragement when children sit nicely. Leaders are actively working on staff being fully consistent with behaviour management. All staff have completed positive behaviour training to ensure these supportive methods are used across the nursery.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Staff typically establish secure and responsive attachments with babies and children from a young age. Key persons are generally sensitive to individual needs, helping children build positive emotional security. Leaders provide calming areas with things, such as soft cushions and books. Staff use these spaces to help children manage their feelings during daily play. This nurturing care enables children to settle smoothly and develop a secure sense of emotional wellbeing.

Staff generally plan daily routines well to support children's individual personal needs. This practical support ensures that children who face barriers to learning feel a sense of belonging. For instance, staff work closely with parents and carers to follow familiar patterns for children's sleep times and feeding routines. Leaders also provide healthy and balanced meals for all children. A dedicated catering team makes all of the healthy snacks on site in their café-style room. However, leaders have not consistently monitored staff's understanding of training, to make sure these effective practices are consistent throughout the team.

Children learn to look after their bodies and understand how to keep themselves safe. Staff generally support children well to manage their personal hygiene, including washing their hands independently. They also teach children about personal safety during daily outings. For example, staff use regular community trips to teach children about road safety. Children learn to follow instructions when crossing roads and exploring the neighbourhood safely. This positive guidance helps children learn to look after themselves.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders promote a supportive and inclusive work environment across the nursery. They implement an open-door policy to protect staff wellbeing and carefully manage workloads. Leaders remain approachable and involved on the ground daily. To help staff connect outside of work, leaders have developed inclusive sports clubs. They use thorough safer recruitment practices and digital tracking software to manage all staff background checks effectively and efficiently.

Leaders provide regular, relevant and appropriate training to all staff members. However, they have not checked that staff's understanding of all of the training is consistent. This leads to some minor inconsistencies in staff practice and children's day-to-day experiences. Leaders have taken action to review their procedures for outings, particularly during transitional times. This ensures all children remain accounted for and are always effectively supervised. Furthermore, leaders have ensured all staff, including those with lead roles for safeguarding, have sufficient knowledge and understanding of their responsibilities. This supports an open culture of safeguarding where children's safety and welfare are promoted as a priority.

Leaders demonstrate a secure understanding of the nursery's unique community context. They understand the varied background characteristics of the families who attend. Leaders listen carefully to parent feedback and collaborate effectively with external professionals to review service choices. They establish supportive links with nearby services, including neighbourhood libraries and local businesses, to create real-life learning opportunities for children. Parents feel valued because leaders are responsive, accessible and share helpful updates about daily nursery routines consistently.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

  • Leaders should strengthen the support for staff to address minor inconsistencies in their practice.
  • Leaders should review their monitoring arrangements to better assess staff's understanding and comprehension of training.

Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 28 August 2026. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Inspection history

  • 8 October 2025: Actions after a concern (report)

Ofsted report cards (England, from November 2025)

Since 10 November 2025 Ofsted has graded nurseries and pre-schools on a report card. There is no single overall grade. Instead, each of six areas gets one of five grades: Exceptional, Strong standard, Expected standard, Needs attention, Urgent improvement.

The six areas are inclusion; curriculum and teaching; achievement; behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines; children's welfare and wellbeing; leadership and governance. Safeguarding is judged on its own, as met or not met.

Expected standard means the setting does what Ofsted expects of every setting. Strong standard and Exceptional are above that; Needs attention and Urgent improvement mean Ofsted found things the setting has to put right.

Source: Ofsted reports

Funded childcare hours in England

All 3 and 4 year olds in England can get 15 hours of free childcare a week, for 38 weeks of the year.

Working parents of children aged 9 months to 4 years old can get 30 hours of free childcare a week for 38 weeks of the year (Free Childcare for Working Parents), if they meet the earnings rules. You confirm your details every 3 months.

Some 2 year olds can get 15 hours a week when the family gets certain kinds of extra support.

The hours are used at a registered provider that offers them, so ask each nursery how it offers the funded hours.

Source: GOV.UK: Free Childcare for Working Parents, check if you're eligible · GOV.UK: Free childcare and education for 2 to 4 year olds (checked 31 October 2026)

Other nurseries nearby

  • Ladybird Montessori Nursery Ltd - Pre-school, Chichester PO18 8QF, ages 1 to 4, 20 places, 0.5 miles
    Ofsted, 18 September 2025: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
  • Fishbourne Pre-School - Day nursery, Chichester PO18 8BE, ages 2 to 4, 26 places, 1.4 miles
    Ofsted, 28 January 2022: Good overall; safeguarding is effective

Schools nearby

Little Diggers Montessori Bosham on the Ofsted website