Little Stars
Little Stars is a day nursery in Littlehampton for children aged 0 to 4, with 97 registered places. Ofsted report card, 22 April 2026: Strong standard in 4 areas, Expected standard in 2 areas; safeguarding standards met.
Ascot Way, Rustington, Littlehampton, BN16 3SB
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
- 97 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
- Registered
- 2 November 2007 (Ofsted childcare register, as at 30 June 2026)
Opening hours
Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:15 - 17:15
Source: Ofsted report, inspection on 22 April 2026
Latest inspection
- Inclusion: Strong standard
- Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
- Achievement: Expected standard
- Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard
- Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard
- Leadership and governance: Strong standard
- Safeguarding standards met
Source: Ofsted, inspection on 22 April 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
What it's like to be a child at this setting
All children thrive at this nursery. Children of all ages arrive keen to start their day. Staff diligently check-in with parents and carers for anything they may need to know to support individual children's days. Babies receive comforting cuddles and support to quickly settle into their explorations. Older children eagerly put their belongings away before seeking out friends and delving into a range of carefully planned activities and play spaces.
Leaders and staff recognise the importance of children feeling safe and developing secure attachments. As such, all children demonstrate genuine happiness and excitement to be at nursery. They have a deeply embedded sense of belonging. Staff work seamlessly to get to know children right from the start. They seek to obtain in-depth information about individual children and their families to build trusting and supportive relationships. A carefully thought out and highly effective key-person system enables staff to build warm and close bonds with children. Staff tailor their care and routines to fully meet children's emotional needs. Children's attendance is prioritised and promoted to maintain these bonds with children, recognising they are the foundations to children's early learning experiences. Children's wellbeing is a continual focus, which is embedded throughout the nursery.
All children benefit from a broad and ambitious curriculum that captures all areas of learning. Staff's comprehensive knowledge of children means they know what children can do and what they need to learn next. This supports children to make their own individual, steady progress from their starting points. Staff skilfully plan an array of play experiences and activities based on children's immediate curiosities, ongoing interests, as well as their individual stage of development. As a result, children immerse themselves in activities and relish in sensory experiences. For instance, babies inquisitively squeeze foam through their fingertips. Older children mix play dough, foam and paint as they explore different textures and colours they can create.
Children have an abundance of opportunities to be physically active indoors and outside. All children have access to carefully considered outdoor play spaces, which give them access to fresh air and supports their large muscle development. Children, including babies, develop a love and desire for being physically active outdoors which supports healthy habits in later life.
What Ofsted found in each area
Inclusion: Strong standard
Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, as well as those who face other barriers to their learning, are extremely well supported. Leaders and staff recognise the importance of prompt identification of any children who may need extra support, be this for their learning or wellbeing needs. There is a team of skilled staff who are responsible for inclusion, recognising the increased impact this can have. These staff have effective and ongoing training to support their roles and fully understand their responsibilities. As a result, processes in place provide staff with support and guidance. Lead staff for inclusion have continual oversight and support children through their skilled interactions daily. This ensures children are supported precisely and consistently.
Leaders, and those responsible for inclusion, have formed robust and collaborative working relationships with external professionals, as well as parents and carers. This ensures continuity for children's care and learning. This effective and collaborative approach means children have swift and ongoing access to a range of specialist support and equipment. In turn, this informs children's individual plans, including specific strategies to meet their personalised needs. This supports these children to make the progress they are capable of.
Leaders proactively seek any additional funding that can be claimed for children. There are rigorous processes in place to monitor how funds are spent to ensure they have the greatest impact on individual children. Leaders and those with overall responsibility for inclusion work extremely hard to ensure that children have any assessments necessary in place prior to starting school. They initiate highly effective and well-planned school transitions to support children and their parents.
Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard
The leadership team demonstrates an accurate and reflective view of the quality of their curriculum and teaching practice. It actively spends time in rooms and has a robust oversight of children's ongoing progress. This enables leaders to identify and prioritise areas for improvements swiftly and accurately. For instance, leaders continually reflect on the abilities of their staff team. They recognise those staff with less experience need tailored support and mentorship as they grow and develop their understanding of child development and in turn the delivery of the curriculum. Leaders, alongside experienced staff, guide and coach those who are still learning which supports and enhances their own personal effectiveness overtime. Although generally, the teaching practice and delivery of the curriculum is of very high quality and in place, leaders recognise that teaching practice is not yet consistently embedded to the high standards they strive for. This means that sometimes, children do not always fully benefit from the depth and quality of fully embedded, consistent teaching from all staff.
The curriculum is carefully designed to support all children's development. It is broad, ambitious and supports children's learning across all seven areas of learning and development. Staff monitor children's progress through effective assessment processes. Staff assess what children already know and can do before planning appropriate next steps. This ensures that all children are well supported to continually build on their existing skills.
Children's communication and language skills are a high priority. The environment is rich with opportunities to support children's developing communication. Babies hear simple and clearly spoken words. They practice modelled words, such as 'squeeze' and 'soft', and delight in song times. Older children learn new words, such as 'reverse', in context as staff explain what this word means. They develop conversational skills as they engage in purposeful back-and-forth discussions. Those children who are receiving additional help to develop their communication skills receive carefully considered and bespoke support. As such, all children have opportunities to broaden their growing vocabulary and communication skills.
Achievement: Expected standard
Children, including those who face barriers to their learning, make secure progress from their individual starting points across all areas of learning. Children of all ages enjoy the ability to explore texture though a range of sensory and messy play activities. For instance, babies explore how foam feels as they squeeze and squash foam in their hands. Older children delve into messy play with joy. Some children enjoy learning what colours make new colours when they are mixed, other enjoy seeing how far they can get foam to travel as they fill their hands with foam and clap softly and then quickly, seeing which travelled the furthest and highest.
Children have exposure to mathematics throughout the nursery. Babies hear early numbers through familiar songs, and staff's narration of their play. Young children begin to learn different concepts through their exploration, such as whether various vessels are full or empty. Older children consider who is taller as they see who can stretch the tallest to reach the ceiling. These opportunities support children to continually build on their own knowledge and skills in preparation for their next stage of learning.
All children develop their core muscles as they learn to navigate the environment, manoeuvre their whole bodies, climb and balance. Children independently turn pages in books, use their imaginations to construct using small parts. They learn to use scissors as they carefully cut the stems from freshly cut flowers. This increases their small muscle strength as they develop their hand-eye coordination skills and dexterity. As a result, children develop secure physical skills.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard
Children of all ages, including those who face barriers to their learning, benefit from extremely well-thought out and established routines. Children know the routines of the day well. Those children who need it receive gentle reminders so they know what is happening next. The familiarity and consistency in the routines supports children's excellent sense of belonging and ability to remain engaged. Leaders consider the needs of the nursery, staff and children. They implement staff who take on the role of 'base boss' who are not needed in their daily ratio. This is highly successful in ensuring staff receive additional support. For instance, these staff support times of transitions and changes in activities to follow children's immediate curiosities, without taking key staff away from children. This means children's levels of engagement remains highly focused and uninterrupted as staff can maintain their attention. Leaders actively promote children's attendance in order to ensure they benefit from the full experience nursery offers.
Staff are nurturing, diligent and genuinely care for children. They support children's confidence, independence and self-esteem at every opportunity. Staff offer an abundance of purposeful praise which boosts children's self-confidence. In turn, every child, including those who face barriers to their learning, shows resilience and a 'can-do' attitude. For instance, when children find something tricky, they keep trying until they succeed.
Staff are highly effective positive role models who understand the importance of consistency in the messages children receive. As such, children's behaviour is superb. They swiftly follow instructions, are polite and play harmoniously with their friends. Staff remind children about their own and each other's feelings, providing children with the knowledge of what to do should a situation occur that they are not happy with. This supports children to be able to problem-solve themselves as they develop a deeper understanding of social connections and developing friendships.
Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard
Every child's wellbeing is a high priority at this nursery. Leaders recognise children must feel secure and their emotional needs met for them to thrive. The dedicated staff are consistently warm, responsive and attentive, Leaders establish a highly effective and consistent key-person approach. Staff get to know their key children and their families rapidly. They gain a comprehensive and detailed knowledge of children's unique backgrounds, personalities and routines, valuing each child and their family as individuals. This approach is highly effective in promoting children's wellbeing and emotional security.
Staff are attuned to the emotional and developmental needs of each child. As a result, children develop extremely close relationships with staff. They confidently seek them out for play, comfort and praise. Children consistently develop secure routines that promote healthy habits and their overall wellbeing extremely successfully. Staff consider and recognise the individual routines and personal cues of babies seamlessly. Staff personalise all aspects of their routines, including weaning, sleep and milk times. The consistency between home and nursery is highly impactful on how well children are supported to settle in.
Children are supported to make healthy choices. They learn about healthy foods and the impact these have. This helps children to develop secure hygiene routines, as well as promoting exercise and a love of the outdoors. Children have opportunities to explore the world around them as they enjoy trips that stem from their interests and support their development. This includes local green spaces, farms and even trips to London. Staff positively teach children about their differences and what makes them and others unique. This fosters a solid foundation for future healthy habits and inclusivity.
Leadership and governance: Strong standard
The leadership team are both passionate and dedicated. Together, they strive to reach the very best outcomes for every child. Leaders demonstrate an extremely deep understanding of the nursery's strengths. Due to their hands-on approach, they quickly identify areas for development and work quickly to address them. Leaders work closely together creating a positive working environment that is extremely well established. The culture of continuous improvement is commendable, and effective due to ongoing monitoring and self-reflection. Leaders continue to support staff to develop and embed their teaching practice. They recognise that the high level of teaching and delivery of the curriculum they strive for, is not yet consistently embedded. As such, they are providing mentorship, guidance and support to raise this over time. This is already having a positive impact.
Staff show commitment to their roles and speak openly and confidently about training opportunities. This includes specific training, research opportunities and to gain their early years qualifications. Staff are highly motivated to upskill and learn new things. Staff report that leaders are approachable and highly supportive, which complements staff's dedication and motivation.
Leaders work collaboratively with parents and carers and a range of other professionals. Parents are highly complimentary of the care and learning their children receive. In particular, parents and carers report their children have flourished in self-confidence which they attribute to the nursery. Parents of children who face barriers to their learning are extremely grateful for the faultless communication, ongoing support and the guidance they receive. They know they can always reach out to any member of the team.
What the setting must and should do next
The provider should:
- Leaders should continue to support staff to raise the quality of teaching and the delivery of the curriculum even further, so this is consistently embedded and of high quality.
Ofsted's words, from the report on the inspection on 22 April 2026. Read the full report on the Ofsted website. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Inspection history
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
- Happy Days Pre-School Playgroup - Pre-school, East Preston BN16 1HU, ages 2 to 4, 30 places, 0.3 milesOfsted, 27 June 2024: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Activ8 Nursery East Preston - Day nursery, East Preston BN16 1ES, 65 places, 0.5 miles
- Activ8 Nursery Rustington - Day nursery, Rustington BN16 3HB, 53 places, 0.6 miles
- East Preston Village Pre School - Day nursery, Littlehampton BN16 1JP, ages 2 to 4, 26 places, 0.6 milesOfsted, 13 December 2022: Good overall; safeguarding is effective
- Angmering Day Nursery - Day nursery, Littlehampton BN16 4HY, ages 2 to 4, 30 places, 0.6 milesOfsted, 5 January 2024: Outstanding overall; safeguarding is effective
Schools nearby
- Georgian Gardens Community Primary School - Primary, 0.2 miles
- East Preston Junior School - Primary, 0.5 miles
- East Preston Infant School - Primary, 0.5 miles
- The Angmering School - Secondary, 0.6 miles
- Rustington Community Primary School - Primary, 0.9 miles