Woodlands Tiny Seeds Nursery
Tiny Seeds Nursery is a school-run nursery, firmly rooted at the heart of Woodlands Primary School.
As part of the wider school community, children benefit from a seamless, nurturing start to their education within a familiar, supportive environment.
Our nursery combines the warmth and care of early years provision with the high expectations, values and expertise of a successful primary school, giving children strong foundations for learning, relationships and future success.
Guided by our experienced early years team and shaped by the Woodlands WISER approach, we place curiosity, language and wellbeing at the centre of everything we do.
2 year olds – Little Pips
Little Pips is a warm, homely nursery where our 2–3-year-olds begin their school journey surrounded by care and comfort. It’s a space that feels like home yet brims with awe and wonder. Every corner inviting exploration and discovery.
Natural textures, real-life objects, and a treasure trove of trinkets and resources ignite curiosity and imagination. From cosy home corners to baskets of small-world toys, sand and water play, creative arts, music, and mark-making, children are free to choose, play, and learn in ways that inspire joy and independence.
Our experienced team nurtures language, friendships, and confidence through child-led play and gentle group times filled with stories, songs, and early learning moments. Every day is an adventure, and every child is cherished.
3 year olds – Chestnuts
Chestnuts is our vibrant nursery for 3–4-year-olds – a place where children grow in confidence, explore with curiosity, and develop independence.
Our setting is rooted in nature, rich in language, imagination, and high expectations, with every experience wrapped in care, nurture, and love.
Inside, children enjoy a bright, airy classroom bathed in natural light and filled with authentic, organic materials. Wooden blocks, wicker baskets, and real-life items create a warm, homely feel.
Children can immerse themselves in small-world play with animals and vehicles, build with natural wooden resources, or explore maths and writing areas. There’s dressing-up, a home corner with real utensils, and a beautiful reading nook surrounded by books, puppets, and props to spark storytelling.
Creative opportunities abound with sensory-rich messy play: water, paint, crafts, and playdough, helping little hands develop fine motor skills.
Outdoors, the natural world becomes their playground. Children ride scooters and balance bikes along winding paths, relax on soft grass, and build with large wooden construction blocks. They can get creative in the mud kitchen, climb the grassy hill to the lookout tower, or dig in our expansive sandpit- it feels just like a day at the beach!
Every corner invites exploration, discovery, and a deep connection with the outdoors.
Our experienced early years team are caring, skilled and passionate about giving every child the best possible start.
Key staff
Aimi Mitchell and Amy Walker are our early years leads.
Curriculum
We use the ‘Woodlands WISER’ model to underpin our tailored Early Years curriculum with an emphasis on:
Words, Interactions, Stories, Environment and Rhymes and songs
- Words – teaching children to use a highly ambitious vocabulary.
- Interactions – high quality interactions between the staff and children in the setting.
- Stories – driving our curriculum through stories and encouraging a love of books in all our children.
- Environment provides an enabling environment through the use of open ended resources to promote curiosity and exploration.
- Rhymes and Songs – active engagement with music can impact the way that the brain processes information, enhancing the perception of language and speech.
We have a skills based curriculum where we teach the children the basic skills they need to become successful, giving them the foundations for their educational future.
We enhance this by providing children with knowledge of the world around them through providing them with a wealth experiences, books and investigation.
Settling in
Starting nursery is a big milestone, and we make the transition as smooth and positive as possible.
We begin with open days where families can visit with their children and explore the environment together. Before the official start, we invite children to stay-and-play sessions with their parents, helping them feel comfortable and excited.
Our team also conducts home visits to build strong relationships and understand each child’s needs.
To ensure a calm start, we stagger the start dates, and sessions lengths so every child gets the attention they need.
Finally, we hold parent welcome meetings to share key information and answer any questions, making sure families feel fully supported from day one.
Uniform
Our Early Years children are encouraged to wear the school uniform just like the rest of our school community. Wearing uniform helps our youngest learners feel a strong sense of belonging and pride. Please follow this link to view our school’s full uniform expectations and guidance. Although it is not compulsory in nursery, a full uniform is required for reception class.
Our learning environment
In nursery we provide an exciting, stimulating and caring environment where children’s interests are used to enhance learning opportunities. We celebrate the uniqueness of our children and support them to thrive in confidence and flourish in individuality.
We encourage children to build positive relationships with each other and with the adults in school, to develop new language through talking, singing and storytelling and to explore and engage in new experiences, where they are able to practise new skills with independence.
We are the first setting in Sheffield to have gained The Curiosity Approach accreditation – where we aim for children to use nature as a stimulus, work on their natural curiosity and use real and authentic resources in their play – limiting plastic, and therefore being more sustainable.
The Curiosity Approach
We are the first setting in Sheffield to have gained The Curiosity Approach accreditation. We aim for children to use nature as a stimulus, work on their natural curiosity and use real and authentic resources in their play – limiting plastic, and therefore being more sustainable.
