Leaping Frogs Day Nursery CIC

Victoria Oram, Becky Davies, and their mother Wendy founded Leaping Frogs in 2002 as a small pre-school in Mere with the goal of creating a permanent pre-school setting where they could offer the ideal blend of learning through play with a little more structure than other neighbourhood organisations were providing.
Since both of Victoria's girls were severely deaf from birth, it was challenging to find a setting where they could thrive among their hearing friends.
driving great distances twice a week to an early childhood centre for hearing impaired children and AVUK (a charity based in Oxford who specialise in helping families support their deaf children to learn to listen using hearing technology and speak like their hearing peers).
Because she couldn't find the ideal preschool, she made it herself. It was a vibrant, well-acoustic setting where kids could learn through play while putting a big focus on speech and language.
Her mother Wendy, who had worked in early years, establishing up preschools and operating them for more than 10 years prior, and sister Becky, who had a background in the creative arts, joined forces to start Leaping Frogs Kindergarten.
Despite having only a small number of children at first—the majority of whom were their own—they discovered an abandoned store location in Mere and renovated it into a dynamic atmosphere for learning and development. As word of this exciting new pre school spread, the enrollment steadily increased.
Even though they had to leave their retail premises and quickly locate a new home, the Kindergarten managed to operate extremely well.
Thankfully, George Jeans found them a new location in Mere's The Old Chapel, where the Kindergarten flourished for the next 10 fruitful years.
After spotting an advertising asking if anybody would be interested in using the old picnic site in Zeals for a community project, Leaping Frogs truly moved outside of their comfort zone at this point.
The acre location might provide us the chance to realise our long-held desire of having animals in our nursery, but it would take a lot of effort and resolve.
We spent the whole summer cleaning the property in preparation for the installation of new structures so that we could begin operation as a full-day nursery in September 2012.
We constructed a nursery that reflected our rural setting, housing ponies, pigs, rabbits, sheep, chickens, and ducks. We also made three free-flow classrooms: one for infants up to 2 years old; one for children between the ages of 2 and 3; and one for children between the ages of 3 and 4. Each of these classrooms opens up to reveal our wonderful outdoor adventure playground.
Leaping Frogs Day Nursery was established as a community interest business, which means that all of our profits are donated back to the nursery.
When we had our first OFSTED inspection as a full-day nursery in 2012, we were overjoyed to achieve the most prestigious exceptional in all categories grade. Five years later, our most recent inspector once again gave our facility this certification.
Our nursery is highly praised in our 2018 report, and our inspector was extremely kind about the delightful kids we have here and how much she was amazed by their abilities to be autonomous, negotiate turn-taking, and settle their own disputes—important life skills at such a young age.
What makes our nursery so well-liked?
To become confident, well-behaved, and sociable kids who are prepared for their next big adventure at primary school, the children develop strong skills in communication & language, math, literacy, understanding of the world, personal social and emotional development, expressive arts, and physical development.
. We are fortunate to have such a beautiful nursery in our neighbourhood, and now you have the fantastic space!