Following on from a comprehensive review of the Little Owls nursery settings, Leeds City Council are looking for local providers to take on the running of some Little Owls nurseries. The successful provider will take on the nursery as a going concern through a leasehold arrangement. To view the opportunity and make an application, please view the information on Yortender. We are particularly interested to hear from local providers with a proven track record, who can support the diversity of needs in the local community.

The Little Owls nurseries that are being offered are:

• Bramley
• Burley Park
• City and Holbeck
• Hunslet Rylestone
• Meanwood
• Osmondthorpe
• Rothwell
• Shepherd’s Lane

The closing date for applications is 16th May 2025.

Details of how to view the opportunity and submit an application can be found here on Yortender

Site visits will be available w/c 21st April and 28th and will be advertised on Yortender. Visits will be outside of nursery opening hours and the council would ask that people don’t visit the nurseries outside these prearranged times. After this, there will be an evaluation where they will review your responses to the pre-qualification process to be completed by the end of June 2025.

Once providers have been selected and all due diligence has taken place, nurseries will be handed over to the new provider. The handover is expected to take a minimum of 3 months for each nursery and could take longer depending on the unique context of each nursery. The aim is that by the year end 2025, they will all have been handed over to alternative providers.

Any nurseries where there are no suitable applications will continue to be run by the council.

Further information about the review and decisions leading up to this opportunity can be found here: Executive Board in June 2024 and Executive Board in October 2024.

Please direct any technical enquiries about this opportunity to Yortender , for any other information please contact littleowlsreview@leeds.gov.uk.

VAL Support for Third Sector Organisations interested in submitting a bid

Voluntary Action Leeds (VAL) offers a range of support to not-for-profit organisations, including small community groups, charities and alternative businesses such as cooperatives. If your organisation is considering this opportunity, but would like to get some advice and support around working in a new area, or diversifying your work, VAL can provide the following support:

• We can review draft bids and give feedback before they are submitted
• Funding advice, including different funding sources and deciding which is right for you
• Support for organisations to start generating income, e.g. understanding different alternative business models, specialist training and coaching
• Leeds Funding Support Network, where groups and organisations share their fundraising skills, opportunities for partnerships and different funders come to speak
• Support around developing and strengthening policies, e.g. Safeguarding
• You can join our Third Sector Safeguarding group where safeguarding issues are discussed, and members can contribute to the work plans for the Leeds Children Safeguarding Partnership
• You can join Young Lives Leeds, a network for organisations supporting children, young people (up to the age of 25) and families to share best practice and help to shape city agendas (e.g. Marmot City)
• We can help bring organisations together that may be interested in partnership working. For example, Young Lives Leeds were involved in doing this in the past and as a result Leeds Youth Alliance was developed.
• If you are looking to recruit volunteers, you can promote opportunities through our platform Be Collective. We can help you create a role description, and support you with managing volunteers.
• We offer a wide range of training in topics such as evaluation, roles and responsibilities of trustees, safeguarding and more, which you can access here

You can find out more about the support available on our website, Doing Good Leeds. To access support, please contact Ann Crossland at ann.crossland@val.org.uk