Nursery

Beginning nursery is a significant milestone, and our settling-in sessions are carefully crafted to ensure a seamless and enjoyable transition for you and your child. These sessions provide your little one with the opportunity to gradually explore their new surroundings, promoting a sense of comfort and confidence. At the same time, they allow you to develop a trusting relationship with our dedicated Nursery team.

We celebrate your child’s uniqueness through our personalised care. Whether it’s catering to dietary preferences or supporting developmental milestones, our caring staff offer dedicated attention to help your little one flourish in a nurturing and supportive environment, preparing them for the next steps in their educational journey.

We understand the importance of flexibility for busy families. That’s why we provide care 51 weeks a year, with convenient wrap-around services from 8 am to 6 pm.

Children’s home sleep routines are followed at Little Elmhurst where possible using our sleep pods, mats and cosy beds. Every child has their own bag with a new blanket and sheet provided when they arrive. This is washed weekly by us. Learning to sleep at nursery is a worry every parent shares. Please be assured, our careful planning of quiet times means even very young babies will be able to sleep at our nursery. Children are always supervised whilst sleeping and checks are conducted every 15 minutes.

Getting ready for the next big step! Based on the main Prep school site, our Pioneers are well prepared for Reception, getting to know the school routines and staff. Towards the end of their time in Pioneers, we spend 6–8 weeks specifically working on a Pre-Reception to Reception Transition Programme – tailored to equip children with the skills, confidence, and independence they need to thrive in the Prep School. By focusing on emotional readiness and academic preparation, we make sure your child’s transition is smooth, successful, and exciting.

We believe every child deserves a vibrant and enriching education. Our diverse curriculum is designed to spark creativity, curiosity, and academic growth across various subjects. From early literacy and numeracy to music, art, outdoor learning, and Spanish lessons, we inspire a lifelong love of learning from an early age. Literacy and numeracy are seamlessly integrated into our activities, helping children develop an understanding of letters, sounds, and numbers. By fostering independent problem-solving skills, we lay a solid foundation for their future and ensure a smooth transition into Reception.

We provide year-round nursery care for children from the age of six months to school age. We are open Monday to Friday, from 08:00 until 18:00, for 51 weeks of the year.*

Sessions & Fees

Our fees can be found below. (Please note that sessions booked are non-refundable.)

A minimum of 3 full days are required for all children up to their pre-reception year, when we recommend this rises to enable a smoother transition into school.

Additional information

• All fees are due and payable in advance.
• A personal accident insurance is also included which covers your child 24 hours a day, 365 days a year world-wide, whilst a pupil at the school, against permanent disability or death. Should you require any further information, leaflets are available in the school office.
• No reduction can be made on fees due to absence. Fees remission insurance, which covers the return of fees if a child is ill for 5 or more days (including weekends) is available and added to the fee as an optional extra.

Children attending the nursery setting on a full-time basis will receive a 10% discount on the net fee after funding. This applies to any child attending Little Elmhurst from Monday to Friday.

We offer 15 / 30 hours of Government funding for children aged 9 months to 4. All settings that are open for 51 weeks per year are permitted to stretch this entitlement across the year, which equates to 11 hours’ or 22 hours’ funded childcare per week. (Please note that this funding does not cover additional extras.)

Here, we focus on the prime areas of the EYFS statutory framework – Personal, Social and Emotional Development; Physical Development; and Communication and Language. These form the basis for successful learning in the four specific areas of the EYFS later on.

Sensory play and experiences at Little Elmhurst will support brain development, enhance memory, and increase the ability to respond to age-appropriate tasks and problem solving through discovery.

We enable the children at Little Elmhurst to really explore and realise their ideas by setting up our environment to allow for open-ended learning opportunities guided by the children’s interests. We incorporate literacy and mathematics opportunities into our adventures, as well as play and shared learning experiences, to ensure children develop an awareness of numbers, patterns, words, rhyme and stories from an early age.

In addition to our daily free-flow outdoor learning, age-appropriate activities and exploration of the main school grounds are an integral part of the learning experience.

In addition to continued development and learning through the children’s interests and outdoor experiences, daily literacy and mathematics sessions help them to gain skills, knowledge and understanding of the specific  areas of the EYFS statutory framework: Literacy; Mathematics; Understanding the World; and Expressive Arts and Design.

The children in our pre-reception stage are based in two dedicated rooms within the main school giving them regular access to specialist teaching during term time, allowing them to broaden their knowledge of music, dance, art and language. Developing musicality and a love of rhythm and rhyme increases sensory development, coordination, vocabulary and creative approaches to learning, as well as being a medium for building relationships. Similarly, exploring artistic expression and developing imagination and practical skills positively impacts and engenders the idea of ‘pioneering’ in addition to both individual and collective discovery. Meanwhile, introducing the children to foreign languages at an early age enables them to broaden their language acquisition skills.

Whilst at Little Elmhurst, our Pioneers will also develop a range of physical skills, such as balancing and basic throwing and catching, which are important for further developing fine motor skills, as well as hand-eye coordination.