Pen
At Pen Green Nursery, we offer a warm, inclusive, and inspiring environment where young children thrive and families are deeply involved in their child’s early education. As part of the Pen Green Centre, our nursery provision reflects our commitment to high-quality, research-informed early years practice that supports the development, wellbeing, and learning of every child.
If you require any of the information from our website as a paper copy please ask at reception where we will happily assist you.
Pen Green Nursery School
A Nurturing Start to Learning
We provide care and education with a strong focus on creating a secure and stimulating environment where children feel valued and confident to explore, play, and grow. Our experienced and highly qualified staff build strong, trusting relationships with children, ensuring that each child’s individual needs and interests are recognised and responded to.
Learning Through Play
Our curriculum is rooted in the belief that children learn best through play and first-hand experiences. We follow child-led approaches, encouraging curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. Our indoor and outdoor spaces are rich in opportunities for exploration, discovery, and imagination.
Working in Partnership with Families
We place families at the heart of our work. We believe that parents and carers are children’s first and most enduring educators, and we work in close partnership with them to support each child’s learning journey. Through home visits, regular consultations, and collaborative documentation, we ensure that families are active participants in their child’s development.
Inclusion and Wellbeing
We are proud of our inclusive practice and our commitment to supporting all children, including those with additional needs. Our team works collaboratively with health, education, and social care professionals to provide holistic, wraparound support that ensures every child can flourish.
Nursery Offer
The nursery is open Monday to Friday and we currently offer four different options for children attending. Please note the extended offer is subject to eligibility criteria due to the capacity in nursery (please see our extended offer admissions criteria, in admissions policy).
Family Workers
Every child in the setting has a special person called a Family Worker. Family Workers are your child’s advocate at Pen Green. They ensure that each child’s emotional and developmental needs are consistently being met. Family Workers keep celebratory records of children’s achievements, as well as their progress against the Early Years Foundation Stage framework.
Home Visiting
Parents are their children’s first educators, so we work in partnership with families to build on their detailed knowledge of their child’s interests. This helps us to extend children’s learning and play, giving them the best possible learning experience. Home visiting is one of the ways we build strong links with every family. This helps us to better understand and support each unique child.
Qualified and Reflective Staff
Our staff are highly qualified practitioners which we believe enhances the learning environment for children. In addition to experienced head teachers working across the whole provision, each nursery space has their own teacher who leads on pedagogy. All family workers have a minimum Level 3 qualification, with most holding a BA degree or higher. We also offer all staff continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities through our on-site Research, Development and Training Base. This is an opportunity to continually develop our practice and reflect on ways of working.
Truly Outstanding Provision
We offer children and families a unique nursery experience. We have been rated Outstanding by Ofsted in every inspection. Children attending nursery benefit from a range of exciting and challenging environments such as the Discovery Area, The Beach, Soft Play Room, Snoezelen and Forest School.
In the UK, all children aged 3 and 4 are entitled to 15 hours of free nursery funding a week. This national funding scheme is payable to all early years providers including registered childminders. Families at Pen Green nursery usually take their entitlement over 5 morning or afternoon sessions from Monday to Friday.
Within the nursery we are offering the 30 hour entitlement. Please click here for more information on the free entitlement.
Pen Green also offers families the option of additional wrap around care before, between and after the two daily nursery sessions. We will always try to work with the needs of the family and support them as best we can.
Each session consists of a flexible drop-off, free flow play session and finishes small group time.
Flexible Drop-off
We believe it is really important to regularly communicate with families. When your child comes into nursery staff are always available for a quick chat.
Free Flow Play
During the free flow part of the session children have access to all resources in nursery, and are given autonomy over what activities they undertake.
Family Time
Small group time is spent with the Family Worker and other children in the Family Group. It can involve a number of planned activities, such as a telling a story or signing a song and opportunities for teachable moments.
We believe that children are naturally curious about the world around them. Our nursery is a place where all children can follow their interests and lead their own learning supported by staff. Staff will observe children closely, intervene when appropriate, and plan for future play possibilities.
The nursery is set up in workshop environment with resources at child height. Independently accessing resources allows children to become effective decision makers, enhancing their play and learning experiences. These opportunities are planned and based on children’s schematic interests and curiosities at nursery and home.
Children are based in one nursery (Den, Snug, Studio) but are able to move between each provision, accessing all of the available resources. Should they choose, children can also go outside in all weathers.
During free flow play, children can help themselves to a healthy snack in the Snack Area, where they are supported by a member of the team. The Snack Worker will also take snacks outside for the children playing in the garden areas, to minimise the interruption to play.
Every child in the provision has their own Celebration of my Achievements file. This document is produced by their Family Worker. The child’s Family Worker collates information from home, observations from other staff, anecdotal evidence and pieces of the child’s work to build a comprehensive file of their achievements. Each worker has non-contact time on a weekly basis to document children’s learning and development. The whole team meet on a weekly basis to plan experiences for the children.
Observations at Pen Green can take the form of written narratives, photographs or video. An online journal called Tapestry is now used to support and document children’s learning. Children are placed up for focus observations on a rotational basis. Observations are carried out by all the staff in the setting as this gives us and the family multiple perspectives of every child.
We encourage parents to share their observations of the children from home. This can be during a chat, in written form, through photographs, video or Tapestry, an online learning journal.
The Nursery is open from 8am-6pm for 48 weeks per year.
Our Extended hours offer is 9am-2pm or 1pm-6pm
Morning Sessions
Term Time mornings are 8:45am – 11:45 am
Year Round mornings are 9:15am-11:45am
Afternoon Sessions
Term Time afternoons are 12:30pm-3:30pm
Year Round afternoons are 1:00pm-3:30pm
