Reasons Why We Are Special

The Homely Environment and our Beautiful Garden
We are a small nursery based in the stable block of an18th century family house, with access to a large, child friendly, walled garden. Long after they leave us, the children will have wonderful memories of the secret pathways, the tree house, the enormous sandpit, picking apples and pears in the autumn, feeding the guinea pigs, quail and chickens and collecting their eggs, the games and water play on the lawn and, maybe, even the flowers! And not forgetting the frequent visits from Ernie the Emu!!!

Our outdoors ethos - lots of fresh Air and Exercise
We take the children on lots of countryside and woodland walks fostering an interest in, and appreciation of, nature, the outdoors and the rural environment (see our Woodland Adventures page below). We teach the children how and why the rural landscape, and the activities of the countryside, change with the seasons.  We go out in most weathers, making good use of our all-in-one wet weather suits! The children just love their 'wet wellie walks', following trails through the woods, helping to harvest our fruit and the occasional tractor 'n trailer rides.

Lots of Good Food, 
We teach the children the importance of eating the right kinds of food through our very own 'Good Munching Guide'. At most mealtimes we talk about the 'Building Foods', The 'Soldier Foods' and the 'Energy Foods' and why they are so important. Our top quality meat is home reared and locally sourced from Bradbury's Farm Shop at Curborough. Every day the children are given fresh, wholesome food, organic milk and lots of fruit. 

We support the children of the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya

We sponsor 2 children, who live in the desperately poor district of Kibera, in Nairobi, Kenya. Jackson, 8, is very severely disabled and Roselyne, 5, faces unbelievable poverty. Each term we have a Kibera Day when we learn about Kenya and a little of the lives of Jackson and Roselyne. We consider it a wonderful opportunity for our children to gain an insight into the lives of children in a very different part of the world to their own. We exchange information, and occasionally organise money-raising events and collections of toys and clothes.

Our wonderful staff

We are so fortunate to have such a brilliant and committed staff! They are an eclectic mix, but they share a passion to work with children, always having the children's welfare at heart and ever striving to bring the best out of them. But a strong team still needs a good leader. And we have an outstanding manager, who has boundless energy and enthusiasm and who trusts her staff "to go wild, experiment and (occasionally) fail", because that is the way to learn!

All the Other Things We Do
Music & Dance with Siobhan, our 'Art Detectives' Programme with Jane, visits to the Bluebell Woods at Freeford, visits from the Animal Man and the Guide Dogs for the Blind, theatre visits, farm visits to see the new lambs, tractor 'n trailer rides, our Christmas Nativity Service at St Giles Church, hatching our own chicken, quail and goose eggs, collecting frog spawn and observing tadoles change into frogs, watching caterpillars transform into beautiful butterflies, visits to the Walled Garden at Fisherwick, the work we do with St Giles Hospice, our Summer Activities Programme (see page below) ....... and lots more!

And if you still don't believe we are special:-

'Thank you for all the wonderful memories ... all those quintessentially Elswick things. The blue door, the tulip garden, the tadpoles, the Noah's Ark mural, the bumpy tractor rides, the quail eggs at home time, the emu!, the red sun hats, the shrieks of laughter from the children as they play, the Nativity and your hilarious re-telling (of the story), the home-made cooking, the smiling staff in their blue uniforms and the warm feeling it leaves in our hearts whenever we think of it.'

On a card sent to us by the parent of one of our Leavers - July 2019 

And Finally .....

Is there another Nursery in the UK that has had it's own pet emu !!!