Last week I wrote about The London Early Year’s Foundation and a fantastic competition they are holding to win one whole year’s worth of FREE childcare! This year The London Early Year’s Foundation is celebrating 110 years of offering first class day care and parenting support; as well as offering the chance to win such a fantastic prize, they are asking parents to visit one of their 24 nurseries in 6 boroughs of London, on one of the open days they are holding so that they can see for themselves the fantastic job they do of keeping little ones entertained and looked after.
I decided that as I’d written the post last week to talk about the foundation and competition that I ought to visit one of the sites myself so on Saturday the little ones and I went to have a play at Eastbury Children’s Centre in Barking. I was really impressed with what I saw and as I took the tour with the fantastically personable nursery manager Rachael, who is also a Mum to one of the children at the nursery, I could completely understand why this particular branch of nurseries has lasted such a long time and why parents all over London are choosing the care for their children.
I think it must be one of the hardest decisions to make choosing which nursery you send your little ones to, especially when they are so tiny, Eastbury takes babies from just 6 months. I am in the fortunate position of not having to go out to work and therefore my children have not needed to go and be looked after by a nursery but I know I would have found choosing very hard. Florence has only just started nursery since turning three and attends, for her 15 government funded hours per week, the nursery that is adjoined to the school we hope she goes to. If I’d had to choose somewhere for her when she was a baby (which her nursery don’t offer) or indeed if I had to do that for Jimmy now, I would find it very difficult. This is the most important thing in the world, choosing someone and somewhere good enough for your children!
My time at the Eastbury nursery was delightful and very reassuring. I was introduced to all the staff, as were all the other people attending the open day and our children were encouraged to join in with all the different activities on offer in each of the classrooms. The staff spoke passionately about their jobs and seemed to be genuinely happy doing them, some had been there for years and others had been with the company for considerable time too, moving nurseries but never changing employer. That spoke volumes to me and watching the way they interacted with the children filled me with confidence that they really do know what they are doing, enjoy it and want to be there.
The space itself is lovely. I would say situated in not a particularly desirable location but inside it is filled with all the warmth you would wish children to be surrounded by every day. Each classroom has a different theme but every one is filled to the brim with exciting and educational as well as fun things to engage little hands and minds. During the tour of what can only be described as a miniature school, Florence didn’t want to leave each area and was reluctant to move to the next thing so enjoying herself was she at each stop.
From the baby room filled with black and white areas, soft areas and it’s own special out door space (there is also other wonderful parts of the garden for older ones) to the ‘under water’ themed room for 2 years plus, it was exciting and Florence had a ball playing with all the messy things out and on tables ready for her to help herself to. She particularly enjoyed making play dough which is set up with all the ingredients needed and a step by step with photographs to show the children how to do it. A nursery assistant helped her and she thought it was absolutely fab! There is always fruit and water that children can help themselves to apparently and they have an undercover area which is adjoined to the building and the doors are open for the children to go out there most of the time. The larger garden is monitored at specific times of the day but they are free to use the undercover area at their leisure.
I really appreciated the way the staff spoke so animatedly about what they had bought on recent shopping trips, new dressing up costumes as suggested on the suggestion board for parents to voice their concerns and likes and things for the ‘under water’ themed room which had been inspired by a new resident fish that had caught the children’s imagination. Sounds like they really listen to the children and have a great relationship with the parents too.
A lovely nursery, with a warm feeling about it and certainly some super minded staff with bags of moving ideas to keep things fresh! There is a children’s centre next door who share office space with them and when families drop in to use those facilities they see how lovely the nursery is and often use it later on when they go back to work knowing that they feel confident with it. It is great to get to know somewhere like that before you make any decisions and the open days offered are to help do just that.
We had great fun exploring in the London Early Year’s Foundation Eastbury Nursery!
I was not paid to write about the competition or the nursery.
Follow