Acorn Childcare

Flexible, high quality childcare for children aged 0-11 years old

Free places available for 2-3 year olds (conditions apply)

We pride ourselves on our outstanding outdoor area with an orchard, climbing frame, outdoor classroom and large garden and encourage outdoor play every day in all weathers.

Every room has a door to the garden allowing us to offer free flow play so children can play either indoors or outdoors according to their choice.

We encourage learning through play with an emphasis on the benefits of outdoor play, and all of our settings have a safe outdoor play area for children to explore all year round.

Freshly prepared meals

We provide healthy, homemade meals prepared by our cook with fresh ingredients, sometimes from our garden!

We offer children a well-balanced, nutritious menu to enjoy at nursery. We follow Government nutritional guidelines including the Eat Better, Start Better guidelines and have a 5 Star Food Hygiene rating from the Environmental Health Office.

All meals are cooked fresh daily by our own qualified and experienced cooks. We have experience of catering to specific dietary requirements including allergies, intolerances and religious requirements.

Each child has a key worker

All of our rooms have set staff that work in the room each day to ensure consistency for the children. We allocate every child a key worker, who is a named practitioner whose role it is to help your child settle into nursery, make them feel safe and secure, monitor their development and be the main point of contact for you.

Your child’s key worker will plan activities that follow your child’s unique needs and interests, but also follow the seven areas of development. Your child will learn by playing and exploring, being active and creative and critical thinking which takes place both inside and outside. They will share with you their observations on your child’s development and will work with you if your child needs any extra support.

Parent Zone

We use an app called ParentZone to keep parents informed and encourage two-way communication between parents and the nursery. Through ParentZone you are able to:

• View a timeline of your child’s day including what they have eaten, when they have slept and their nappy changes

• View our observations and assessments relating to your child’s development

• Add photos or observations from home

• Send comments to your child’s keyworker

• Request extra sessions

• View details about your account

Trials and Transitions

Before your child starts at nursery we have a settling in period to allow them to visit the nursery and get to know the members of staff and nursery routines. This also allows us to get to know your family and home routines, and you to get to know your keyworker. The aim is that on your child’s first day at nursery, they and yourself will feel familiar with the setting and feel settled and confident.

We usually offer three free settling in sessions of increasing length and this is usually enough for the child to feel settled at nursery, however we recognise that every child is different and always offer more settling in sessions if they are needed.

Likewise when your child is ready to move up to the next room, we follow a similar process. Children are moved up according to their stage of development rather than at specific ages and we liase with parents at this point. We offer settling in sessions in the next room during your child’s usual nursery sessions and always go at the child’s pace, keeping parents informed at all times.