Nursery Information....

Meal times

Breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch and afternoon tea are included in the fees. The menus are nutritionally well-balanced and as additive-free as possible. Fresh fruit is served every day, and special dietary needs are catered for. Weekly menus are displayed on the notice board and on the Parent Page for each nursery.

Christopher Robin has always understood the importance of providing high-quality children's food. From day one our excellent catering team were devoted to providing delicious, nutritionally-balanced food for the children. Word quickly spread of the outstanding quality of food at Christopher Robin and, as part of their on-going mission to provide healthy food for children in the area, our catering team took on their own premises and formed an independent company called Care Catering Ltd. They now provide food not only for Christopher Robin but also other select day nurseries who want to provide the best for the children at their nurseries. We're delighted to say that Care Catering Ltd continues to provide us with the same high standard of food for which Christopher Robin has become renowned and continues to lead the way in quality children's food in the area. For full details of the menus, please visit www.carecatering.co.uk.

From our stocks and soups to our roast lunches, all our food is freshly prepared and cooked from scratch. Care Catering Ltd uses free range or organic meat and the menus are designed to incorporate five portions of fresh fruit and veg, an idea recognised as good practise by health-care practitioners. Care is taken to ensure that food provided for children with special dietary requirements is as similar in appearance as possible to the food provided for the other children so that each child feels part of the larger group.

The chefs take great pride in the food they prepare and provide food of an excellent quality. We are delighted that children love the taste and parents appreciate the quality of the food.

Babies

When a baby enters the nursery we try to make the transition as easy as possible for both parent and child. Pre-start visits are encouraged and discussions are held regarding the baby's sleeping and feeding pattern. The baby room is furnished to be very homely and comfortable. The focus is on giving the babies plenty of love, security and attention. The rooms are light and bright and full of a wide variety to toys to interest and stimulate your child.

The timetable is both flexible and relaxed, and we follow a routine that echoes the children's own routine at home as much as possible. Babies have their own cots and we have double and triple buggies so that the children spend time out in the fresh air and go for walks in the grounds.

Toddlers and Twos

The aim of the nursery is to help children develop into confident, happy, independent and co-operative individuals. The encouragement to achieve this happens throughout the nursery but is especially important for the toddlers and twos as these years are so formative and have a fundamental effect on future development. At this time children are very inquisitive and learning new skills at a rapid rate. We want to provide an environment where they can have fun whilst having opportunities to discover, explore and learn in a safe, stimulating environment. We believe that good behaviour comes from having realistic expectations appropriate to the child's stage of development and from children having clear understanding of these expectations.

Resources

The nurseries are very well equipped and each nursery group has a wide range of resources and activities appropriate to the child's stage of development. Singing, nursery rhymes, stories, music and movement, sand and water play, cooking plus all the toys and traditional activities associated with a first class day nursery such as ours are available to the children. Children have access to a wide range of Montessori materials that are beautifully crafted and specifically designed to assist a child in their knowledge and understanding. The importance of acquiring knowledge through the senses is an important element in Montessori.