Pennies Day Nursery was founded by a working mother with a passion to offer ‘the very best in childcare, learning and fun.’
This vision, and the thought that every child in our care joins the Pennies’ family, remains central to everything we do. We work to make every day, and every activity, special for all our children. We measure our success in the smiling faces we see at the end of the day.
Pennies maintains a commitment to offer every activity at the highest quality. This philosophy under-pins all of our work. We aim to offer the best in training for our staff, ratios of staff to children well above those recommended in the sector and a range of activities designed to surprise and delight children from 3 months to 11 years old.We are always happy to talk to families about their needs. Our all-inclusive childcare is available from full-time to part time care.
In our purpose built baby units the smallest children in our care get the personal attention they need for calm and contented days. We work with parents to understand the individual daily routine of each child.
Pennies babies sleep, eat and play at their own pace. We provide all nappies and formula milk, offering the same care and food the babies enjoy at home. With a separate sleep room babies can sleep peacefully, waking refreshed and ready to enjoy individual care and attention. Smiles and contented gurgling are the usual sights and sounds you and your baby will encounter. Babies can use our gardens, taking advantage of features including a soft turf/nature area, equipment designed for sensory experience and an environment designed to stimulate curiosity. The teams working in our baby rooms hold a minimum of a level three childcare qualification, first aid and food hygiene certificates.
A Key person will assigned to your baby, provide a daily care sheet, detailing the baby’s day. They provide a stable and comforting presence throughout the day. The personal knowledge of the babies in their care allows Key people to plan a perfect day combining activities to help your child develop, fun periods like songs and messy play, and times for peaceful sleep.
Once in the toddler rooms children generally begin to develop individual preferences and tastes, favouring particular toys and activities and beginning to talk about their preferences. At this stage your child will develop a sense of independence and personality. The biggest change you are likely to notice is the variety of stories
As with the move from baby to toddler rooms there is no set age for children to join our pre-school group but we aim for them to join by 3.5 years. We work closely with parents and take a particular interest in each child as we work together to find the right moment to make the move. Children moving to this stage already show some independence in dressing, eating and expressing opinions. We work to a curriculum developed within our own nursery by professionals with years of experience and take on board all national changes fully and quickly. The biggest changes noticed by parents are in the rapid development of knowledge and abilities as children learn through play. We build the days around spontainious topics, allowing the children to learn through discussion, exploration, visits and drawing from their own experience of the world. Parents visiting the pre-school rooms often comment on the calm atmosphere. The children love to show off the notice board, constantly updated with pictures and other records of the things they do. Parents have the opportunity to discuss the progress and development of their children at all times and you’ll be hearing, describing a steady stream of adventures and discoveries.
We pretty much go out every day of the year - in Pennies our Motto is " There is no such thing as inappropriate weather; its about wearing appropriate clothing and being prepared! Cold, damp, or wintery weather does not prevent us from going out- We encourage the children to wrap up warmly. Equally, in warm weather we prepare children for play in the sun. We provide 50+ suncream to protect the children's delicate skin. We take the children walking in the grounds of Newnham Court shopping village. We discuss with the children the importance if walking as a way of keeping fit. We hope by making our walks pleasureable experiences, the children will develop a positive attitude towards walking which will stay with them. Our covered outdoor play area enables us to have some physical play even in the worse weather.