All about Nutfield Day Nursery

​Nutfield Day Nursery (NDN) was established in 1994 and in 2001 my husband, Lee and I took over and moved into the old rectory. This gorgeous Victorian building now houses us and our four children, plus our dog. We oversee the daily running of the nursery and everything that involves on a full-time basis. I'm Ally and I am an Early Years Teacher and Forest School Leader. NDN is a private nursery and very unique, as such it constantly evolves.

Up to fifty six children take over the entire downstairs of the premises and extensive grounds from Monday to Friday. We are set up in school years with five dedicated rooms for each age range. In the school holidays, we welcome back ex-nursery children and older brothers and sisters so that they can enjoy Forest School too. The only quiet period we have is on weekends and bank holidays when we get on with spring cleaning and improvements.

The space we have is largely open plan which lends itself to an all-inclusive family environment. A lot of our time is spent outside, where we have five outdoor areas and our field - the possibilities are endless within this bountiful environment. Our outdoor classroom was completed in 2017, this is multi-functional, for parent gatherings or sleeping children. Outdoor learning and the Forest School ethos underpins the children’s lives here. You can almost see their development as the children set about their days feeling safe and secure. Contentment is apparent as motivated and engaged children create laughter together.

We pride ourselves on nursery investment and constant development, particularly with our staff who embrace our direction and willingness to create change for the children and to ensure advancement of the nursery. We have an eager team who take their careers seriously whilst having an awful lot of fun on their journeys with the children. No one day at NDN is the same but each day is extremely rewarding, regardless of our role within the team. At the forefront of any of our roles is our safeguarding duty to each and every child – we are constantly mindful of our responsibility to children, parents, carers, staff and all visitors that come to nursery and enter into our small community.

We thrive on becoming part of your extended family, sharing knowledge and celebrating the children’s achievements with you. Becoming part of the NDN family is often long term, it’s exciting as the child care sector regularly changes and develops. We have a common interest as the children are of course central to everything we do. Parents are engaged with our endeavours through various communication channels as we recognise that most of our mums and dads are busy at work. But time is found for our special events and many parents take up support roles for nursery to play a true part in our community.

Nutfield Day Nursery is full of character. It is impossible to put that in writing because you would have to see us in action but here are some key words that represent us:
Real and meaningful experiences, process led activities, open ended resources, cosy, risk and challenge, girls and boys, outside, nature, Forest School, support, guidance, feelings, play, teams, friends, family, not to mention the mud, sand and water and quite a few trees.

Come and visit us during different seasons to experience the fun we have – and bring your welly boots!

Ally and Lee Bertin