Maida Vale Nursery and Pre-school

Starting to communicate

Smart Sign is an interactive daily signing activity that makes communication fun, not frustrating, so your child can express their needs and thoughts clearly to our caregivers (and to you at home too). It also increases their understanding and speech development from an early age, giving them the head start they deserve.

Based on Makaton and British Sign Language curriculum, our nursery practitioners are trained to use the latest content and instruction methods, because encouraging new ideas and communication is one of our top priorities. 

We like to boogie!

Your child will love our fun filled music and movement programme, Boogie Mites. Led by our nursery team (who have almost as much fun as the children!) we will learn language, maths and social skills through creative music, dance and play, plus discover how much fun exercise can be in the process!

Read, Write Inc.

Is your child ready to dive into the magical world of books and reading? Our pre-school children take part in our highly successful phonics programme called Read, Write Inc. Our knowledgeable, caring nursery practitioners guide our children as they begin this new, eye-opening journey, starting with phonetics and moving to blending sounds once they are ready. Creating literary skills that will take them into their school years and sparking a lifelong love of reading and learning. 

Ready Steady Pedal

Your child can also learn how to ride a bike at nursery through our Ready Steady Pedal programme, with professional guidance and support from Isla Bikes.
Once our nursery practitioners identify a child is ready, they’ll provide support and help build confidence on a balance bike until they can advance to a pedal bike. This exciting programme helps our children develop motor skills and independence whilst contributing to overall well-being. Because who isn’t happy whilst riding a bike?

With two gardens and regular trips to the nearby Paddington Rec, there are lots of outdoor spaces for our children to explore. Our gardens have plenty of equipment to play with, including a mud kitchen. We also build our children’s relationships with nature during one of our regular trips to the nearby Paddington Rec. Here, they can see all of the different plants and creepy crawlies that live there and have some fun too.

Making a difference

All Little Pioneer nurseries run community-based activities to help our children make their own choices, express their feelings and make a difference in the world. Here are a few examples of projects that every nursery gets involved with…

Caring for the environment with Eco-Schools

Your child can learn all about the environment and our community in this global programme (millions of children participate across 64 different countries). The children’s interests lead the learning, which is centred around nine topics: energy, litter, global citizenship, healthy living, school grounds, transport, waste and water. They’ll become a real environmental advocate! 

The nursery holds the prestigious GreenFlag Status Award in the Green Flag Eco-schools programme which is an internationally recognised award for excellence in environmental action and learning. They have worked up to this achievement after gaining the bronze and silver award and completing the steps necessary to get the Green Flag Status award.

Involving Older Generations

Just launched, your child now has the special opportunity to enjoy intergenerational play. This is shown to positively impact both your child’s and the elderly’s health and happiness. Want to learn how? Have a watch of the recent Channel 4 programme ‘Old people’s home for 4 year olds’.

Whether it be visits from grandparents in the nursery for stay and play sessions or weekly visits to a local care home (with your permission, of course), your child will learn empathy and build confidence and social skills through creative play, singing and movement, physical games and storytelling. So we can create a community of caring, confident individuals, no matter what age.

Our menus

Our menus change regularly, they are based on the season and also on a 3 week rotation so there's plenty of variety. Here’s a little taste of what’s on offer… For breakfast, our children enjoy a selection of cereals with warm or cold milk, toast and butter, with milk or water to drink. Fruit is also available for breakfast and throughout the day as a snack, along with vegetable crudités and bread sticks. Lunch could be tuna and broccoli pasta bake, quorn shepherd’s pie or sausage and butter bean bake. Followed up with fruit salad, strawberry mousse or bananas and custard. We also serve ‘afternoon tea’ which may be beans on toast, sandwiches or fishcakes. We make sure our children have a balanced diet so they’ll be strong and healthy.

If your child is not yet on solids, there’s no need to pack a bottle – if you’re breast feeding, we can prepare and store bottles of your expressed milk. Or if they are on formula, our milk kitchen will take care of it. Plus it’s all covered by our fees, so no need to worry about buying extra formula.