At The Village Nursery School, children are given every opportunity to safely explore the world around them, and are nurtured in a stimulating environment that is supportive, sensitive and most importantly … FUN!

The Nursery is in a unique location, set in a church hall within the heart of Whiteley Village, a residential retirement village in Walton-on-Thames. The nursery is run by a small and dedicated team who are well qualified with many years of experience.  We operate with a key person approach to the care and education of the children and we like to build strong links with our parents and carers.

Inside the nursery we have dedicated areas for art, maths and literacy, as well as a small world area, home corner and a quiet corner, among others. In our outdoor area we have plenty of space with bikes, cars and scooters, a pirate ship for climbing and a mud kitchen for cooking! We also have access to the beautiful Whiteley woods, directly next to the nursery, for our nature walks and forest school sessions. In addition to the large variety of activities available, we also offer a structured programme of weekly themes, such as “all about me”, “signs of spring” and “cookery week “, you can see more about our weekly themes and how we link them to the EYFS, in our gallery.

Our daily routines include:

Circle time, snack time, music & movement, sensory and messy play, nature walks and forest school.

We arrange outings and organise visits from key members of the local community, such as the police and fire brigade and within the village itself, with outings to The Whiteley Village Post Office and Whiteley Village Nature Club.

We incorporate the Montessori approach to learning, whereby the children have free-flow play with access to the outdoors at all times, weather permitting of course! The children have the freedom to choose their activities, with a high level of individual adult input. We encourage children to learn from both individual self-governing activities as well as joining forces to accomplish team challenges in a safe, caring and well ordered environment.

Outdoor Learning is a child-led, positive approach to learning, which allows children to take supported risks and provides them with hands on skills and an appreciation of the outdoors! The Village Nursery has a comprehensive Outdoor Learning activities programme and we have a dedicated team who ensures our activities are linked to the seasons & weekly nursery themes!

Activities vary with the seasons and we will collect conkers, go on pumpkin trails and scavenger hunts, investigate pond life, build rope bridges, search for treasure, and if we are really lucky, find dinosaurs!

We are dedicated to including first hand experiences for the children wherever we can! Children learn best through action and exploration rather than passive instruction and first-hand experiences allow them to engage directly with the world around them, fostering curiosity and understanding.