Early Years Services
Nursery Manager: Alexandra Neophytou
Early Years Team: Alex Dowden, Sandra Maloney, Faiqa Malik, Luisa Edwards, Melanie Landu, Ujjwal Manandhar, Jamila Rafky.
Sidings’ Early Years Services currently offers a welcoming and inclusive high-quality community-based, term-time nursery for children aged 2-4 years old.
Our nursery is Ofsted Registered (No. 100559) and our last inspection rating (Jan 2018) was “good”. Our Nursery staff are committed to providing a service which contributes to Camden’s vision of enabling young children to have a sure start in life and that “all children and their families reach their full potential”.
We offer accessible indoor and outdoor facilities, using a wide range of resources to enable all children to develop and reach their full potential within the current Early Years Foundation Stage curricula. Being on the edge of Maygrove Peace Park also provides a pleasant green backdrop to our accessible outdoor play space.
Our Team is qualified and highly experienced in delivering a multi-activity programme which is appropriate to children’s age and development. As key workers – all staff put an emphasis on building positive relationships with their key children, ensuring children feel safe, cared for, and encouraged to achieve their full potential. Key Workers also keep parents closely informed of their child’s progress and well-being.
There are also regular Parent Forums where parents can raise issues, be consulted about the programme of activities on offer, share ideas and information, and are updated on any relevant local and government-led issues related to Early Years Services.
Our last Ofsted Inspection in particular noted some of the following:
Quotes
“Parents are impressed by the level of information they receive about their child’s progress”
“All children ……make good progress from their starting point and are well prepared for school”
“Children show a keen interest in musical instruments and enjoy exploring rhythm and sound”
“Arrangements for Safeguarding are effective…”
“Staff strongly focus on promoting children’s language. They use a variety of strategies to help children communicate and increase their attention skills”
“Promoting children’s personal, social and emotional development is a clear strength and children are happy and well settled”
“Parents feel the staff are extremely supportive of their personal circumstances and provide good care and support when they need it most”
“Staff give good one-to-one support to children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities to help close the gap in their learning”.
Our curriculum is strengthened by additional support from:
- Camden’s Integrated Early Years’ Service Team
- Teacher’s Advisory Team
- Inclusion/ Intervention Team
- Plus other outside professionals such as local Health Visitors, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists.
Since 2019, children attending the nursery have been able to access the use of a newly identified “small forest school wooded area” on the edge of Maygrove Peace Park, offering an excellent opportunity for children to experience a more natural, green environment, where they can engage in nature-based activities.
Support for Parents
Sidings Early Years’ Service places particular emphasis on working holistically with families and being a source of advice and support to parents during the important early years of their children’s lives. Staff work closely with parents and outside professionals for children with identified and emerging special and additional needs, to offer specialist support, advice and guidance. This enables children to participate and access the full EYFS curriculum within an inclusive play and learning environment.
Some feedback and comments from parents to show how we have helped:
“I remember stumbling into Sidings four years ago when I found myself in a new city, alone with 2 very small children and little idea about the future… Thank you for looking after my two so wonderfully and for helping me to retrain and giving me a fresh start”
“We cannot thank you enough for creating such a lovely environment for playing and learning… the kindness, care and attention you have shown….”
“…Sidings is a very special place and we feel very lucky to have been a part of it”
“…You really have given my child the best start to school life…..Thank you for everything!”
Early Years Childcare Services for children 2-4 years
Term-Time Monday to Friday 9am – 4pm
Our Childcare Services operate on a combined basis of affordable fees and also free places where government funding applies – see below
Fee-Paying: We offer childcare on a flexible fee-paying basis up to 5 days a week for 2-4-year-olds. As well as offering a stimulating multi-activity programme for children, this also supports those parents who are currently working, studying, or trying to get back into the world of work. Registered childcare is offered on a minimum of a 3-hour session, 3 times per week, starting at the following times: 9am, 10am, 12 noon or 1pm. Parents can choose to add extra hours on a flexible basis for up to 7 hours per day.
FREE Childcare places: we offer FREE 15 hrs Pre-School places for 3 & 4-year-olds, and also FREE places for 2-year-olds for those families who qualify for Camden’s 2-year-old Scheme. (Please inquire for further details).
For children aged 3 &4 years, we are a provider for the government-funded 30 hrs extended FREE childcare (*for those working families who meet the criteria). As a Camden-based provider, there is also the additional “Enhanced offer” of 30 FREE hours to children whose parents meet Camden’s eligibility criteria.
Please contact the Nursery for further information for fee-paying places
Further information
For more information about our services please contact the Early Years Office:
Phone: 020 7624 0588
Email: early.years@sidings.org.uk
