Overview

Beechwood Childcare opened in 2000 and is situated in the grounds of St James' Church of England Primary School. In April 2018 we expanded, opening a new setting at The Old Chapel, Arundel House, situated in the town for our younger children.

Both settings operate as one nursery with children 2 ½ and over attending Beechwood Preschool at St James School and our younger children enjoying the benefit of the space and beautiful surrounding of the Old Chapel. It is less than a five minute walk between the two settings.

At Beechwood we pride ourselves on creating a space where all children can learn at their own pace, with the support of caring and knowledgeable Early Years Practitioners led by an experienced Early Years Teacher. We work in Partnership with parents to provide an exciting and stimulating environment where children feel safe and secure.

As both of our settings are central to the town we have plenty of opportunity to take our children out into the local community, we often go foraging for resources or to play at the local parks. We attend the library on a weekly basis, with the younger children attending Rhyme Time and the Preschool children joining in Story Stomp, we often stop off at the Library café for juice and cake.

With abundant outdoor spaces at both settings we spend as much time as possible outdoors. We believe experiences in the outdoors provide more opportunities to develop self-awareness; self-esteem and resilience, all attributes that are essential for learning. The children get the opportunity to have weekly Forest School sessions with planned activities where children can be inspired by nature, take risks and experience being outdoors in all weathers.

Our nursery is a "Time to Talk" nursery with a vision to create and celebrate opportunities for all children to achieve their potential in speech, language and communication. All staff are trained to observe and monitor children's speech and give support in language development. The setting has a Time to Talk champion who has had further training which builds on and develops practitioner knowledge of speech, language and communication development using a validated screening tool - the WellComm.

Beechwood Childcare provides a before and after school club for the children of St James school, providing care for up to 30 children. Our school club staff provide fun and exciting activities and a place to relax after school with qualified staff available to help and support their choices. With the use of all the schools outdoor areas including a large playing field, play castle and nature area we always have plenty to occupy us. We also offer holiday club with themed weeks throughout all the school holidays.