About Us

Kate Greenaway is an Islington Nursery School offering Outstanding Early Years education to babies and young children aged 6 months to 5 years.

How your child learns

Kate Greenaway is a very child-centred nursery, which means that children spend much of their day engaged in self-directed learning. The majority of the day is free-flow, meaning children choose to engage in a range of different activities, indoors and outdoors. Children engage in activities independently and with their friends, as well as taking part in adult facilitated activities that are planned from children’s interests and developmental needs.

We believe that at this young age children learn best through a play-based curriculum, with support from our experienced staff team who engage with children in their play to support social interaction, language development and further learning opportunities.

Some key attributes we seek to develop in children include self-confidence, problem solving and independence.

Explorers (0-2s)

The Kate Greenaway Explorer's room is where we support children under two to learn and develop. Because children at this age need greater adult support and input we have a ratio of at least one adult to every three children at all times.
The under two’s have access to a wide range of activities including heuristic play, sharing songs and stories and a wide range of sensory experiences.

Navigators and Pioneers (2-5s)

Unlike many other settings, at Kate Greenaway our two to rising five year olds are all part of the same ‘class’. They share the same outdoor space space and access the same outdoor activities.

Settling in a crucial time

We believe that ‘settling in’ is a crucial part of a child’s time at the Kate Greenaway Nursery School.

Read more about the Settling in process in our Policy Section.

Rhythm of the day

See the daily schedule at Kate Greenaway Nursery School

Food and Nutrition

We’re passionate about fresh, healthy food that tastes great. The right nutrients can affect everyone’s mood, behaviour, health, growth and even their ability to concentrate. Encouraging a well-balanced diet establishes healthy eating now and for the future.

Caterlink make our meals onsite. They are specialist caterers in education establishments. The children also have access to a morning snack of fruit and crackers, with water available throughout the day. We offer breakfast and tea to children who are with us for longer days.

See example menu and read more about Food and Nutrition at Kate Greenaway Nursery School

Forest School

This is an activity that we run for children in their last year before they leave for Primary school. We take small groups of children to Camley Street Natural Park for a series of visits, where our Forest School trained class teacher leads us in a range of activities including mud painting, mini beast hunts and making ‘natural’ necklaces. Please follow the link for more details.

Healthy School

Healthy Schools is a national initiative to support young people to develop in a healthy and happy environment.

Governing body

The Governing body plays a key role in overseeing the practice and ethos of the school. They provide challenge and support to the Head teacher and leadership team. Several of our current parents are involved in the Governing body. If you would like to be involved please ask at Reception.

More about the Kate Greenaway Governing Body

Annual Data

At Kate Greenaway we track children’s learning and development termly, seeking to ensure that children make good or better progress and continue to be stimulated and challenged by their nursery experiences. This information is shared with families at termly reviews. We also use this data to identify curriculum development priorities.

Working with parents

We value parental input very highly. We are always looking for parents to join our Governing Body or Advisory Board, both of which are ways to be involved in the direction that Kate Greenaway takes moving forwards.

Each term parents meet with their child’s Key person and contribute to identifying ‘next steps’ for their child’s learning and development. We encourage families to contribute to children’s Scrapbooks with photos, drawings and comments from outside of nursery.

We regularly hold ‘Bring a Grown Up to School’ weeks where we invite family members to join us in the nursery to participate in (or lead) activities and encourage families to attend our themed Saturday Stay and Plays (including science, messy play and Summer and Winter Socials).

Nursery Development Plan

Nursery Development Plan Headlines 2018-20

Action Plans to Support Nursery Development Plan 2018-20

Here at Kate Greenaway we are continuously striving to offer the best experience we can to children and families. Each year we set ourselves targets for improvement, contained in a Nursery Development Plan. These identify key areas that we as a staff team want to improve over the course of the year.

The Nursery staff team

At Kate Greenaway we have a well trained, highly experienced staff team, including qualified teachers, nursery education workers and support workers. We recognise that our staff are our most important resource in supporting children and families.

All members of staff have regular safeguarding training and up to date DBS checks.

The Early Years Curriculum

At Kate Greenaway we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework and Development Matters, details of which can be found below:

Development Matters

Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework

Garden

Click the link below to view our garden in a review on CreativeStarLearning.com.
See the Kate Greenaway Garden