Cookham Nursery School

About the school

Cookham Nursery School was built in 1949 and was one of the first purpose built nursery schools in England. The original structure remains but with many additions and improvements over the years. The nursery is maintained by the local authority, meaning that there are no fees payable by parents for the nursery sessions.

Cookham Nursery has awards for Healthy Schools, Eco Schools and Investors in People. It also has Effective Early Learning Quality Assurance with Investors in Children endorsement.

All of our staff are trained teachers and nursery nurses, with many years of early years experience between us. The Investors in People assessor commented at our recent inspection that we have ‘highly skilled and motivated staff who are dedicated to doing the best job they can for the children’.

Our Aims

• Warmly welcome children and their families into the nursery and extend that welcome to all visitors to our school.
• Create a safe, secure, happy and caring environment in order to promote each child’s self confidence and self esteem.
• Provide a stimulating and challenging environment in which each child can explore and discover their world and reach their full potential.
• Provide a carefully planned and resourced curriculum, offering a wide range of opportunities to develop skills through play and experimental activities.
• Establish a friendly, trusting relationship with parents and use this liaison to build on the child’s past experiences.
• Meet the special needs of individual children to enable them to participate in and benefit fully from the opportunities provided.
• Encourage each child to make appropriate choices and decisions regarding learning activities, thus setting patterns of learning for the future.
• Encourage effort and good behaviour positively through praise.
• Encourage each child to be mindful of others in their actions and their words, showing care and thoughtfulness.
• Share our enthusiasm for good quality early years education and keep up to date with current research regarding all aspects of the education of the young children entrusted to our care.
• Support each child in making healthy choices regarding food, drink and exercise in order to set patterns for life.
• Encourage each child to be aware of the immediate environment and the under world and to consider the impact of his/her actions of these.

We celebrate the children’s birthdays, acknowledge festivals and special days of various cultures and warmly invite visitors to nursery to enhance the children’s knowledge and experience.