We are blessed with a superb canvas on which to start – our Victorian mansion gives us an inspirational starting point, being authentic with character, and our grounds are stunning, presenting opportunities for us to provide outstanding outdoor childcare.
The indoor environments at our Maidenhead nursery and preschool are set in spacious rooms, which we have designed to contain the perfect resources and equipment for the age and stage of development of the children. We have used a soft, gentle colour palette throughout the nursery – with neutral walls and floors filled with light wood furniture. Each piece of that furniture is not just Early Years specific but chosen for its suitability to the specific ages within each room – for example, our Toddler Room has the Community Playthings Nursery Gym in it. This is a piece of equipment that is a wooden climbing structure, with steps, a slide, a curved bridge and a tunnel. This encourages the toddlers to be active and physical, developing lots of movement skills, and coordination strength at a time when they are searching out opportunities to explore and expand their physical capabilities.
We have such breadth and depth of opportunities for our children outside. From simple delights such as open lawns to play freely, explore movement and play together on, to ‘discovery walks’ in our acre of meadow, to our large wooden treehouse – the great outdoors are a huge and invaluable part of nursery life at Silchester Manor.
We have separate areas outside for our younger and older children, so that we are able to be very specific in what we offer them and how we can enhance their development. Our older children benefit from a large climbing frame which they love to adventure on, as well as ride-on play, a Mud Kitchen, a vegetable patch for growing plants, a large wooden treehouse, and time in our Woodland Activity Centre. Our younger children enjoy the Sensory Garden, a sandpit and lots of outdoor activities and resources. All of the children love discovering the meadow and delight in the deep connection to nature felt at Silchester Manor, being surrounded by woodland.