For Girls Starting Out 

We recognise that the early years are an important time in your child’s life and want to ensure that your child enjoys this special time and makes the most of every opportunity to play and learn.

As girls’ education experts for over 150 years, our tailored approach to fostering wellbeing, self- confidence and academic success in girls is woven into everything that we do.

The underpinning principles of our nursery philosophy are based on the Early Years Foundation stage with an emphasis on the Reggio Emilia approach.

We have taken the elements that we understand work best for children and families and developed the Cranwell Curriculum. It focuses on creative approaches, independent thinking, enquiry-based learning whilst growing the girls’ understanding of the world.

Should you wish to continue your daughter’s journey with us then we offer a smooth transition, enabling girls who join us in Nursery to stay with us all the way through Prep School to Senior School and Sixth Form.

We have a strong sense of family at the heart of our school. When your daughter joins, she will find friendship and support in a happy and caring environment.

Our members of staff are dedicated to developing girls’ personal strengths and talents and there to support any individual need.

Your daughter’s first experience of school should be all about excitement and adventure. Our girls in Nursery will make discoveries, develop their imagination and gain in confidence. They will build friendships and start to experience a joy of learning.

We take great care to develop every girl’s individuality, providing the foundation for her to grow into becoming a strong young woman ready to seize opportunities and make her mark on the world.

Come rain or shine you will find our Nursery children out and about learning All our pupils, even the youngest, have dedicated outdoor learning opportunities which create memorable experiences, including bug hunting, tree planting and pond fishing.

The practical, hands-on nature of learning is what makes lasting memories and helps our girls grow and learn. On any given day your daughter could be growing vegetables in our upcycled greenhouse, performing on our open air stage or exploring our Celtic roundhouse made from wattle and daub.

We instil a passion for learning right from the start and our Learner Qualities - brave, inquisitive, reflective, collaborative, sparky and kind - serve to help girls with a positive attitude and confident self-assured young people who always try their best

Your daughter can join our Nursery in the term in which she turns three. Our Nursery School is an integral part of the two-year Early Years Foundation Stage, which leads seamlessly through to your daughter's Reception in the September following their fourth birthday. While we welcome children going onwards to other schools, we pride ourselves on being a through-school enabling girls who join us in Nursery to stay with us all the way through to the Senior School and Sixth Form.

We appreciate that for families with young children, flexibility is key, so we offer a variety of sessions so that you can design a termly schedule that works for your family. With options including breakfast club and after school care, our Nursery operates Monday to Friday from 7.30am-6pm (during term time).

Our ‘usual school day’ is 8:00am to 4:00pm. However, with options including breakfast club and after school care, your daughter can start her day with us from 7.30am and stay with us until 6pm. We also offer half-day sessions with lunch as an optional add-on to any morning or afternoon session.

Lunch is an optional add-on for morning and afternoon sessions

Our Healthy Eating Schools award-winning catering team provides delicious, healthy and freshly cooked options at every mealtime and cater for all dietary requirements.

Our Nursery children wear an informal version of the full school uniform. Find out more about the Nursery uniform here.