Nursery School Barons Court W14

Are you looking for a nursery school in Barons Court that can offer your child a safe, nurturing, home from home environment?

My name is Kerry Nihill and I am the Nursery Manger of the two Playdays branches in Barons Court / West Kensington. The 2 branches in West Kensington operate very much as 1 nursery. Our ‘Sunshine’ Baby room and ‘Rainbows’ Toddler room are located in Barton Road. The children then transfer to our Pre-school class in Comeragh Road at around 2.5 years. The same ethos and planning structure remains the same in both nurseries, this being ‘In the moment’ and ‘child-initiated learning’; planning from the child’s interests and extending their learning from this.

Our Barton Road branch was the first Playdays, opening in 1996. I joined the company after having completed an NNEB childcare qualification in 1998. My career with Playdays started within the Toddler room caring for children aged 18 months – 2.5 years. I was offered the position of Nursery Manager in 2004 and have assumed that position ever since.

I always feel that a place is only as good as its team; you can have the best manager in the world, but without a strong team behind you, wanting to achieve what you want, it is hard to put into place. This is where I consider myself extremely lucky. My staffing teams within both branches are what make the nurseries the places they are. Yes, I have high expectations, with the children being the forefront of all decisions which are made, but my teams feel exactly the same; the children are always the priority.  What makes the nurseries run so well is that the staffing team in each room are committed, reliable, and hard working. We all have the same vision and strive to improve the nursery and experiences the children have on a daily basis. I lead by example, not from behind a desk, offering guidance and support at all times.

  I feel like this is reflected in the long-standing service shown by my staff, with many being here for many years. There is a wealth of qualified and experienced staff for the children to benefit from. Naturally, staff will be move on, but when new staff join to replace them, they have amazing role models to learn from.

  On a personal note, both my children, have attended Playdays and have benefitted greatly from the experiences they have gained during their time at the nursery. When I look back now, I can’t imagine them not having these experiences before going onto school at the age of 4 years, and the benefit to their all-round development. One of the highlights for my children were the extracurricular classes that Playdays offers such as the ‘Diddi Dance’ classes!

  I believe the strength of my branches are that they are small and intimate and have a warm homely feel to them, we are like a family. Parents choose my branches of Playdays for this reason, the rooms are a calm and welcoming environment for the children to develop and flourish. The children are happy, engaged, and settled, and this is greatly to do with them knowing that they will be greeted each day with familiar friendly faces!