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Teddies Nurseries Maidstone

North Lodge, Queens Road, Maidstone ME16 0JN

Your local Teddies welcomes you to visit the nursery at your earliest convenience.
Call 01622 691 700 to make an appointment to meet the team, view the fantastic facilities and discuss the space availability within the nursery.

Alternatively, please call the Teddies information line on: 0800 980 3801

See a map of Teddies Nurseries Maidstone

Teddies Nurseries Maidstone is ideally situated just on the outskirts of Maidstone town centre, which is easily accessible to the main motorways and railway stations. There are many local parks nearby, which the children visit when they go on short walks. There are many schools within the area and we regularly visit a local secondary school's farm which is really exciting in the spring time, when we see the new born lambs.

The nursery offers:

• flexible hours from 8am - 6pm
• a warm, friendly welcoming atmosphere
• a garden area with outdoor play equipment
• Summer picnics, sports day, carol concerts, Bounce Day, parent's evenings and external visits from a local librarian and local fire department
• extra optional sessions of Tots in Sport and Tots in Music
• spacious rooms with separate changing rooms
• Baby Care has a separate milk kitchen to make up babies bottles and a separate cosy sleep room, so that babies can sleep at any time of the day
• convenient car park at the front of the nursery
• security at the main front gate is controlled by a key pad code system
• early years funding for three and four year olds
• fees include Pampers nappies, nappy cream, bottles and formula baby milk of your choice
• nursery fee rates reduce from the first month after your child's second birthday
• British Nutrition Foundation endorsed menus

During their time at the nursery children can progress through three main areas:

Teddies Baby Care

These self-contained areas provide dedicated care for babies from three months old. Here, they can follow the same comforting routine they would at home. They can also enjoy a range of activities to encourage their development. For quieter times, we provide a peaceful sleeping room, with adjacent changing facilities and a milk kitchen. When they feel ready, they can occasionally join the Little Learners for music sessions, ‘messy play’ and some indoor and outdoor activities. This helps to create a family atmosphere, allowing children of all ages to learn from each other.

Teddies Little Learners

This area takes children from approximately 15 months and is designed to support their rapidly developing skills and physical abilities. There is a story area and an art and craft area and children have a broad choice of toys and resources to help keep them happy and busy throughout the day. A wide range of activities includes ‘messy play’, sand and water play, singing, music and movement and dramatic play. The children have their meals and rest after lunch in the home room, which is also used for quiet or imaginative play and is re-designed regularly to reflect different themes.

Teddies Learning Centre

This area is for older children up to the age of five. The children enjoy a variety of activities including art, music, gym, dance and drama as well as messy play, construction and creative sessions.

At this stage children also receive a gentle introduction to a wide range of subjects such as reading, writing, maths, science, IT, the world around them and French. We focus on each child's individual needs in order to develop their confidence and independence in preparation for school. As they achieve the Early Learning Goals, they embark on Teddies own active learning programme, known as SMILE.

Settling in at Teddies

At Teddies we offer a safe, loving and stimulating environment for all the children we care for. We can only achieve this through a trusting relationship with parents. Before a child starts at Teddies we invite you and your child to the nursery for settling in. During this time you will get the chance to meet your child's key carer and share your knowledge as a parent which is key to us in developing your child's individual care plan. An example of how we do this is by asking you to complete a parent pack to form your child's individual profile and then we discuss all the information that we have received. This will include what your child's likes are, for example, Thomas the Tank Engine, playing in the sand, going for walks and lots of cuddles! Also discussed are dislikes such as types of food, loud noises and certain toys.

We also discuss how your child likes to go to sleep and at what times, when your child has bottle feeds at home and how he/she likes to be fed. We will establish sleep and feed patterns and how your child behaves when they are feeling a bit under the weather.

We then book in additional settling in sessions building them up slowly from one hour, two hours, three hours and so on. This will give you and your child a chance to get used to the nursery at your own pace.

Your child will realise that they can play but you are coming back, you will have a chance to get used to being away from your child gradually and your child's key carer will also have the chance to spend time getting to know you and your child.

When you and your child are happy, confident and comfortable we can then start your full sessions. We do not charge parents for the settling in period as it is vital for us to ensure we give each child and parent the opportunity to get used to the nursery environment before joining.

Teddies - Investors in People

We know that it is only through the efforts and dedication of our staff that we can provide excellent childcare in our nurseries and that is why we invest a lot of time and energy into ensuring that our staff have an excellent support network.

We are an Investors in People organisation and are committed to providing ongoing training and development to all our staff. We offer extensive learning and development programmes to all staff including comprehensive inductions to ensure that they settle in quickly and perform effectively in their roles.

Staff also get the support of their managers through regular individual meetings, team meetings as well as having a more formal performance review once a year.

We value our staff's views seriously and that is why each year we carry out an employee satisfaction survey from which we set ourselves targets for the areas in which improvements can be made. Through our One Life Ideas and Awards Scheme we also encourage staff to come up with ideas on how we can improve the way we work.

For more information call 0800 980 3801

Read the Ofsted report on Teddies Nurseries Maidstone for an independent view