Welcome to
Essendene Lodge Nursery
Caterham's hidden gem
Welcome to Essendene Lodge Nursery
Caterham's hidden gem
About Essendene Lodge Nursery
Age Group: 2 to 5 years
Open 51 weeks a year 8am to 6pm
Open Spacious pre-school and toddler rooms
Seamless
School transition
Daily extra-curricular fun
Nutrition health &
well being
Highly qualified
long standing team
Our Approach to Childcare
Discover our nurturing approach, tailored to support each child's unique journey.
Education First
We offer a unique approach by integrating education from the moment children arrive. They enjoy both directed learning and child-led play to build new skills. Specialist lessons in PE, Music, and Phonics, along with age-streamed groups, ensure children work at their level. Focused activities follow class sessions, allowing tailored support to reinforce learning.
Fun & Exciting Learning Environments
With small class sizes and dedicated staff, we ensure every child’s needs are met. Families are encouraged to participate in events like Grandparents Day and religious festivities. Our rooms are equipped with a quiet reading area, small world space for imagination, role play area to build social skills, and a creative space for exploration and idea-sharing.
Every Day is a New Adventure
We recognise each child’s unique pace and skills, ensuring equal opportunities for growth. Social and emotional development is a key focus, helping children communicate, build independence, and form relationships. We encourage a positive mindset and offer a variety of activities that challenge and engage. Extra-curricular activities like Book Club, Drama Club, and Public Speaking help children explore new interests, build confidence, and develop self-expression.
Encouraging personal Development
Encouraging Personal Development
We're dedicated to supporting kids in their growth, helping them thrive in all areas of life.
Choices that Make Kids Proud
Our classrooms are equipped with age-appropriate resources, and children enjoy seamless transitions between rooms and free-flow access to the outdoor area. This fosters social skills for younger children and encourages responsibility in older ones.
Three Cheers for Good Choices!
Children are supported in demonstrating positive behaviours through role modelling and small world play. They earn stickers for using good manners, take on roles of responsibility to promote independence, and track progress with superhero charts linked to the house point scheme.
Preparing for the Future
Learning and Development Strategy
We make learning enjoyable and inspiring, ensuring each child finds something they love to learn about.
Happy Days, Healthy Minds
Each class follows a structured timetable that provides stability and helps children build independence. Nursery focuses on physical, social, and language development, while pre-school adds literacy, math, and expressive arts. Learning is staged to match each child’s age and developmental stage.
Building Skills
for Tomorrow
Starting education in Nursery ensures children are fully prepared for Reception. Streamed phonics helps most pre-schoolers read and write simple sentences, while early maths teaching builds a strong understanding of numbers. Ongoing transition activities, such as working with Reception, playtime integration, and taster days, ease the move to school.
Exploring, Learning, Having Fun!
All our activities are designed to be fun and engaging. They are focused on the children’s individual learning targets. The children do not even realise they are learning. Variety in opportunities and resources used ensures the children are engaged in what is offered.
Explore the Nursery
Explore the Nursery
We're dedicated to supporting kids in their growth, helping them thrive in all areas of life.
Teaching & Learning
Our children enjoy a rich blend of direct teaching and independent exploration across the seven areas of the EYFS. Each day begins with a focused, adult-led carpet session, followed by engaging activities where children apply their learning through carefully planned adult-supported tasks
Our Environment
Children enjoy freeflow access throughout the day to our beautifully renovated outdoor space, easily reached from all Early Years classrooms. What truly sets us apart is the opportunity for children to move freely between all classrooms, creating a shared, collaborative environment. This interaction is especially valuable for our 2-year-olds, supporting their language, communication, and social development. Our 5-year-olds also benefit, developing a strong sense of responsibility as they include and support the younger children—something our siblings in the unit particularly enjoy.
Extra Curricular for Early Years
In line with the wider school offering, our full-time children enjoy a vibrant range of after-school extra-curricular activities, which are also available to school-day children through additional session bookings. From 3:30 to 4:30pm, children can take part in exciting clubs such as Arts and Crafts, STEAM, Cooking, and Mindfulness. Alongside this, all Early Years children benefit from weekly French, Music, and PE lessons, delivered by our enthusiastic specialist teachers.
Frequently Asked Questions
We welcome children aged 2 years to 5 years.
At our nursery, we adhere strictly to the national guidelines set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. This framework ensures the best possible care and development for children in the early years. The ratios are as follows: –
- 2-3yrs olds on 1:5 ratio
- over 3’s ratio is 1:5.
Our nursery features daily activities, including Music, French and PE
With direct support from Essendene Lodge’s teachers, our nursery ensures a seamless transition into the main school.
Simply fill out our online enquiry form or call us to schedule a personal tour. We look forward to welcoming you!
We follow the EYFS framework and our curriculum is designed to inspire curiosity, creativity, and a lifelong love for learning.
Ready to Explore Essendene Lodge Nursery
See how we inspire young minds, book your personal tour today!
Essendene Lodge School
Address: Essendene Road, Caterham, Surrey CR3 5PB
Phone:01883 348349
E-mail: [email protected]
Essendene Lodge School
Address: Essendene Road, Caterham,
Surrey CR3 5PB
Phone:01883 348349
E-mail: [email protected]