Greenwood Nursery & Early Years
Give your child a head start at Yarrells
At Yarrells, our youngest children start their learning in Greenwood, our eco-friendly Early Years Centre, tucked into a snug and safe corner of our woodland site. Nursery children benefit from all the wonderful facilities and opportunities at Yarrells:
• secure garden and safe play area
• highly qualified, specialist and dedicated staff
• dynamic and extensive curriculum
• a beautiful estate with the main school housed in a Georgian mansion and modern classroom blocks
• extensive grounds including sports fields, play areas, woods, gardens and outdoor education areas
• covered, heated swimming pool and netball/tennis courts
• hot meals and all snacks prepared by our excellent catering team
• gym and performance hall
Children in the Early Years are at the heart of our school community and benefit from being immersed in our enriching environment. All classes are taught by specialist Early Years practitioners and we use the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning as the basis for an over-arching and extensive curriculum. From the tender age of 2 ½, children also enjoy specialist teaching in art, cookery, gymnastics and outdoor sport and on top of all that, our pre-school classes have dance, French and swimming taught by specialist practitioners. Our pupils learn through a wide variety of play and creative activities and are encouraged to develop self-assurance, independence, resilience and collaborative skills. We offer a seamless transition through our Nursery to Reception and beyond in a stimulating environment which builds the foundations of learning within the Early Years Foundation Framework.
Our Nursery children are fully integrated into school life at Yarrells and enjoy whole school as well as class assemblies. The children in Squirrels (Pre-Reception) and Reception classes are assigned a ‘buddy’ from the senior school. Buddy time is always a cherished occasion whereby the children play, share books and enjoy building supportive relationships with each other.
Nutkins (age 2-3)
In a cosy part of Greenwood the Nutkins enjoy handson learning and are fully supported by our exceptional practitioners. They love learning inside and out, enjoying
our beautiful school grounds.
The children in Nutkins are immersed in Nursery life and begin to enjoy independent learning alongside the older children. They take part in dance and music as well as outdoor PE and ‘Wild Woods’ with specialist teachers.
Squirrels (age 3-4)
The foundations for learning are always being developed and enhanced. In our Squirrels class there is additional specialist teaching in French and swimming. The children are continually moving forward in their learning journey and become ‘school ready’ for a smooth and successful move
to Reception.
Reception (age 4-5)
Our children in Reception bounce into school, always sure of a warm welcome and an exiting day ahead!
Building on the foundations laid in Nursery, the children continue to follow the Early Years curriculum, establishing secure skills in literacy and numeracy that will form the basis for their ongoing education. In addition to the extensive curriculum already offered to our youngest pupils, the children in Reception upwards have a weekly tennis
lesson with our full time specialist tennis coach.
Option 1:
Full time Monday to Friday 8.30am – 3.30pm
Option 2: Selected timetable.
Morning sessions: 8.30am – 1.00pm (Morning sessions include lunch)
Afternoon sessions: 1.00pm – 3.30pm
Greenwood Early Years Building
Click here to read more details.
CHILDREN OPEN CLASSROOMS IN THE TREES
Yarrells Prep School officially cut the ribbon to Greenwood, the school’s extraordinary new classroom block and woodland garden. Visitors, parents and children celebrated with an Open House tour and entertainment. During the afternoon, visitors were able to see children aged 2 to 5 busy in their classrooms while 6 & 7 year olds enjoyed a…
Greenwood is “Awesome” & “Outstanding”
Greenwood was open to welcome new pupils on the first day of term. We hope all of you have had the chance to see our new facility at least from the outside. Comments we have received from parents and pupils alike range from “Awesome” to “Outstanding” and beyond. It truly is a modern state of the art…
POTENTIAL AWARD WINNING ECO BUILDING TOPS OUT
Yarrells Prep School in Upton has just topped out the GREENWOOD, their new classroom block in the trees, with the completion of its elegant butterfly roof. Designed by award-winning Dorset based architect, Adam Covell of ECA, this remarkable structure has risen on 54 posts and giant steel frame to float amid the school’s surrounding woodland.…
“GreenWood” (previously known as the early years centre) is progressing at great pace on site
The roof structure is nearly complete and has been extremely complex to install . It is a double curve surface that twists in opposing directions also known as a saddle surface. The Siberian Larch cladding is going on at great speed. This will weather naturally in the woodland setting. By the end of next week…
New classroom block wooden floor has been completed!
This week the wooden floor base has been constructed upon the steel structure. The first fixtures have been installed within this and the wooden surface has been laid to make it watertight. At the end of the week we will see the wall timber frames going up.
New Early Years classroom block moving ahead on schedule
The structural steelwork stage of the build has now been completed. WSL, Weldrite Structures Ltd, a local company (and Yarrells parent), were appointed to complete the design, manufacture and install the structural steelwork to the specification provided. The timber frame will be arriving in the next three weeks.