Hirst Wood Nursery School and Children's Centre

Welcome to the Hirst Wood Nursery School

Welcome to Hirst Wood Nursery School. We have been serving the World Heritage site of Saltaire since 1932. We value confidence, independence and creativity and experiential learning through purposefully planned play. Everyone at Hirst Wood is valued and every child deserves the very best education. My colleagues and I are totally committed to working in partnership with children and families to extend children’s knowledge and understanding. We are inclusive in all that we do and our learning community is based on the celebration of both similarities and difference and we place high importance on respecting each another; there are no invisible children here. We aim for our school to be a place of possibilities; a place where children and childhood are honoured, their ideas and abilities are both valued and celebrated. We aim to motivate, inspire and challenge children in their learning, to create a space where fascination, creativity and endless possibilities for learning are at the core of what we do.

We believe that when teaching and learning is relevant, challenging and inspiring, children will develop a true passion for learning. This passion will encompass and support every aspect of growth – physical, social, emotional, intellectual and moral. We believe that when a child has the freedom to explore the world around them and share memorable experiences with their peers and highly trained practitioners, learning becomes joyful and long-lasting. We have an amazing learning environment that includes a wilderness garden where children have the opportunity to experience the Forest School plus a dedicated fire and tools area (health and safety risk assessed of course). We offer a range of enticing and motivating experiences for children both indoors and outdoors to develop their sense of awe and wonder that enables them to take pleasure in exploring and investigating the world around them. Our curriculum is built on a constructivist approach, with children building their own curriculum through our wonderfully enticing and enabling environment. We use a mix of approaches, children learning through play, through interested adults who model new skills and vocabulary, and they learn from each other. We support children in their delight in discovering and experiencing the world around them which we hope will develop into a lifelong love of learning. Our curiosity-based style is an enticing way of embracing education in early childhood. It’s a wonderful recipe book of tantalising ingredients, carefully mixed together with experience, passion and a love of experiential learning through everyday real-life items made of wood or other natural materials to encourage children’s natural exploration and eagerness to investigate and create to understand their world, the world around them, and the world beyond.

We are now preparing for our September 2026 intake so if your child is 3 between now and 31st August, do come and look around the Nursery, please email office@hirstwoodnscc.co.uk to express your interest.

We offer the free 15 NEF hours in a variety of ways and also the extended offer of 30 hours for eligible families. Our provision is not only led by very experienced, enthusiastic teachers and Early Years Practitioners but alongside this we also have a before and after school club called 'The Sunshine Club' which offers paid for additional sessions.

Every day is an open day – come and take a look.

Best wishes, Jayne Taylor, Headteacher

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