Play Den

About Us

The Play Den Nursery and Pre-School LTD

****WE ARE MOVING TO MOREON IN SEPTEMBER 2026****
***LIMITED AVAILABILITY FOR CHILDREN AGE 2-3 FROM APRIL 2026***
***NOW TAKING BOOKING FOR SEPTEMBER 2027***

We are a 35 place family run, homely nursery and pre-school setting offering award winning high-quality child care for children from 3 months to 7 years. Described as 'a little gem', our ethos it to 'celebrate the uniqueness of each child and ensure that they are able to fully reach their potential by providing challenging, yet achievable activities to enable children to reach their goals'. Established in 2005, we have been 'igniting the minds of little learners' for two decades.
We offer term-time only contracts to our parents and carers in professions that only require 39 week contracts.
We offer 30 hours of government Early Education Funded sessions for working families from 9 months to 4 years of age (until your child starts school), 15 hours of Early Learning for two-year old funding and 15 hours Universal funding for 3-4 year old's.
We believe children learn best when they feel safe and secure. We do this by establishing strong bonds with our children and their families to ensure we truly get to know your child to enable us to plan activities and events that meet their interests. Our curriculum is widely varied to accommodate all styles of learning, including a balance of child-indicated and adult led activities, Forest school activities and Every Child a Talker.
Our passion is that every child should have a 'voice' (including using Sign along) to ensure they can make their needs and wishes known.
We want all of our children to understand language and communicate well. Story-telling and singing are our passion and we love to re-tell stories in a variety of ways, such as acting the story and using puppets and story sacks with resources. We ask open ended questions such as 'I wonder what will happen if...' and 'How shall we...' to simulate their understanding and encourage independent ideas.
Our staff understand the varying ways children learn and support them through scaffolding, sustained shared thinking and provide a continuous learning environment where children have activities and resources always available to them.
Using elements of Regio Emilia and Maria Montessori, we encourage independence with our children and teach them to put on their shoes and coats, to pour water from a jug and to self- serve at meal times.
We have forged excellent links with our professional partners including our local schools, health visiting teams and social care services.
We value our local community and take our children our regularly for walks, to the library and to the local shops. We also plan sports day, outings beyond our local community, open day events and organise fund-raising events to teach our children about those less fortunate than themselves.
* We offer holiday club for children aged 4 - 7
* We provide an online-learning journal (Tapestry) of your child to ensure you are included in your child's learning and development
* Our staff team team are qualified from Level 2 to Level 6 in Early Education and Childcare and our apprentices are working towards a qualification.
* Every child has a key person - your dedicated member of staff keeping you up to date with your child's development.
* All of our staff receive paediatric first aid training
* All of our staff receive a minimum of Level 2 Safeguarding training
* We have a garden that is suitable for all year play and education and ensures the ages and stages of development are met.
* Every child has their own tooth-brush and clean their teeth every lunch time