Kingsmead Day Nursery and Preschool in Winchester

Kingsmead Day Nursery is a vibrant place where staff and children grow and learn together. We create an environment where everyone thrives, enabling our children to explore the world express themselves as unique individuals.

Kingsmead Day Nursery provides a stimulating environment that encourages children to explore their natural curiosity, develop their independence and decision making abilities, helping them to build confidence from an early age.

Curriculum

We develop children’s natural desire to learn through their interests; planning, capturing and extending their curiosity.

Our curriculum is thoughtfully designed to be highly flexible, allowing us to adapt learning opportunities and activities in real-time based on the evolving needs of the children and feedback from parents. We take pride in developing our own tailored curriculum, blending creative learning methods including Montessori, Reggio Emilia, and play-based approaches.

This unique curriculum nurtures creativity, critical thinking, and independence, providing a distinctive approach to child development. It ensures that every child is supported in their individual learning journey, encouraging exploration, self-expression, and a love of learning.

We follow a curriculum and style of teaching that allows all the children to reach their individual learning goals at their own pace. We offer up a beautiful mix of literacy, maths, art, music, drama, singing and dance to fill our day – and encourage social and emotional growth in every child.

Team

We are really proud of our dedicated staff team working at Kingsmead Day Nursery and Preschool. Our staff are the heart of the Nursery; they understand that each child is unique and deserves every opportunity to excel in life.

Our staff foster strong relationships with parents to understand the needs of their children. This ensures that we act in the best interest of each individual child so that they meet their development and learning goals.

All our staff undertake continuous training in all areas of Early Years including official qualifications Level 2 – 6, behaviour management, caring for babies and many more. Many of our staff members have qualifications in early childhood studies, emphasising their expertise and knowledge in the early years sector.

In addition to this, our staff are Paediatric First Aid trained and the majority hold level 2 or higher safeguarding training. Our brilliant team of highly qualified carers are engrossed, motivated and rewarded by the progression of each child, and form lasting bonds with the children in their care.

Our nursery has a degree level trained practitioner in Special Educational Needs (SENCo) on our team, should any of our children require any special needs assistance.

Parent Partnership

The happiness of our parents and children are important to our team. We are committed to maintaining regular communication with families and providing feedback on children’s learning experiences.

Our nursery app keeps families connected and informed with regular updates on their child’s progress, care routines, daily activities, and upcoming events. It’s the perfect way to stay involved and celebrate your child’s nursery journey.

Before a child starts at our nursery, we hold settling-in sessions for new families and children to meet their Key Person and spend time in the rooms to help them become familiar with, and feel comfortable in our nursery environment.

Kingsmead also hosts regular events for families throughout the year.

Facilities

Playrooms

Our beautifully designed playrooms are light, airy, and thoughtfully equipped with high-quality, age- and stage-appropriate resources. Each space is carefully arranged to inspire curiosity, encourage exploration, and support children’s development at every stage. With a wide variety of engaging toys and activities, our playrooms create a welcoming environment where children can learn, play, and thrive.

Babies and Toddlers: Our youngest children have the entire upstairs nursery space dedicated to them. This area is spacious, bright, and designed to provide a calm, nurturing environment where babies and toddlers can explore, learn, and grow. With plenty of sensory-rich activities and cosy corners, this area allows our youngest children to engage in age-appropriate play while being supported by our caring staff. They also enjoy access to stimulating outdoor spaces.

Preschool: Our preschool children are situated downstairs. This area is designed to encourage independent learning and social interaction, with a variety of engaging, educational resources to support their readiness for school. One of the standout features of this space is the free-flow access to the garden, allowing children to move freely between indoor and outdoor learning. This setup encourages exploration, physical activity, and connection with nature, offering endless opportunities for creativity, play, and discovery.

Outdoor Space

We have a very large outdoor area providing many opportunities for children to learn, play and grow. We have worked hard on our purpose-built garden at Kingsmead Day Nursery and are proud of what it offers our children.

We’re lucky enough to have a large outdoor play area whilst still being in the centre of Winchester for easy access for parents.

Our garden area consists of a rubber race track, climbing mound and tunnel, children’s vegetable garden, baby zone, reading nook, cookery garden, mud kitchen, wooden playhouse, pirate sand pit, music wall, canopy for shaded play, construction zone, children’s buggy park, mark-making areas (e.g painting), theatre zone and an outdoor classroom.

Activities

We collaborate with parents, the community, agencies and organisations to create a secure foundation of wellbeing. We enhance and support children’s ideas and experiences, developing their personal and social skills and giving them cultural capital.

This provides the essential knowledge that children need to become engaged citizens. Our children are encouraged to think critically, be innovative and remain curious. Here, we create a home-from-home atmosphere with some extra awe and wonder to inspire young minds.

Nursery Activities

At our nursery, we offer a wide range of engaging activities that support children’s development and spark their creativity.

Our Zoo Lab experiences bring animals into the nursery, providing a hands-on learning experience about the natural world.

We also offer dance and drama sessions, where children can express themselves through movement and role play.

Tennis sessions help develop coordination and physical skills, while Debutots provides storytelling and drama-based activities to encourage imagination and language skills.

Disco dough dance brings fun, music, and movement together, and our yoga sessions support mindfulness, balance, and flexibility, creating a well-rounded and enjoyable experience for all the children.

Regular Outings

Our nursery embraces the opportunity to explore the local community with regular outings that enrich children’s learning experiences. We enjoy peaceful walks by the river, exciting trips to the market, and visits to the local library, where children can discover a love for books.

Our adventures also include exploring the Winchester City Museum, giving children the chance to learn about history and culture in an engaging way. These outings help to spark curiosity and broaden the children’s understanding of the world around them.

Book a visit   Ask our team

Our Nursery at a Glance