Nursery review: Young England Kindergarten Bayswater
I visited Young England Kindergarten Bayswater shortly after its opening in January 2025. It has taken the prestigious nursery till now to find the ideal space to expand from its original premises in Pimlico. Don’t be put off by the rather urban entrance as on entering I was immediately struck by the clean, calm and attractive space that has been created. Experienced head, Lucinda Byron Evans is managing both YEK premises and while being hugely knowledgeable she is also very approachable, understanding and committed to a child-centered early-years experience.
The nursery will have a full capacity of 50 children and those attending in next few terms will benefit from a wonderfully high staff to child ratio as well as the brand-spanking new building. Great thought has been put into the building and design with attractive wooden equipment and neutral walls allowing displays and play equipment to stand out but ensuring children are not over stimulated. There are clean and well organised child-size toilets, a dedicated small learning room used for multi-sensory support or focused teaching. A beautiful, large open plan classroom can be split into two smaller classrooms for rising twos and rising threes. Unusually there is a dedicated art space which is in frequent use. I am always delighted to see evidence of messy play (sand and water in this case) and free flow access to a substantial and well-planned early years outdoor area. This outside space leaves room for climbing/ trikes and bikes, sand, mud kitchen and planting.
For rising 2’s children they need to do 3-5 mornings a week from 8:30-12 with the possibility of extended day till 3pm when children have dropped their nap. Rising 3 s have to do 3 full days or 4 full days and Friday am (finished at lunchtime). Plenty of specialist teachers: music, little kickers, cooking, art and yoga for older one on Tuesdays. A hot lunch is offered for full day children. Staff to child ratio with little ones is 1:4 and in older year is never less than 1 teacher to 8 children. For parents with children under 2 years of age who want to experience nursery a little earlier can join the pre-nursery classes available on a Tuesday or Thursday morning between 9:30 and 11am. Parents/ carers can drop off or stay.
No lack of stimulating and high-quality teaching following a creative curriculum around stories. Planned group teaching every day as well as plenty of free flow and child-initiated activities. Phonics learning is a particular strength with a well thought out approach centred on Ruth Miskin’s read, write inc. Teacher focus on embedding solid sound recognition skills to support blending and segmenting. This ensures a much higher retention of letter sounds.
Great pastoral care and sensitive and supportive settling in procedure. This is the first nursery I have visited with home visits in place for new starters (wonderful!) and dedicated nurture groups for those children struggling to settle or displaying anxiety. The layout of nursery is wheel chair friendly and children will benefit from hugely experienced SENCO well versed in supporting families with EHCP applications.
I felt this was a warm, happy, creative nursery choice with skilled and knowledgeable teachers who are fully aware of the expectations of selective schools at 4+. A very welcome addition to this area of London.
