Ipswich Private Kindergarten

901 Woodbridge Road,
Ipswich,
Suffolk.
IP4 4NX

The Ipswich Private Kindergarten is a privately owned, family run kindergarten, offering 86 places per day.  We are located on one of the main routes through Ipswich, convenient to the town centre, hospital and Martlesham Heath / Woodbridge.  We are open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, 51 weeks a year.  We offer half and full day sessions, to fit in with your requirements.

99% of our staff are qualified, way above the minimum requirement of 50%, as specified by Ofsted.  All our staff are static in each classroom, allowing them to get to know each child and their routine individually, assisting the children in settling in and to feel safe and secure in our care.  Staff are also paediatric first aid trained, have basic food hygiene certificates and training in child protection.

Children are split into three age groups; 3 months to 2 years, 2 - 3 years and 3 - 5 years.  Within these ages, the children are further split, age and ability wise, where activities and toys are specifically selected to best complement their stage of development and capabilities.  We provide toys and activities that encourage development in all areas of learning - from free play style activities in our younger age groups to planned, structured activities in Pre-school, that support the Foundation Stage of the Curriculum.  Each age group has their own outside play area, meaning that not only can they have age appropriate play equipment but also have the option of going out whenever they like, for as long as they like, without the fear of being ‘run over’ by our older, bigger children.

Nursery Village – this room caters for our youngest babies, aged from 3 months to approximately 1 year.  This is a lovely cosy room with a maximum capacity of six children, cared for by two fully qualified staff.  The room is self-contained with its own nappy changing room and sleep area with easy access to the kitchen for milk storage.  All the equipment in the room is especially for growing babies, ranging from baby gyms, rattles and mobiles for the smallest babies to activity tables for our pre-walkers to pull themselves up on.  The room is designed to encourage and assist the babies in achieving their early milestones such as sitting, crawling and walking but with the cosiness of a home with friendly, caring staff to nurture their development.  The staff follow the baby’s routine from home, regarding sleep times, milk and food times to ensure continuity of care between home and nursery.

Nursery Town – this unit is for our older under-twos.  The unit itself is split into two rooms so we can divide the children into crawlers and walkers and provide them with age appropriate toys and activities.  The children’s day is very much based around free play, giving them plenty of opportunity to explore and discover the different toys and activities we provide within the cognitive, imaginative, creative and construction areas of learning.  The children also have lots of access to ‘messy’ play, e.g. sand, water, playdough, jelly, cornflour and water, pasta, etc. as well as art and craft activities, such as painting, colouring, gluing, etc. most days.

In both Nursery Village and Nursery Town, parents are provided with a detailed daily diary for their child, which we use to record what, when and how much each child has eaten, sleep times, bottle times (if appropriate), nappy changes and what they have been doing that day.  There is also space for parents to write a comment or pass on a message.

Pre-school Town – is own main classroom for our 3-5 year olds.  It has a capacity of 24, cared for by three members of staff.  We follow the Foundation Stage of the Curriculum in this age group as the parents can claim Early Education Grant Funding through us.  We do a monthly topic with daily, structured activities taking place alongside free play.  We ensure that children have the opportunity to explore toys that support all the areas of learning, such as a mark-making table, construction toys, messy play, creative area, small world play and imaginative play in the home corner.  Through our topics we aim to encourage the children to become aware of and explore their surroundings, inspiring them to ask questions and support them in finding the answers.  We like them to express themselves through imaginative and creative play as well as encourage skills such as letter and number recognition and formation and pencil control.  We try to do all of this within a warm, friendly and nurturing arena, making learning as fun as possible.

IPK operates an ‘open door’ policy, which hopefully helps parents feel more secure in leaving their children with us, knowing that they can pop in and see them at any time. 

We also encourage parents to phone as often as they like to check on their child to help give them piece of mind, they can be transferred directly through to the staff that are caring for their child so they can know exactly how they are.

As well as all the written records provided to parents, we also ensure that staff are able to speak to parents on a daily basis, passing on information about the child’s day personally.  This helps us provide continuity of care and is a very important aspect of our partnership with parents.

We also offer security-coded doors, CCTV and healthy balanced menus, prepared by our qualified chef.  We have a four-week rotating menu, prepared fresh daily and we can also cater for any dietary requirements as well as provide pureed fruit and vegetables for weaning babies.