Riverside Nursery Schools Prospectus

Nurturing your little ones

Nursery Schools

Welcome

I

am delighted to welcome you to Riverside Nursery Schools, a family of five unique and beautiful nurseries set in the London Borough of Richmond. We provide children with a beautifully crafted environment in which highly qualified educators motivate children to learn and become independent.

Via a bespoke and individualised education, delivered with nurturing, loving care, we encourage the growth of the whole child. This fosters independent thinking alongside the development of early years qualities and dispositions such as a child’s awareness of their environment, empathy for others, communication excellence, and above all, self-confidence.

As a family of nursery schools, we strive to instil within all our children the intellectual, emotional, and physical skills needed to become self-motivated learners, flexible thinkers, and creative problem solvers. At every opportunity, we support their natural and ever-increasing curiosity about the world in which they live.

We provide love and support to our children and their families. We relish the opportunity to get to know and understand every child whilst watching them thrive in our carefully prepared, warm, loving environment. We look forward to seeing the children grow into successful, autonomous citizens of the world.

Please feel free to contact me personally with your questions or better still, organise a visit to any of our wonderful nursery schools.

I look forward to meeting you and your child and being alongside you at the start of their education.

Aimee Kimbell Principal

flexible thinkers

Educating Excellence for Generations

discover

Riverside Nursery Schools have been educating children for over forty-five years.

We have created a bespoke curriculum that draws inspiration from a range of established and time-proven pedagogies including Montessori, Reggio Emilia and Forest School. The education we provide is steered by our experience and expertise, combined with the most upto-date knowledge of the latest scientific

breakthroughs in both child development and neuro-development.

Whilst incorporating the seven areas of learning in the Department for Education’s Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), the Riverside curriculum goes far beyond it, with a focus centred on developing the five Riverside Nursery Schools Dispositions in each and every child.

Space to grow

A preparation for life

A child’s early education prepares them for life. A tailored and rewarding early educational experience equips them with the tools, characteristics, traits, attributes, and knowledge to succeed in the next stage of their education and beyond.

Riverside takes a holistic approach to learning that integrates mind, body and spirit to achieve a rich learning experience in a school community that gives the highest priority to personal relationships and life skills.

We are passionate about education.

The first seven years of a child’s life is the time in which a child has the greatest capacity to learn. Children are born with an ability and readiness to study their environment and are driven to become independent learners. This drive is fostered at Riverside Nurseries through the freedom to choose learning activities in our carefully prepared environments.

Curiosity & Individuality Children thrive when their natural curiosity is nurtured by the careful guidance of our experienced educators in a setting in which they are free to explore. This nurturing environment fosters self-discipline, self-confidence, and the ability to concentrate. Our experience shows that this type of education provides the bedrock for the development of a true joy of learning.

‘Who’ a child is, we feel, is more important than ‘what’ a child achieves in the form of goals during this time.

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Children learn best through sensory-motor activities, working with materials that develop their cognitive powers through direct experience. Children have ‘sensitive’ periods, during which skills and behaviours can be learned and integrated easily. Riverside children are fully supported and encouraged during these periods whilst educators use careful observation to guide children to activities that suit their stage of neurological development.

We are passionate about education

Resilience

Imagination

Veracity

Getting up when we fall d own, brushing ourselves off, and trying again

Seeing magic in the world and c onjuring our own unique interpretation

Learning and respecting the truth about ourselves, others, and the world around us as we learn and grow

Empathy

Responsibility

Sharing feelings a nd experiences t o create a nurturing and comforting learning environment for all

Developing autonomy and integrity of self and the abilities to work both independently and collaboratively

Our besp 1

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Riverside Nursery Schools foster a language-rich environment guaranteeing the enjoyment of both the spoken and written word. Educators take every opportunity to encourage dialogue with even the youngest children and the exploration of thoughts and ideas through verbal discourse.

Children learn that their ideas matter, whatever their age, and enjoy eye-toeye conversations with adults, dialogue with those around them, and countless opportunities to listen and learn.

Character and Resilience

In the first years of life, a child creates the fundamental elements of their personality and character, the mind-set and attitudes that will accompany them into adult life. They learn to make decisions, to persevere, gain self-discipline, experience success, and consider the needs of others. In a well-balanced, nurturing community of children and the adults who guide them, these qualities emerge effortlessly.

Through both play and structured learning, your child is set up for success.

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Communication and Confidence

Healthy Body, Healthy Mind

A wide range of beautifully crafted equipment and carefully curated activities refine motor skills and physical development. Riverside’s physical development syllabus helps children discover and develop a healthy lifestyle through cooking activities, outings, sports classes, and outdoor nature lessons.

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grow Imagination and Empathy

One of the most important dispositions we foster and develop in our children is their ability to use imagination and empathise with others. We do this through imaginative play, exploration of characters in stories, and, of course, ensuring strong reading abilities.

Throughout Riverside Nursery Schools, the Montessori method is utilised to teach children to read. When each child is ready, we begin exploring sounds of the alphabet and finding objects in the environment that relate to those sounds. Once a child has discerned that words have beginning, middle and end sounds, they are shown the value of ‘sounding out’ words (c-a-t), and in the process effortlessly begin both to read and write.

poke curriculum Number Theory and Logic Simple number songs and rhymes introduce our learners to Mathematics. Activities in the classroom, including Montessori maths materials, ensure children are familiar with sorting, matching, ordering, sequencing, and counting, forming a solid foundation upon which to build a lifelong understanding of Mathematical mechanisms. Our unique Maths curriculum is the only programme based upon a child’s natural instinct to move and explore. By making Maths an integral part of a child’s day, a love of number theory and logic evolves with ease.

wing 7

Self-Expression and the Arts

At Riverside Nursery Schools, children have access to an extensive range of art materials and equipment. They learn about different artists and their styles and are free to recreate these styles or develop a flair of their own.

They explore crayons, chalks, paints, and glue with a range of modelling items always available for harnessing creativity.

A daily music activity gives the children the opportunity to express themselves through dance and song.

A high quality, bespoke education for your nursery aged child

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Observing and Exploring

Young children are full of curiosity and have an innate, insatiable interest in the world around them. They are hard-wired to explore, using every opportunity to expand their knowledge. This natural interest and sense of adventure is stimulated with an introduction to topics from the realms of Science, Geography, Botany, and Zoology.

Locations KEW

A307

A2

05

A316

TW

ISLEWORTH

HAM N KE C I

RO A D

RICHMOND

CH

R EY TS ER

OA

ST MARGARETS

D TWICKENHAM

STRAWBERRY HILL

Twickenham Green

Nursery School

Grosvenor House

St Margarets Montessori

Nursery School

Nursery School

Twickenham Park

Nursery School

Kew Montessori

Nursery School

Ages: 3 months - 5 years

Ages: 3 months - 5 years

Ages: 2 - 5 years

Ages: 3 months - 5 years

Ages: 2 - 5 years

Hours: 8am - 6pm

Hours: 8am - 6pm

Hours: 8am - 6pm

Hours: 8am - 6pm

Hours: 9am - 3pm

Open: 51 weeks a year

Open: 51 weeks a year

Open: 51 weeks a year

Open: 51 weeks a year

Open: Term Time

26 The Green, Twickenham TW2 5AB

Grosvenor House, Grosvenor Road Twickenham TW1 4AD

8 Victoria Rd, Twickenham TW1 3HW

31 Cambridge Road, St Luke’s House, Twickenham 270 Sandycombe TW1 2HN Road, Kew Gardens, Surrey TW9 3NP

020 8755 1125

020 8538 9999

020 8891 2675

020 8892 0872

020 8332 1255

The Riverside Team

Aimee Kimbell

Libby Nicholas

In 2006 she began her Montessori Teaching Diploma and started her teaching placement at Kew Montessori in 2007, where she continued after graduating. In 2014, Aimee took on the post of Headteacher at Kew Montessori and subsequently also became Headteacher at St. Margarets Montessori in 2017. Both schools have their own individual character underpinned by a firm following of the Montessori philosophy directed by a talented, dedicated and passionate team.

Libby completed her PGCE and was accepted on the National Fast Track Teaching Programme ranking as one of the ‘Top Ten Nationwide Fast Track Teachers’. Progressing quickly from teaching English to increasingly senior roles, Libby has held positions such as Head of Year, Deputy Head, Headmistress, Deputy Director of Education at the Girls’ Day School Trust, and Regional Director of Education for the South & West at the Academies Enterprise Trust.

Principal, Riverside Nursery Schools Aimee graduated with a BA Hons in Classical Civilisation from the University of Birmingham. She began her teaching career in Hong Kong where she taught children English to GCSE level.

These two nurseries joined the other Dukes nurseries to form a collection now known as Riverside Nursery Schools.

Managing Director Libby is responsible for the Dukes Education nurseries and day schools.

Having graduated from the University of Bristol with a degree in English & Philosophy, Libby realised her true vocation when working with The Prince’s Trust.

Prior to joining Dukes, Libby founded and was CEO of Astrea Academy Trust - a family of 27 schools across Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire. Libby’s areas of professional expertise include the delivery of school improvement, strategic organisational change, curriculum design, and innovation and all aspects of teaching and learning – thinking, theory, and pedagogy.

Aatif Hassan

Founder and Chairman Aatif founded Dukes Education in 2015 driven by the thing that gave him the most joy – working with children and helping them to develop into extraordinary young people. He was inspired by great education and wanted to build something really special in the sector.

He is also Chairman of Cavendish Education, a group of eight schools for pupils with dyslexia and autism, and Deputy Chairman of Governors of St James Independent Schools (including Chairman of the Finance & Estates Committee and Chairman of St James Junior School). Aatif is also on the advisory board of EdEx UK and Woxsen School of Business.

Aatif has a first class degree in Mathematics and Economics and also held a British Army commission.

“Dukes Education is a family of schools and educational services based in the UK. Our schools are distinctive in identity and style, yet united in offering outstanding teaching and learning, providing the strongest foundations for young people to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives.�

Nursery Schools

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