FIRST CLASS KIDS
The Old Post Office, Calthwaite, Penrith, Cumbria
First Class Kids is situated in the lovely rural village of Calthwaite, 12 miles from Carlisle and 10 miles from Penrith, just off the A6. We are housed in a beautiful sandstone building which up until 2000 was the village post office. First Class Kids has seen many changes since opening and we are continually committed to developing our facilities for the benefit of the children.
At First Class Kids we pride ourselves on creating a calm and caring, home from home environment where we believe children are all ‘unique’ and their individual interests and needs are catered for.
The management of First Class Kids is overseen by a groups of voluntary trustees. These include the headmaster of Calthwaite School who we have formed amazing links with, and parents whose children currently attend the setting.
Welcome to
First Class Kids Nursery
Our goal is to provide and deliver “FIRST CLASS” services in childcare and nursery education for children between 3 months and 11 years of age.
"Children are happy at this nursery. They confidently leave their parents to start their day. Staff have high expectations for every child. They support children to gain the skills they require for the next stage of their learning. Children benefit from the rural location and learn about local life." – OFSTED October 2021
"Children's learning and development are supported by the caring and friendly staff. Staff know children well and plan interesting and exciting activities, informed by children's individual interests. Children are exceptionally confident and respectful."– OFSTED October 2021
First Class Kids is a not for profit charity, managed by a group of voluntary trustees. We always welcome support and new ideas from our parents too.
Please look through the pages of our website. If you have any questions we would love to hear from you so please CONTACT US We are really proud of our nursery and are always delighted to meet new families.
To view our latest Ofsted report please click the link below to be directed to the Ofsted website.
ABOUT FIRST CLASS KIDS
Paving the Way to a Better Tomorrow
First Class Kids is situated in the lovely rural village of Calthwaite, 12 miles from Carlisle and 10 miles from Penrith, just off the A6. We are housed in a beautiful sandstone building which up until 2000 was the village post office.
First Class Kids has seen many changes since opening and we are continually committed to developing our facilities for the benefit of the children.
At First Class Kids we pride ourselves on creating a calm and caring, home from home environment where we believe children are all ‘unique’ and their individual interests and needs are catered for.
The management of First Class Kids is overseen by a groups of voluntary trustees. These include the headmaster of Calthwaite School who we have formed amazing links with, and parents from nursery who's children attend our setting and our wrap around care.
BABY BUNNIES ROOM
In the Baby Bunnies room, we provide first class care and attention to each and every one of our babies. The secure and stimulating environment enables your child to flourish and develop their ability to learn through play from their very first days. Our nurturing environment is also adapted for meal and snack times and adult-led messy and creative activities are carried out every day. We have a quiet and comfortable area for sleeps and our flexible routine is centred around all of our children. The Baby Bunnies have regular access to all the outdoor areas which are adapted accordingly to suit each child’s individual ability. We have a continuously developing sensory area to provide the children with plenty of opportunities to learn and explore through all of their senses.
BARN OWLS
The Barn Owls building is a fantastic free flow room which is broken down into individual learning areas. Each area is specifically developed to ensure inviting, imaginative environments for the children to develop and learn through play. The areas are enriched with wonderful natural resources which develop children’s imagination, allowing them to get deeply engrossed and show high levels of energy and fascination, while gaining a sense of awe and wonder. This room is also adapted for meal and snack times and the children have access to their own drinking water. From The Barn Owls room the children can move freely to a secure yard where they can develop their learning further, where we encourage children to use their large scale movements and to explore the natural wonders our countryside practice has to offer. In the Barn we work hard to support our children and encourage them to develop their independent skills. The Barn Owls are able to make their own decisions and develop their confidence to achieve things for themselves.
HAPPY HEDGEHOGS
The Happy Hedgehog room is a stunning, calm environment, Within the main room is a ‘home corner’ where children are able to freely and confidently explore real life resources to replicate and re-enact the actions from their home life. Our home corner area regularly gets enhances to support each and every child’s learning development and interest. Our rich ‘construction area’ and ‘small world’ is full of loose parts to inspire children’s imaginations as they can be used in a multitude of ways with no pre-designed outcome. This develops all the children’s creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, social and emotional well-being, counting, sorting and so much more!
The messy room gives the children the opportunity to independently select various sensory, malleable, fine motor and creative activities within a safe and friendly environment. This room is also adapted for meal and snack times and the children can access their own water from a water cooler throughout the day. From this room, the children are able to move freely into a secure garden. The little garden allows children to explore their natural world alongside rich areas to promote team-work, imagination and large-scale, noisy play.
As our children progress through-out the Pre-School year the staff work hard to providing school readiness information to the parents to ensure that the children are ready for the next step in their development. We also communicate with other nursery settings and schools to help with a smooth transition to school for every child.
OUTDOOR FACILITITES
We have free-flow outdoor areas accessible for the Happy Hedgehogs, the Barn Owls and the Baby Bunny room. These areas are constantly developed and enhanced according to the children’s age, stage and interests to create stimulating, imaginative areas to enable the children to thrive in the natural environment.
As well as both these we are very fortunate to have a large garden. In this garden there are opportunities for the children to learn through risk-taking on the various open-ended equipment. The children can get creative in the mud kitchen, look after the vegetable patch and act out performances on the stage . Our new nature garden has given the children the opportunity to observe wildlife first hand, gaining knowledge about the natural world.
We believe that children’s learning opportunities and their well-being are all natured by unhurried outdoor experiences. We take adventures outside in all weathers as this supports our children to gain a natural education to seasons and this opens opportunity for many sensory experiences.
