Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Children's Centre

Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Children's Centre

York Way Court

Copenhagen Street

London

N1 0UH
020 7527 4850

Contact us by email

Get map and directions

Read Kate Greenaway Express, our weekly newsletter

Read our most recent Ofsted reports:

School Inspection 2008

Management and Leadership Survey 2007

Childcare Inspection 2006

Click on Journey Planner to get to us by public transport:

What we do

We offer nursery education integrated with childcare for children aged from 6 months to rising 5 years old, and we offer health services, family support, and advice and training for parents wanting to return to work, training or further education.

What's new?

Easy access to health services

During school termtime, you can drop in to see our speech and language therapist Fiona every Monday morning 10am-12pm if you want any advice on your child's language development, or if you are at all worried and want help. If you are worried about your child's behaviour, learning or sleep, you can drop in to see Dawn, our clinical psychologist, on the following mornings between 10am-12pm: 24th September, 15th October, 19th November and 10th December 2009. You can phone us on 020 7527 4850 or email us to make a 45 minute appointment on the afternoons of 1st October, 29th October, 26th November or 17th December. Find out more about clinical psychology here.

Do you have children aged five and under, and live in Islington? At a loose end once the schools close in summer? We are running a summer scheme with Bemerton Children's Centre that includes fun in the park, Stay and Play at Kate Greenaway, and some exciting trips out too. You can find out more here.

Research on the key person approach undertaken by headteacher Julian Grenier has been recently published - read more ... We are currently working with the Duke of Cambridge, England's only certified organic gastropub, to improve the quality of food we offer children and to involve children more in food preparation and cooking. Soon we will be running workshop for parents - so watch this space. Read more (document opens in Scribd) about how we are developing the Community Kitchen and what the local press thinks about it. If you've ever wondered whether healthy eating for children might go too far, have a look here.

We have also been working with the local health service to produce a leaflet on weaning - advice on starting babies on solid foods from 6 months.

We are currently piloting a scheme to offer more flexible free nursery education places for children over three, and increasing the hours to 15 per week. Find out about one family's experience of this.

Our Art Therapy Service is now well-established and has been very positively evaluated by parents. Our approach to settling-in supports parents and children, and work at Kate Greenaway has informed the development of the Key Person approach in nurseries and reception classes. You can read about Kate Greenaway in the guidance from the National Strategies here and here. We think that our approach to play and the design of our garden have also contributed to children's wellbeing, and Tim Gill says that he agrees in his blog for the Guardian. You can also read some more about our approach to learning outdoors here. And what did a recent American visitor think about our garden? (or should I say our yard?)

Kate Greenaway was the only English nursery school visited by Sir Jim Rose and his team for the Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum, and headteacher Julian Grenier was on the advisory panel. Read more and give your own views.

Our BikeStart programme is all about encouraging young children to ride two-wheeled bikes. We think that stablisers can hold back their progress. Read views for and against, find out more about BikeStart, have a look at the LikeABikes we use, and read the debate about whether children should wear helmets here.

Play England now features Kate Greenaway as a case study for play with natural materials, and we are also featured in the Community Playthings book I made a Unicorn for our approach to play.

Research completed by Liz Dolan at Kate Greenaway on the provision of rest and sleep in the nursery has been published on the CWDC's website.

Our Family Learning Programme included the successful Money Matters course which you can read about here. If you are interested in attending a course like this or on any other subject then please get in touch.

Keep up with our newsletter

Our newsletter comes out twice a term. If you have any ideas, feedback, compliments or complaints then please email us.

January 2009 issue

March 2009 issue

May 2009 issue

Nursery education with childcare

We have places for 51 children from 6 months to 5 years old, together with a range of community services for all local families with young children.

We offer two types of nursery places. Free nursery education places are available for children from the term after their third birthday. We are one of Islington's pilot settings offering 15 hours of free nursery education flexibly to children from the term after their third birthday. This rises to a full time place the term after a child is four years old. We also offer extended day/year places for 48 weeks of the year, from 8am to 6pm, for parents who are working or studying.

Our recent parent survey showed very high levels of satisfaction, and Ofsted found that "children and babies of all ages and ability progress exceptionally well".

To apply for a place for your child, please drop into Kate Greenaway any day between 9am-11am or 1.30-3.30pm. To find out whether your child is eligible for a place, check Islington's admissions policy. We give priority to children who live in our Children's Centre reach area: to check if you do, search for your postcode here. Families living outside the reach are still eligible if any places are left unfilled so it's still worth applying.

We hope you will find us an open, friendly, outgoing organisation. You can read the stories of some of the families, children and professionals who use Kate Greenaway here (please be patient whilst this streams to your computer).

We try to listen carefully to all the families we work with and we have parent governors and a parent action group to encourage parents to volunteer their services and develop, lead and manage the Children's Centre.

Kate Greenaway is a maintained nursery school with specialist nursery education workers and nursery teachers. Research indicates that this type of early childhood education and care has the best outcomes for children. We offer a play-based curriculum, and children can move freely between the indoors and outdoors for most of the day. Our key person system is designed to ensure that we offer - to the best of our ability - loving, individualized care to children throughout the day. We have a settling-in policy to help children and their parents get the best possible start at the nursery.

As an Islington Children's Centre , we offer a range of high-quality services for families living in our reach, informed by the same values as the nursery school. We try to help parents to support children's development and learning and help children stay healthy. We can also help parents to return to work, education or training. To get more information, we recommend that you have a look at Islington's Family Information Service or the Daycare Trust's guide to financial help with childcare costs.

Children's Centres are a new type of public service - local, friendly, accessible, and run by a governing which includes elected parent representatives. Anyone is welcome to observe the governors meeting - email us if you would like to.

The Nursery School and Children's Centre has recently been substantially refurbished and we have a beautiful garden for children's play, which is in use all day long. Our award-winning garden was developed by Wendy Titman and Associates.

In case you are wondering: why Kate Greenaway? We are named after the children's author who grew up in Islington in the 19th Century. You can find out more about Kate Greenaway here.