Manor House Nursery Group, which operates from Hartsdown Park in Margate, Quex Park in Birchington and Minster, is marking a birthday and the3 opening of a new venture.
Manor House Minster Nursery has just reached its first birthday. Staff and families came together at the weekend to celebrate with an Easter egg hunt and lots of activities for families to enjoy together.
They had special guests including Rabbit and Bear and the Herne Bay Brass Band played some of the children’s favourite songs.
The team at Minster are busy preparing for the class of 2025 to leave for ‘big school’ in the summer.
Today (April 22) the Manor House group opened their newest venture – the expansion of Manor House Kindergarten nursery in the Quex Park Estate, in Birchington.
The current provision is an outdoor nursery nestled amongst the trees for children aged 2 – 5 years. The children experience an authentic Forest School environment led by level 3 Forest School practitioners and Early Years Educators.
Now there is a new space for babies and toddlers, named The Baby Barn. The venue provides a space for babies and toddlers aged 12 months and up, with an eating and meal/bottle preparation area, separate changing facilities and a separate sleep room with the chance to also experience outdoor sleeping.
The free-flow outdoor space promotes holistic learning and development. It includes a planting area, natural woodland with climbing areas, a play- in tractor, a large busy board and mark making areas, reading spaces, a relaxing hammock, a herb garden, mud kitchen and much more.
Amy Penny, Area Manager, said: “In the lead up to opening, to make sure our babies and toddlers begin to feel safe and secure with us we have been providing stay and play sessions for the children to explore the environment with their parents/carers and with their key person.
“There is pure joy in our hearts seeing the babies explore this new space. There are no other settings (that I know if) quite like this one locally and we are so excited to see our ‘Baby Barners’ interact and learn through nature in this beautiful environment.
“The babies have also enjoyed meeting some of our animals on the farm and I’m sure they will be regular visitors.”
Manor House Kindergarten and Baby Barn are already full for September 2025, if parents are interested in registering their child on the waitlist for this year or for a space in September 2026 call 01843 227764 or email [email protected]
All three Manor group main settings have recently implemented a new element to their curriculum specifically targeting children with speech and language development delays.
Early years educators have undertaken additional training to support children in 1:1 sessions or small group work to improve children’s communication skills, including promoting clearer speech, improved comprehension and understanding which improves confidence and self-esteem.
Both Manor House in Margate and Minster run daily forest school sessions for 3- and 4-year-olds. To find out more and to arrange a tour contact [email protected]
From next week (w/c April 28) staff at Minster nursery will take turns on an exercise bike, aiming to cycle the 645 miles from Minster to Lock Ness. All money raised will be donated to MIND charity in addition to the £2,218 already raised at the Manor House Christmas in the Woods event and the Ducklings team at MH Margate. They walked, ran, cycled and swam a total of 539.58 miles in February.
