While our pre-school will be based at Archbishop Sumner school, this will be a discrete setting - managed by The Pelican and open year-round from 8am to 6pm - there are some wonderful benefits to working in partnership with a primary school. These include being part of a wider school environment with older children and the positive impact this can have on supporting school readiness for the term following children’s fourth birthdays. The staff team will be employed by the Pelican and we are advertising to recruit a qualified Nursery Teacher to lead the curriculum for this group.

Moving forward we'll still see the Pelican as one big nursery, but spread over three sites. Our baby nursery will care for children aged 6–20 months, toddlers aged 20 months–3 years will be based at the church hall and our 3 and 4 year-olds at the ABS site. This structure allows us to create age-appropriate environments that best support each stage of children’s development. This expansion will also give us greater flexibility around changing booking patterns and the option to add additional days.

We are planning to open our pre-school expansion on 1st April, subject to Ofsted registration approval (a process that can take up to 12 weeks) and the completion of final building works.