ABOUT LINDEN TREE NURSERY SCHOOLS
Founder's Welcome,
Our first nursery opened in 2005 after I had returned to work following the birth of my daughter. At the time, the closest day nursery to Northcote Road was near Battersea Park and I worked in the City as a Business Analyst for a large Aviation Insurance Company - it was not going to be a very practical commute. It concerned me that full day nursery care did not exist at that time in the area and the more I looked into it, the more I found that reliable quality was extremely hard to find anywhere in London.
Over the years we have looked after many hundreds of local babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers and we have developed our childcare practice. There is actually currently quite a lot of agreement in the childcare teaching profession of what core elements it takes for excellent care and learning to exist. These are:
-
That there are ample opportunities for children to use and hear complex language and to develop their social and emotional skills.
-
That the child is the agent of their own learning (referred to as “active learning,”) where they are allowed to follow that which interests them rather than the teacher
-
Where there are knowledgeable and well qualified teachers that demonstrate careful and intentional planning and reflect upon the delivery of it.
In a recent article titled ‘What does it mean to be a Froebelian in the 21st century?’ the author stated that ‘Froebel would have been thrilled by a profession that advocates for young children’s well-being, dignity, and play as the means of young children’s self-active learning as the appropriate way to make sense of the world and find their place in this world. He would have been fond of advocates who resist treating early childhood education and care as a commodity, advocates who don’t think about early childhood education and care in terms of standardized learning and testing, and advocates who ask and think about such questions.'
(Wasmuth, Helge. (2022). What does it mean to be a Froebelian in the 21st century? An essay. Global Education Review, 9 (2), 23-37)
In addition to the above, over the years as we developed our childcare practice, we came to learn about Friedrich Froebel and in particular his love of nature as a foundation for learning and how he had developed, a framework to best introduce children to this excellent, enriched learning. This led us to adopt a Froebelian approach across our nurseries in 2017 and all our staff are now trained in this approach. Read more about this in the Early Years & Froebel section. In addition to our Froebelian approach we of course follow the Ofsted curriculum, as must every nursery in the UK, including best practice and guidance in all matters. We also keep abreast of all developments in Early Years Teaching in the UK and overseas, most recently attending events in Scotland and developing links with Froebel Nurseries internationally.
Our senior management team works extremely hard to attract and retain our great team of brilliant, lovely, very hard working, dedicated, well qualified Early Years Educators. Over half of our staff are qualified to degree level - read more about some of them on our Team page.
This team is led by the very professional and experienced Holli Williams who develops our programme of learning. She brings a vision and also an understanding of Early Years which is well planned, forward thinking and where necessary, innovative. Holli is also a trustee for the Froebel Trust.
Holli is ably supported by Dora Rizmayer as our Deputy Head of Schools and more widely by Angela Fedi our Learning and Development Manager. We are based between our Head Office on Northcote Road and our Training rooms above our Old Town nursery along with Hartha who deals with all issues Admissions and Zara our very capable Schools Administrator who responds from our info@ltns.org.uk email address.
We know that you will have many questions before deciding which is the correct choice of nursery for your child. Please start that journey with us by having a thorough read through of all the information about us that is on this website. We have tailored it best to meet your needs at this stage. Afterwards, we look forward to you contacting us to book a viewing if you think our nurseries are the best choice for your family.
Sincerely,
Alison Murray
Founder
Our Philosophy
At Linden Tree Nursery Schools our Philosophy stems from Friedrich Froebel, a pioneer of early childhood education and care.
Through their play, supported by adults, children tease out and explore situations. Children become increasingly abstract imaginative, symbolic and creative thinkers. Froebel valued close partnership with parents and open community schools, founding the ‘Kindergarten’ for very young children.
In a recent article titled ‘What does it mean to be a Froebelian in the 21st century?’ the author stated that ‘Froebel ... would have been thrilled by a profession that advocates for young children’s well-being, dignity, and play as the means of young children’s self-active learning as the appropriate way to make sense of the world and find their place in this world. He would have been fond of advocates who resist treating early childhood education and care as a commodity, advocates who don’t think about early childhood education and care in terms of standardized learning and testing, and advocates who ask and think about such questions.'
(Wasmuth, Helge. (2022). What does it mean to be a Froebelian in the 21st century? An essay. Global Education Review, 9 (2), 23-37)
Our History
Linden Tree Nursery Schools was founded in 2005. Our first nursery was right in the middle of "nappy valley" on Webbs Road became instantly so popular that two more were established soon after in the area at Old Town and Lavender Hill. Later in 2017 we became fully Froebel nursery schools. Our schools all have some outside space for children to learn and grow and are in lovely Victorian buildings that help to create a welcoming home from home environment.