About our Centre

Colleges Nursery and Family Centre began life as a purpose built nursery with a pleasant garden in the Arbury and Kings Hedges area, situated in the north of Cambridge.

It was built in 1972 with funds generously donated by the Colleges of Cambridge University and by local fundraising efforts of an enthusiastic community-based committee, being adopted by the LEA on completion of building. Subsequent building projects provided a large community room, children's cloakroom, offices, a library area, a further teaching area, staff room and meeting room. As part of the SureStart project in Kings Hedges, a further large building project took place in 2005-2006 to create a multi-purpose/multi-agency children's centre, linking the nursery school building and the adjacent Arbury Community Centre.  Colleges Nursery and Family Centre is a partner in the North Cambridge Children's Centre, whose main office is located within the Centre.

The Centre serves families living in the Arbury and Kings Hedges area which comprises several large housing estates in the catchment of the Arbury, Grove and Kings Hedges primary schools. A significant number of our families are socially and financially disadvantaged, and we have a fairly high proportion of children who have special educational needs. We encourage families to be involved in all aspects of Centre life in a variety of ways.

North Cambridge Children's Centre provide several services from the Centre including a weekly family support group:  The Kings Hedges Family Support Project, a childminders group, as well as for baby, toddler and antenatal clinics, paediatric clinics and speech therapy.  There is a midwives clinic located within the Centre. 

A variety of social and fundraising events are organised by parents and staff. The Centre is very much seen as part of the community and provides opportunities for local families and early years workers, including child minders, to meet regularly, often for training purposes.

Within the nursery school we have 80 part-time places, 40 in a.m. and p.m. sessions. Places are allocated according to specific admissions criteria. Midday meals are also provided for some of the children. Priorities in the nursery include children's self-esteem and communication, language and literacy. We encourage parents/carers to join our libraries - information books for themselves; factual and story picture books, story sacks and the language and literacy project for their children.

Staffing is based on a ratio of 1:10 at present - 2 teachers and 2 nursery nurses. In addition, we have a full time teaching assistant and sometimes a further part-time teaching assistant and have employed an extra supernumerary nursey nurse.

In our Daisy Room we offer wraparound and daycare for up to 24 children aged from 2 - 4 years.  This is available 48 weeks a year from 8.00 a.m. - 6.00 p.m.  A variety of different sessions are offered.  Places within the Daisy Room are charged for and an up to date list of prices is available on request.  We employ a nursery manager, two job share senior nursery officers, two nursery assistants, a childcare assistant and a part time daycare assistant to work with the children in the Daisy Room.  Children from the nursery school and Daisy Room are able to access all areas of the nursery and share equipment and facilities.

The school places great emphasis on in-service training and continuous personal and professional development for all staff who form our enthusiastic, committed and hard working team.

We have a child-centred approach and we believe the best way for children to learn and develop is through active, hands-on play. We encourage children to be independent decision makers and problem solvers.

We use the outdoor area throughout each session and value outdoor play as a powerful vehicle for learning. Continous observations of the children's play inform our daily planning and provide us with regular opportunities for making assessments and writing anecdotal records. The children's Special Books are records of achievement and involve parents on a regular basis, raising awareness of their child's interests and progress.

Following two earlier excellent Ofsted inspections, we were a Beacon School for six years, working together with other settings to share good practice, as well as offering a highly successful visiting programme. We are a Health Promoting School, focusing on healthy eating, self esteem and staff health and wellbeing.  We have since had further Ofsted inspections within the nursery school and our first Ofsted inspection within the Daisy Room.  Both reports found our provision to be outstanding.  We have recently been awarded an ICT Mark.

Staff and governors work closely together to ensure a high standard of provision for children and families at our busy and popular Centre.