Claylands Nursery

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The Original Outdoor Nursery for 16 Years!

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Claylands Nursery

The Original Outdoor Nursery for 14 Years!

Care Inspectorate Grades

July 2019

Quality of Care & Support Quality of Staffing Quality of Environment Quality of Management

Good Good Good Good

Claylands Nursery can offer 1140 free hours per year to children over 3 living in Edinburgh and the Lothians

Press the Blue Button below to read Claylands Nursery full Care Inspectorate report

Graded “Good” in all areas by the Care Inspectorate in July 2019.

Claylands Nursery is located on 2.5 acres of garden grounds, in the West of Edinburgh close to Edinburgh Airport and services the areas of Ratho, Wilkieston, Kirknewton, East and Mid Calder, Livingston, Kirkliston, Winchburgh, Newbridge, South Queensferry, Newbridge, Gyle, Currie, Uphall and Broxburn. The Nursery is close to Clifton Hall School and EICA Ratho.

Claylands Nursery is in a highly secure and tranquil countryside setting situated on a non-working farm, well away from the dangers of traffic, fumes or houses, and set in extensive secure paddocks and gardens for the children to enjoy.

Our ethos is to provide experiences in nature in our fantastic and large gardens. Our playrooms are extensive offering the children freedom to move and explore. Our playrooms are stocked with natural resources reflecting research which again and again shows the benefits of open ended natural play.

Research shows that children do not benefit from the overuse of technology, which can actually lead to stress. Our environment inside and out truly provides the best start.

“We are very confident our child receives high quality care.”

“The outdoor area is fabulous and used almost every day. My daughter chatters away about staff and her friends.”

“Excellent nursery. Caters to each child’s individual needs.”

“We feel lucky our child has a place at Claylands.”

“Whenever I am in the nursery all of the children are calm and happy. They have a wonderful outdoor area and make good use of it.”

Download latest care inspection report

Claylands Nursery is a safe haven, well away from traffic, rivers, fumes or houses, set in extensive secure paddocks and gardens for the children to enjoy.
The Nursery is located on a non-working farm in purpose- built farm steadings. We keep small animals for the children to care for. The children are outside taking advantage of the space, freedom and countryside environment. There is a hard area for gross motor skills as well as high quality equipment to encourage imaginative and physical play.

We have specialist fully qualified teams in our baby room, toddler room and pre-school room. Our mature, qualified staff are long-term and we have a very good reputation locally for the quality of our staff and management.

Our Nursery Cook/housekeeper makes all home cooked meals and snacks/baking, from scratch daily. This a better experience for the children, who eat home cooking in a relaxed and homely environment.

The children are able to use the garden as an extension of the nursery playroom, taking their activities and snacks outside. Outdoor play has been proved in so many studies to be best for children’s development, and at Claylands we provide more space and freedom to explore than other nurseries can.
We have a mini-beast garden, a composting garden, and many opportunities to explore and experience nature.

Latest Blog Posts

February 16, 2021/by Claylands Nursery

16 Years can you believe it !

Pre School Funding

Claylands Nursery is now able to provide 1140 free hours of childcare a year for children over 3 living in Edinburgh and the Lothians.

2020-2021 Nursery Goals
As part of our Partnership with Edinburgh City Council each year we choose priorities to develop the Nursery. This year we are excited to be offering outdoor only spaces for a number of preschoolers. We have established our forest area in the garden, we plan to further develop this. We now have a Level 8 qualified Outdoor Leader – This will further enhance our provision. We continuously undertake further staff development in Forest School philosophies. We have established our raised beds and plan to grow more produce in the nursery garden with the children for the cook to use in the nursery kitchen.

Care Inspectorate Report

The Nursery last inspection in July 2019 awarded ‘good’ grades in every area. Parent feedback was outstandingly positive and praised all aspects of the care we provide.