About us

A nursery the size of a large family

Forty-six children, fourteen staff, one building on Hartfield Road, and twelve years of Marbury families coming back with their second and third child.
The Saplings room, with low shelves of wooden toys
Our story

Twelve years in the old reading rooms

Helen Marsden opened Little Acorns in 2014, in a Victorian reading room that had been empty for six years and a garden that was mostly brambles. The plan was a nursery small enough that one person could know every child — and that has not changed, even as the brambles became raised beds and the roll grew to 46. We have stayed one setting, on one site, with a waiting list rather than a second branch.
The Oaks room mark-making table on a weekday morning
What we care about

Four things we will not trade away

The same faces
Children settle with people, not policies. We pay above the local average and roster for stability, so the adult who meets your child in September is still there in July.
Prices in public
Every fee we charge is on the fees page, including the consumables charge that sits alongside funded hours. No registration fee, no deposit held back.
Plain handovers
What your child ate, how they slept and what they got stuck into — told to you at the door and written on the portal, not reduced to a smiley face.
Outside, always
Two garden sessions a day and forest school on Fridays. Weather is a clothing problem, and we keep the clothing.
The team

Fourteen staff. These three run the place.

Helen Marsden, Nursery manager
Helen Marsden
Nursery manager
Opened Little Acorns in 2014. Early years degree, twenty-one years in the sector.
Yemi Adeyemi, Deputy manager and SEN coordinator
Yemi Adeyemi
Deputy manager and SEN coordinator
Writes the support plans, runs the settling visits, knows every allergy in the building.
Dan Whitlock, Oaks room leader and forest school lead
Dan Whitlock
Oaks room leader and forest school lead
Takes Oaks to the copse every Friday, whatever the sky is doing.
Safeguarding and policies

The policies, in the short version

Safeguarding and child protection

Helen Marsden is the designated safeguarding lead and Yemi Adeyemi deputises. Every member of staff is checked before their first shift and retrained each year.

Complaints

Raise it with the room first, then the manager. Anything unresolved after ten working days goes to the trustees in writing, and you get a written answer.

Illness and medication

Forty-eight hours clear of sickness or a temperature before returning. Prescribed medicines are given with a signed form and logged in the room.

Photographs and data

Photographs stay on the parent portal and are never used publicly without written consent. Records are kept for the period the law requires and then destroyed.

Full policies are in the entrance hall folder and go home with every new family. Ask the office for a copy at any time — or call 01632 960240.

Come and see

Come in on a Wednesday
and see an ordinary morning

Visits run at 9.30am and 2pm on Wednesdays, and last about half an hour. No appointment needed for the second Saturday of the month — that is our open morning. Bring your child.
Children running across the nursery garden
Little Acorns

A small, play-based nursery on Hartfield Road in Marbury, open 7.30am to 6pm for children from three months to school.

Little Acorns is a demonstration site. The nursery, its staff and its fees are invented.

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