Hedgehogs Hempstead

11/06/2026

Yesterday we were delighted to see the creativity and kindness of one of the lovely residents at Heatherdale Nursing Home, who created a beautiful drawing of a hedgehog especially for the children at Hedgehogs Hempstead.

Intergenerational visits are so important and bring many benefits to both the residents and the children. These special connections help reduce loneliness, encourage conversation, boost wellbeing, and provide opportunities to share skills, stories, and creativity. The joy and excitement these visits bring are clear to see, and they create lasting memories for everyone involved.

The hedgehog drawing was absolutely wonderful and showcased the resident's artistic talent and thoughtfulness. The children at Hedgehogs Hempstead love it and appreciate the care that went into creating it.

A huge thank you to the talented resident for sharing her creativity with us. We always look forward to visiting! 🦔❤️

01/06/2026

🌟 Early Years Practitioner (Level 3) 🌟
📍Hempstead, ME7 3QG
💷 £10.85 - £13.50
🕓 Full-time, Permanent – 4 Day Working Week

Join Our Hedgehogs Family! 🦔

At Hedgehogs, our mission is to provide the highest quality early years education, guided by our ethos: Explore, Discover, Play.
We are proud of our nurturing environments, consistent communication with families, and passionate team who bring our bespoke pedagogy to life each day. We offer unique opportunities to our children to support them to explore the outdoor environment with daily outdoor adventures, giving opportunities to experience healthy early years through our daily cookery lessons and growing our own food with our very own allotment. We have a love and passion for the environment in the setting and outdoors, embedding it as part of our ethos.

We are excited to be expanding our wonderful team at Hedgehogs Day Nursery in Hempstead and are looking to welcome a passionate, caring, and dedicated Level 3 Early Years Practitioner 🤩

🌱 About the Role

As an Early Years Practitioner at Hedgehogs, you will:

Provide exceptional care and education for children aged 0–5 years
Work collaboratively as part of a supportive, friendly team
Help create inspiring environments and learning opportunities
Build strong, positive relationships with children and families
Bring our bespoke Hedgehogs pedagogy to life (training provided!)
A structured induction and ongoing professional development will be provided to ensure you feel confident, supported, and valued in your role. You must be willing to work outdoors in all weathers to support our outdoor adventures, enjoy being hands on, getting a bit messy and supporting our children through child-led learning and bring your wonderful ideas to share as a team and implement in the setting.

⭐ Why Join Hedgehogs?

We truly value our team—and it shows.

Here’s what you can look forward to:

✨ 4-day working week with one fixed day off every week
✨ Unique pedagogical approach with bespoke training
✨ Career development opportunities across our settings, supportive, knowledgeable and experienced team to work with.
✨ Health & Wellbeing EAP scheme + discount hub
✨ Christmas closure, increasing holiday entitlement & long-service bonuses
✨ Employee of the Term/Year Awards
✨ Staff wellbeing budget & in-house lottery scheme
✨ Welcome voucher after successful probation
✨ Plus: Company pension, childcare discount, staff events, mentoring, and more!

📋 What We’re Looking For

To join us, you will need:

✔ Level 3 Ofsted-recognised childcare qualification (required)
✔ Experience working with children aged 0–5 years
✔ A warm, positive, and enthusiastic approach
✔ A commitment to providing exceptional early years experiences
✔ Ability to commute to Hempstead, ME7 3QG

📞 Want to Find Out More?

We’d love to hear from you!
Contact Georgie Lewis on 01634 953743 (Opt 3)
or email:

📧 [email protected]
📧 [email protected]
📧 [email protected]

28/05/2026

Today the children enjoyed a wonderful outdoor learning experience exploring shadows and the effects of the sun. ☀️

Using chalk, the children worked together to draw around each other’s shadows and observed how the sun created different shapes and sizes throughout the session. They were fascinated to see how their shadows moved and changed position as the sun moved across the sky.

This activity encouraged curiosity, communication, teamwork, and early scientific thinking as the children made predictions, asked questions, and explored cause and effect through play. It also supported physical development, mark making, and an understanding of the natural world.

A lovely hands-on way to learn through exploration, investigation, and fun outdoors! 🌿✨

18/05/2026

Our little learners exploring some large-scale mark making fun! 🌈🎨

The children explored colour, texture, movement and creativity using a variety of tools and materials to create amazing collaborative artwork together. From sweeping paint brushes to chunky chalks and water rollers, the children experimented with different ways to make marks, express ideas and work as a team.

Large mark making is such an important part of Early Years development. Provocations like these help children develop their gross motor skills, shoulder strength and coordination, all of which are essential foundations for later writing skills. By encouraging children to make big movements that cross the body and the vestibular line, we are supporting brain development, balance, spatial awareness and bilateral coordination.

20/04/2026

Our employee of the term !!

Well done Sarah ❤️

Sarah has been amazing with her 1-1 support , she has gone above and beyond with recording evidence and doing supporting paperwork.
We can all see what a lovely bond you have created ❤️

30/03/2026

🦔✨ Baby Spaces Now Available at Hempstead Hedgehogs! ✨🦔

We’re delighted to share that we have limited baby spaces now available at Hempstead Hedgehogs! 💚

Our warm, nurturing environment is specially designed to give your little ones the very best start in life. With caring staff, engaging activities, and a focus on early development, your baby will be safe, happy, and thriving every day.

👶 What we offer:
🌟 A calm, loving atmosphere
🌟 Experienced and dedicated practitioners
🌟 Sensory play and early learning experiences
🌟 Individual care tailored to your baby’s needs

Spaces are filling quickly, so don’t miss out!

📩 Message us today or get in touch to arrange a visit—we’d love to welcome you and your little one to the Hedgehogs family! 🦔💫

25/03/2026

🌟 BIG NEWS from Hempstead Hedgehogs! 🌟

We are SO excited to announce that from 1st April, Hempstead Hedgehogs will be moving into an ALL YEAR ROUND DAY NURSERY! 🦔💚

That means more fun, more learning, and more adventures for your little ones—every single season! From springtime exploring 🌸 to cozy winter activities ❄️, we’ll be here to support your children’s growth, creativity, and happiness all year long.

✨ What this means for you:
✔️ Consistent, reliable childcare throughout the year
✔️ A nurturing, stimulating environment every day
✔️ Even more opportunities for your children to learn, play, and thrive

We can’t wait to start this exciting new chapter with all our wonderful families—both current and new!

📅 Mark your calendars: 1st April
💌 Get in touch to learn more or secure your place!

Let the adventure begin! 🦔✨

11/02/2026

11/02/2026

Valentine’s Day & Chinese New Year Celebrations ❤️🐉

This week, our children have been enjoying learning about different celebrations across the globe as we marked both Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year.

Through a range of fun, hands-on activities, the children explored themes of kindness, friendship, culture and diversity. They took part in creative crafts, sensory play, stories, music and food experiences, helping them to develop curiosity, respect and understanding of the world around them.

We love providing opportunities for children to learn about different cultures and traditions, supporting their personal, social and emotional development while celebrating what makes us all unique.

Thank you to our wonderful teams for creating such engaging experiences, and to our families for your continued support. 🌍✨

02/02/2026

📚✨ National Storytelling Week ✨📚

It’s National Storytelling Week, and we’re celebrating by setting up inviting spaces inspired by some of our favourite storybooks 📖💛

At hedgehogs we know how powerful stories are. They spark imagination, build language, and nurture a lifelong love of reading from the very beginning. By surrounding children with rich, engaging story environments, we support their curiosity and creativity every day.

We’re also embracing the environment as the third teacher 🌿 — creating cosy, meaningful spaces that encourage children to explore stories independently, share ideas with friends, and bring tales to life through play.

Sharing stories together helps children make sense of the world, build connections, and fall in love with books — and that love of reading starts early ❤️📚