Ivy In The Park

🌿 WE'RE HIRING – FOREST SCHOOL LEADER 🌿

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Do you have a passion for outdoor learning and inspiring young children through nature?

Ivy In The Park Nursery is looking for a qualified and enthusiastic Forest School Leader to lead our outdoor provision for up to 16 children each day.

🍃 About the Role

• Full-time position – 40 hours per week
• Monday to Friday
• 9:00am–4:00pm spent outdoors with the children
• Additional contracted hours allocated for observations, assessments, planning and documentation
• Lead Forest School sessions, outdoor play, nature projects and local excursions

We are proud to offer purpose-built outdoor facilities, including outdoor bathroom facilities, allowing children to learn, play and thrive outdoors throughout the year.

🌟 Why Join Us?

🎂 Birthday Day Off
🎄 Christmas Shopping Day Off
❄️ Nursery Closure Over the Christmas Period
💚 Half-Day Reward Every 3 Months with No Sick Days
📚 Regular In-Service Days & Professional Development Opportunities
🏦 Bank Holidays Off
🌟 Supportive Leadership Team – Quality Improvement Lead, Floor Manager & ASN Co-ordinator
👶 Senior Team Members in Each Playroom for Added Guidance and Support
🎉 Team Building Events Throughout the Year
🎁 Staff Appreciation Gifts Throughout the Year
✨ Positive, Welcoming Workplace Culture Where Your Voice Matters

✅ Essential Qualifications

• Forest School Leader Qualification (Level 3 or equivalent)
• Outdoor First Aid Qualification
• SSSC-recognised Early Years Qualification
• Eligible for SSSC Registration

We're looking for someone who believes in child-led learning, adventure, resilience and the power of nature to support children's wellbeing and development.

If this sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you.

📧 Please send your CV and covering letter outlining your qualifications, Forest School experience and passion for outdoor learning to:

[email protected]

At Ivy In The Park Nursery, mealtimes are so much more than just eating together, they are valuable opportunities for learning, wellbeing, friendship and belonging. Our transformed subway carriage has become a much-loved gathering place where children enjoy lunch in small groups, sharing conversations, building relationships and developing confidence in a calm, welcoming environment. These everyday moments help nurture communication skills, independence and a strong sense of community. The experience extends outdoors too, where children enjoy alfresco dining at a bespoke picnic bench inspired by their own ideas and thoughtfully crafted by our talented nursery janitor Paul. By involving the children in the design process, we have created a space that truly reflects their voices, fostering a sense of pride, ownership and connection. Whether dining "on the train" or outdoors in the fresh air, these experiences demonstrate how meaningful, child-centred environments can transform everyday routines into opportunities for learning, exploration and social development. We are incredibly proud of how the children have embraced these spaces and the joy, imagination and friendships that continue to flourish within them. ❤️ ✨ Learning together. ✨ Sharing together. ✨ Growing together. At Ivy In The Park Nursery, every journey is an opportunity to learn, connect and thrive. 🌿🚆 create an image for this post

Due to massively increasing numbers we are hiring 🥰

At Ivy In The Park Nursery, outdoor learning and Forest School experiences are embedded within our daily practice and strongly reflect the values we hold for Early Learning and Childcare.

Through rich outdoor experiences, our children are supported to thrive, play, learn and achieve within high-quality spaces that nurture curiosity, confidence and wellbeing.

Our Forest School sessions provide children with opportunities to explore, investigate, problem solve and take safe risks within the natural environment. Whether children are balancing on branches, building dens, climbing trees or creating imaginative adventures together, they are developing resilience, independence, communication and teamwork through meaningful real-life experiences.

We recognise children as capable, curious and competent learners. Our practitioners carefully observe children’s interests outdoors and extend learning through responsive interactions, open-ended experiences and child-led exploration.

Outdoor learning forms a significant part of life at Ivy In The Park Nursery. From local walks and community experiences to our Forest School sessions right on our doorstep, children benefit daily from opportunities to connect with nature, develop physical confidence and experience the joy of learning beyond the classroom.

We are proud to provide experiences that support children to become confident individuals, effective contributors, successful learners and responsible citizens, creating strong foundations for lifelong learning.

At Ivy In The Park, children and families are at the heart of everything we do. Their voices matter, and they help shape the learning journey every single day. 🌿 We believe the most meaningful learning happens when children feel listened to, valued, and truly involved in their own experiences. By tuning into their interests, ideas, questions, and fascinations, we create opportunities that reflect what matters most to them. A child’s excitement about climbing through the woodland becomes an opportunity to build confidence, resilience, and risk-taking skills. A fascination with swans at the lake sparks conversations, curiosity, and exploration of the natural world. Mixing muddy potions, building friendships on the swings, balancing on logs, or discovering hidden spaces in nature all begin with the children’s own ideas and interests. At Ivy In The Park, planning is not about following a fixed path, it is responsive, meaningful, and led by the voices of the children alongside the valuable contributions of their families. 💚 Families play such an important role in shaping our curriculum. Through ongoing conversations, shared experiences, and understanding each child as an individual, we create learning opportunities that feel familiar, exciting, and deeply personal to them. What sets Ivy In The Park apart is our commitment to genuine child-centred practice. We don’t just hear children and families, we actively use their voices to guide our environments, experiences, and learning opportunities. These moments captured in the photographs reflect so much more than outdoor play. They show children who feel confident to explore, safe to take risks, free to express themselves, and proud to lead their own learning journey. ✨ Because when children and families know their voice matters, children flourish.

At Ivy in the Park Nursery, we believe every child’s voice matters 💬✨

Even our youngest children have thoughts, preferences, and ideas worth listening to. When children feel heard, it builds their confidence, supports their communication skills, and helps them understand that they are valued members of our nursery community.

In light of the local elections this Tuesday, we’ll be introducing even more opportunities for children to share their views through simple and fun “voting” activities 🗳️ This might look like choosing between storybooks, selecting snack options, or helping decide which activities we explore during the day.

Voting is a great way to support children’s development because it:
• Encourages decision-making and independence
• Teaches turn-taking and respect for others’ choices
• Builds early understanding of fairness and inclusion
• Supports communication and language skills

We’d love your ideas too! 💡
What would you like to see the children voting on? Let us know in the comments and we’ll try to include some of your suggestions!

We’re incredibly proud to share some exciting news from Ivy In The Park 🌿

We have recently been approached by Glasgow Kelvin College to support their Level 5 Early Learning and Childcare students in developing their understanding of how literacy can be meaningfully embedded within the nursery environment, and how this directly shapes children’s learning and development in their early years.

Being recognised as a centre of excellence in our literacy programmes is a huge honour for the team and I. It reflects the passion, expertise, and high-quality practice that our staff bring to the nursery every single day. To be trusted to share our expertise and support the future early years workforce is something we are immensely proud of, and it speaks volumes about the standards of care and education we provide.

This recognition is also rooted in the importance we place on developing our own team. At Ivy In The Park, we take the training of our Modern Apprentices extremely seriously. We have carefully designed support systems to ensure they are fully nurtured, mentored, and challenged to achieve their very best. Through structured guidance, reflective practice, and hands-on experience within our rich learning environment, we ensure they are well prepared to take on the responsibilities of becoming confident, skilled practitioners.

This approach is not by chance, it is directly aligned with our nursery’s vision to provide high-quality, meaningful learning experiences and to work in partnership with our wider community to support growth and development for all . By investing in our team, we strengthen our entire nursery community, ensuring that every child benefits from knowledgeable, passionate practitioners who truly understand how children learn best.

This opportunity is already having a positive impact across our setting. Our staff are engaging in deeper professional dialogue, sharing best practice, and continuing to evolve our approach. It reinforces our ethos of collaboration, respect, and continuous improvement, while positioning Ivy In The Park as a leading voice within the early years sector.

Even more excitingly, Glasgow Kelvin College has invited some of our children to visit the college and experience the learning that the students have developed as a result of our collaboration. This is a fantastic opportunity for our children to explore a new environment, see their influence in action, and be part of a wider learning journey.

We are so proud of what Ivy In The Park represents, not just for our children and families, but for the wider early years community. 💫

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🌿 We’re Hiring - Cleaner Wanted 🌿

Do you love leaving spaces sparkling and fresh? ✨
Enjoy a calm, tidy environment once the little ones have gone home? 🧸
Then we’d love to hear from you!

Ivy in the Park Nursery is looking for a reliable and friendly Cleaner to help keep our lovely nursery clean, safe, and welcoming.

🕕 Hours:2 hours per day

6:00pm – 8:00pm
Monday to Friday

🧼 The role includes:

General cleaning of nursery rooms
Making sure our spaces are clean, cosy, and ready for the next day
Working independently in a relaxed, peaceful setting

🌟 We’re looking for someone who is:

Trustworthy and dependable
Has a good eye for detail
Happy to work evenings

Cleaning experience is a bonus, but not essential

💚 Why work with us?

Friendly, supportive team
A warm and welcoming nursery environment
Perfect hours to fit around family or other commitments

If you’re interested in joining the Ivy in the Park family, we’d love to hear from you!

📩 Please get in touch for more details or to apply DM or email [email protected]

Don't forget you can visit Santa for free today and tomorrow 🎅🤶

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✨ A Beautiful Invitation to Play in Our Baby Room — Inspired by Not My Penguin ❄️🐧

This week in the baby room at Ivy in the Park, we created a magical sensory experience based around the delightful story Not My Penguin.

Our little ones were invited into a cosy, twinkling space filled with soft lights, friendly penguins, and a variety of sensory treasures to explore. The babies were able to:

🐧 Meet the penguins – soft, textured penguin toys perfect for little hands to hold, squeeze, and discover.
✨ Enjoy twinkling lights – gentle fairy lights added a calming sparkle, supporting visual stimulation and wonder.
🧊 Explore sensory elements – cool textures, crinkly materials, natural objects, and snowy sensory trays helped the children engage their senses while building curiosity and confidence.

Using a familiar story as inspiration helps bring learning to life. The babies loved making connections between the book and the play around them, and it was wonderful to watch them explore at their own pace in such a calming, magical environment.

We can’t wait to share more special moments with you all!