Across the country, schools are being encouraged to expand into early years provision, even for children under three. The aim is clear, to increase access and strengthen support, but we must ask: at what cost, and to whom?

In the earliest years, good intentions aren’t enough. What matters is whether our systems genuinely meet the needs of babies, families, and the people who care for them.

At KatieB Kids, mindfulness isn’t just an activity — it’s the lens through which we approach everything we do. From supporting our educators to shaping curious, confident, and resilient children, mindfulness is embedded in daily life, guiding learning, relationships, and well-being across the nursery.

We’re proud to announce that KatieB Kids has been named Most Enriching Nursery 2025 – South East London! For us, enrichment means sparking children’s curiosity, creativity, and confidence every single day – through nature, child-led learning, and strong community connections. Discover what ‘enriching’ really looks like in practice, and try our 3 simple tips to enrich your child’s day at home.

The Department for Education extended Early Years Funding to help more families return to work. However, restricting the flexibility in how these funded hours are delivered brings many negative unintended consequences. This blog explains why we ask for a review of current early years policy.

Inspired by the educational philosophy of Reggio Emilia, the environment a KatieB Kids communicates acceptance of all forms of expressions and diversity, where children can play and learn together, free from judgement, to use all their senses and skills, body and mind, to express their uniqueness and expressive potential.

School can pose a number of emotional challenges and frustrations and children need to have the skills to manage these in a calm and rational way.

At KatieB we think there’s more to it than if they can write their name, know their colours and count to 20.

Find what they are and how we prepare children for them to be happy and successful at school.

KatieB Kids - pioneers of a new Mindfulness programme, 'dots', aimed at 3 to 6-year-olds and developed in association with the Mindfulness in Schools Project.

All children develop and grow in their own way, but there are common developmental ‘milestones’ such as crawling, walking, and talking that generally occur at particular ages. Some children may take longer to reach these milestones, and some may need help getting there.

Spending quality time in nature is associated with good health and well-being, which for us as a nursery helps us to meet our vision that our children becoming happy, resilient, respectful and fulfilled adult.

But the benefits of outdoor play are not limited to health and well-being. Find out why…

Ofsted are clear that assessment should not entail prolonged breaks from interaction with children, nor require excessive paperwork. So how do we gather objective evidence of the child’s needs so if necessary we can refer to, and work with, other relevant professionals? And how can we ensure that parents are informed of their child’s progress at nursery?

At Katie B Kids we agree with Mattie Stepanek that when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved. But what makes a great team? And how do we support collaborative working?

As the early years industry struggles to survive juggling the £500m cut in funding in real terms, and the media spotlight on parents that are being priced out of childcare, how do nursery managers attract new educators, who will not only keep their services operational, but who will bring value to their setting?

At KatieB Kids we offer a home from home, and bringing children of different ages together for parts of our day enhances this, like one big daytime family.

In the words of Roald Dahl ‘The more risks you allow your children to make, the more they learn to look after themselves’.