Markenfield Nursery, Woodbridge

Our Markenfield nursery located in Woodbridge, Guildford is an 80 place, purpose built nursery with 3 designated, age related rooms for our children under two year, an age appropriate room for our 2-3’s and a pre school suitable for 32 children.
We have a chef and an assistant chef that prepare and cook nutritious meals for all three of our sites in our professional kitchen, at Markenfield, adhering to dietary requirements for up to 160 children.
Of the 21 practitioners in the team, 11 hold a level 3 qualification, 2 hold a level 4 and 2 hold a level 5. Our pre school room leader has an MA in Junior Teaching and the Manager holds a BA and MA in early years education and holds the early years professional Status.
The core of the staff team have worked at Markenfield for over 5 years, 3 of our longest serving practitioners have been here for more than 10 years

Our Management Team

Leanne Ellis, Manager

With children of her own, Leanne is a childcare expert with qualifications in childcare and early years management along with considerable experience as a nursery practitioner since 2002 and in management since 2008.

Leanne wants children to have fun, and directs activity in the nursery to encourage exploration and investigation wherever possible. She is a proactive leader in a busy environment, mentoring staff and encouraging their personal development, and at the same time closely connected with every child in the nursery.

Markenfield

Lauren Bath, Deputy Manager

I have worked in childcare since August 2017. I started off as an unqualified member of staff and have built up my career from passing my level 3 qualification, DSL training and continuing to progress in other courses such as Prevent Duty, FGM and many others. I have had other experiences in being Pre-school room leader and Manager and have been passionate about childcare since the very beginning of my career. I am continuing to grow and learn in my position and thrive of challenging myself and becoming the best version of myself. My favourite thing about childcare is watching the children grow up to become these amazing little people for the future and the children make me the happiest with their little personalities and making them excited and being able to give them every opportunity in nursery is super warming to me.

Natalie Chrystie, Operations Manager

As the Operations Manager for Childcare And Learning Group, Natalie has responsibility for supporting and developing the nurseries and pre-schools within the group.

Natalie is a qualified childcare specialist with over 40 years experience working in the childcare industry including many years running individual nurseries for the group. Leading a senior team of three regional managers and a special projects manager, she ensures that nurseries have the facilities, support and training required to meet the group’s own high standards for best practice in childcare. 

“Your child’s education and future start with us… It is important to us that you and your child are both happy throughout your time with Castle Nursery & Pre-School

Testimonials

“We could not be happier with our choice of nursery for Sienna. Having initially looked at a couple of others in the area, it struck us when we first looked around Castle at Markenfield how warm and friendly everyone was and we felt there was a lot of love in the air, which we hadn’t got so much from the other nurseries we had looked at. Sienna took a little while to settle in to her surroundings which was to be expected, but even during that sometimes difficult process, we always felt confident that she was being cared for in the right way and that it was just a matter of time before she was as happy there as all the others clearly were around her. It is now evident to us in so many ways that Sienna loves it at nursery; she gets excited every time we arrive at the door, never wants to leave when I collect her and chatters away once she is home Clearly filing me in on her exciting day! I see the lovely sight on many occasions of her voluntarily giving cuddles or kisses to her key person or other girls working in her room which is very reassuring. Aside from seeing her happy, we feel that her overall development has really improved since being at nursery; she is independent and confident and learning so much at great speed and we feel a lot of that has to do with her time spent at nursery. We cannot thank everyone enough for providing such a safe and loving learning environment For our daughter and l00k forward to her advancing up through the classes.” – Carina

2018-02-19T03:20:32+00:00
“We could not be happier with our choice of nursery for Sienna. Having initially looked at a couple of others in the area, it struck us when we first looked around Castle at Markenfield how warm and friendly everyone was and we felt there was a lot of love in the air, which we hadn’t got so much from the other nurseries we had looked at. Sienna took a little while to settle in to her surroundings which was to be expected, but even during that sometimes difficult process, we always felt confident that she was being cared for in the right way and that it was just a matter of time before she was as happy there as all the others clearly were around her. It is now evident to us in so many ways that Sienna loves it at nursery; she gets excited every time we arrive at the door, never wants to leave when I collect her and chatters away once she is home Clearly filing me in on her exciting day! I see the lovely sight on many occasions of her voluntarily giving cuddles or kisses to her key person or other girls working in her room which is very reassuring. Aside from seeing her happy, we feel that her overall development has really improved since being at nursery; she is independent and confident and learning so much at great speed and we feel a lot of that has to do with her time spent at nursery. We cannot thank everyone enough for providing such a safe and loving learning environment For our daughter and l00k forward to her advancing up through the classes.” – Carina

“Our children have both loved going to Castle Nursery Markenfield. The Pre-School really helped our August born daughter prepare for school. The extra activities for example Forest school and Custard Music are well planned and a lot of fun. The staff are friendly and professional, the facilities are clean and tidy and our queries were answered immediately. I have recommended this nursery to a number of parents.” – Ruth Fenton

2018-02-19T03:20:03+00:00
“Our children have both loved going to Castle Nursery Markenfield. The Pre-School really helped our August born daughter prepare for school. The extra activities for example Forest school and Custard Music are well planned and a lot of fun. The staff are friendly and professional, the facilities are clean and tidy and our queries were answered immediately. I have recommended this nursery to a number of parents.” – Ruth Fenton

“Castle Nursery was recommended by two different friends, both of whom had their children at the nursery. Anna has been attending the nursery since September 2013. She is a shy child so we appreciated being allowed to sit in the room with her for the first few days. Anna LOVES attending the nursery three afternoons a week. The staff are kind and gentle and genuinely interested in the children. We are confident that Anna is in safe hands. I am self-employed and appreciate the flexibility of the nursery allowing Anna to have more hours occasionally has been wonderful when I am trying to meet deadlines. We have really enjoyed the Christmas pageant for the past two years.” – Gillian & Rick Mills

2018-02-19T03:17:48+00:00
“Castle Nursery was recommended by two different friends, both of whom had their children at the nursery. Anna has been attending the nursery since September 2013. She is a shy child so we appreciated being allowed to sit in the room with her for the first few days. Anna LOVES attending the nursery three afternoons a week. The staff are kind and gentle and genuinely interested in the children. We are confident that Anna is in safe hands. I am self-employed and appreciate the flexibility of the nursery allowing Anna to have more hours occasionally has been wonderful when I am trying to meet deadlines. We have really enjoyed the Christmas pageant for the past two years.” – Gillian & Rick Mills