Young Discoverers provides Nursery facilities for children aged between 3 months and 5 years, and Breakfast and After School facilities for children aged between 4 and 11 years with the philosophy of providing a home from home environment in which children can flourish, learn and grow.  Our staff have a genuine passion for working with children, and spend time getting to know each individual child in their care to give them a unique experience each day, tailored to their needs and interests.

Whilst on-site at our Nursery at Escrick Business Park, the children will enjoy home cooked food, challenging and stimulating play and a key person assigned to each child who will be responsible for providing information on the day’s activities to parents, and keeping a record of their learning journey for passing onto the next age group and subsequently school. Children will benefit greatly from the social interaction with each other, and build friendships that will hopefully take them through to school and beyond.

Going to nursery is a big deal for little people, and we want to make it a positive experience where they feel welcome, valued, and understood.  In order to provide this from day one in the setting, we arrange a home visit for all children registering, prior to joining the setting.  This is a service that we consider is an integral part of what we do.  Your child can get to know his or her key person in the environment they are most comfortable, and spend that initial visit with absolute one to one attention, where you can also show us their preferred styles of play and favourite toys.  This gives us key information on how your child can be settled into Young Discoverers, and be stimulated by all that our staff and facilities can offer.  Once our children are almost ready for school, we will accompany them to school for one of their pre school taster sessions.  This allows the children to confidently settle in to their new environment, and for our staff to liase with teachers regarding their learning journey, to give them the best possible educational start at school.  We serve children from many local villages including Escrick, Riccall, Kelfield, Naburn, Stillingfleet, North Duffield, Skipwith, Wheldrake, Thorganby, Bubwith and Barlby, and maintain an excellent relationship with all the local schools and pre schools.

So… why is Young Discoverers different to other Nurseries?

• The Home Visit.  Very few nurseries offer this service at all, but we consider this is a fundamental part of our service.  You and your child meet with a Manager and your child’s key worker prior to starting sessions, and leaving them with an already familiar face when you leave them for the first time is invaluable.
• Tea at Tea Time.  We serve our meals at times that replicate what you would do at home.  Breakfast between 7.30 and 8.30, Lunch at 12, and tea at 5pm.  It is important to us that our children go home with full tummies, and have a proper tea at tea time, in order that parents can enjoy the bath, book, bed time without thinking what they have to cook for them.
• Relationships with school, and transitional visits.  We believe that when children leave us to start school is just as crucial as when they start with us, and whichever school they will be going to we work closely with them to ensure a smooth transition.  We will visit their new school with them, and invite their reception teacher to attend a session at Young Discoverers.
• Woodland adventures.  We are very fortunate to be in the middle of some beautiful countryside, and by working with Escrick Park Estates we are able to offer our children a fabulous range of Woodland Adventures.
• Events and Community Involvement.  We act on your child’s interests, and invite guests to come and see us, and share what they do with us.  We have had visits from Dogs Trust (and Oscar), Baby Ballet and North Yorkshire Police.  We also take our little people out into the Community to visit the Fire Station, and also enjoy our annual trip to the Nativity Play at Escrick School.
• What’s included.  Everything, yes everything is included in our fees.  You do not have to pay for nappies, not even if your child uses pull ups, or is over 3, we provide nappies or pull ups until your child is fully toilet trained.  We don’t charge extra for meals.  We all enjoy our meals together (our staff also eat with the children), which is an extremely sociable part of our day, and taking this approach also encourages our children to enjoy a range of healthy and appetizing food, and a balanced diet appropriate for their age and nutritional needs.  We don’t charge extra for you to drop off your child before 8.00am or pick up after 6pm.  Our fees allow you to use the full extent of our opening hours from 7.30am until 6.15pm without an additional charge.
• How we charge.  No hidden extras.  We don’t charge for any of the bank holidays.  Many Nurseries charge half fees for bank holidays, but we don’t believe you should be charged for a day that the setting isn’t even open.  Therefore, we don’t charge either, for the week between Christmas and New Year when we close.  In addition, we also provide a further two weeks at half fees if you book to go on holiday.  We invoice monthly for the sessions for that month, and our invoices are very transparent so you can see what you are paying for, and any discounts applicable such as for holidays, or the 3 & 4 year old funding.
• Fully flexible 3 & 4 year old funding.  When your child qualifies for the 15 hours free government Pre School Educational Funding, you can access this from Young Discoverers however you would like (subject to availability).  Talk to us about your specific requirements and we can tailor the hours your child attends to suit your needs, and for them to gain the most out of our sessions and activities.

The Breakfast and After School Club operates from Escrick C of E Primary School in Escrick Village with very much the same philosophy as for Nursery.  We are keen to provide a service that compliments the activities of school, but also allows children opportunity for play, homework, outdoor activities, and quieter time too, after a busy school day.  A breakfast of cereal, toast, fruit juices and fruit is provided in the morning session, and a healthy snack of fruit and vegetables, crackers and cheese etc, as well as occasional treats when we do our baking sessions.  Many after school sessions are themed around a variety of activities to ensure there is variety in what the children do.

Young Discoverers also aims to support parents, and will provide event evenings such as parent First Aid, and Parent Review Meetings based on what parents have told us they would like us to host.  We continue to hold fundraising events to support local charities such as the York District Hospital Special Care Baby Unit, and to invest in additional resources for our children at Nursery.  An Ironing Service is also available for busy parents at a small additional charge.  We are always open to suggestion for more services.  Please just ask!

Sample menus are available at the settings, but we can email these to you if you would like. Our staff work together as one team across our two sites to ensure we have ready made contingency plans to cover sickness and holiday absence, ensuring that we can give a reliable service with continuity of care.