Bryanston Nursery opening in 2019

One of the lovely members of our Marylebone Mums & Dads Facebook group has kindly written up her thoughts after attending the opening event for the new Bryanston Nursery in Marble Arch. Many thanks to Soraya !

Bryanston Nursery @ Marble Arch is a  new nursery on Bryanston Street opening its doors in October 2018 to parents working and living in Marylebone. Claire Laine is the director and it is her family business that already runs two other nurseries in Bath successfully. 

There are two huge rooms for babies and toddlers, beautifully arranged with different activity corners and colorful wooden toys, almost looking like an indoor adventure playground. Although the nursery is in the basement, the rooms are bright and very friendly with a warm and cheerful atmosphere. Furthermore, there is a parents’ and staff lounge where parents can relax, work or have a free coffee before or after dropping off the kids. Here, parents  have the opportunity to meet other parents or the staff to discuss their child’s development. What a wonderful and unique idea!

The children do everything in the same room: Sleeping, eating and playing. There is no set timetable and staff will follow the parents’ routine from home. The nursery has key access to the nearby Portman Square Gardens and the children will go there (in a cute Turtle Bus if they can’t walk, yet) for regular play times. Other outings like museum, park and zoo visits are planned for the near future. 

Sarah Cornish, Director of Child Care and Education and an ex Ofsted Inspector, explains the very unique but child-friendly schedule of the nursery: There are no regular, daily lessons, however, the nursery will book in an extra-curriculum activity teacher (for example: yoga, ballet, tennis, football, cooking, French, music etc) for about 3 months and all children can try out and learn that activity every day for those 3 months. Other than that there is no schedule during the day: every child decides for themselves what activity they would like to do in one of the activity corners, this could be drawing, kitchen area, play dough, painting, role play, reading, climbing, sliding, sleeping, messy play, etc. All resources and activities are accessible to the children and the practitioners will work/play alongside the children to support their learning and thinking skills. Staff uses the iConnect system to share their observations and information on each child with parents on a daily basis.

The food is freshly prepared on site by the nursery’s own chefs Ellie and Jamie. At the launch party the nursery’s menu was not only beautifully arranged, healthy and colorful but also delicious! Claire Berridge, the friendly and welcoming Nursery Manager, tells me that the children are presented with a choice of healthy meal options and they can take whatever they would like to eat. To my surprise my toddler was jamming lots of healthy food options like cut vegetables with humus and fruit skewers. 

The opening hours are from 7am-7pm and a full day’s fee is £75-£85 depending on the child’s age from 3 months - 5 years. This fee includes everything: food, nappies, outings and any extra-curricular lessons. The nursery’s booking sessions are extremely flexible and accommodating, even a “term-time-only” option is available.

The only downside: On entering the nursery there are stairs with about 20 steps and parents need to carry down their buggy and leave it in the buggy area. The nursery’s cleaner will be at the door to help. Other than that, the Bryanston Nursery seems a very happy and friendly place where children can enjoy their days developing friendships in a nurturing and safe environment.

​Bryanston Street, Marble Arch, Marlyebone, London W1H 7AH