About Us
Tadpoles was started by Claire Dimpfl in 1976 in Lamont Road. From 1980 – 1993 it was situated in Ifield road and became Tadpoles Nursery, Chelsea, on the site that it is today in the September of 1993.
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When we arrived at the current Chelsea Site in 1993, it was a bare building with a simple, bare playground out at the front, a building site of a garden at the back and an empty, old and unloved pond. Claire's vision to bring it back to life began.
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The vision of Tadpoles has grown, rather like it’s green counter-part, organically, ever changing and evolving over the years. Early years should never be a ‘static’ moment, our lessons should grow and evolve with the children, our surroundings and the world about us. Claire, our head and owner was Montessori trained herself, however, she very much believes that Maria Montessori, would not have stayed still with her teaching but would have extended her own teaching practices to reflect the changing times.
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Tadpoles Nursery is very forward thinking in its practice, we began using the ‘Field to Fork’ and Forest School approaches many years prior to the new ‘trend’ that we see through schools across the country. However, we do not need to travel for us to be able to give these wonderful early experiences to our children, with the garden at our finger tips and our forest area on our doorstep. It is our belief that if we want the world to change we must begin with the teaching in the very young. Ecology and Climate change, Equal Thinking, care and kindness within our community – we could go on - will only be positively affected if we educate our children from the beginning, giving them the imagination, tools and skills at an early age.
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“Let children be children. A skilled five year old grows from a busy four year old, a curious three year old, an adventurous two year old, a cuddled one year old and a communicative baby”
We aim to give the children a happy, settled and structured environment in which to work and play. The desire is to develop the individuality of each child and we hope that all children will leave us ready to become confident and independent learners.
“It is quite possibly the most exciting thing to see a nursery that fully embraces childhood and is raising kind and resilient children”
We are excited to be able to introduce you to our new site which opens in Kensington in September/Autumn Term Term 2022. We are looking forward to throwing open our doors and welcoming the children and families of Kensington, bringing our unique and ever evolving. educational approach to those families a little further afield and to the ever inquisitive and eager minds of their children.
