7:30 to 6, in small adventures.
The rhythm is steady even when the puddles aren’t — here’s how a Meadow day actually runs, and how we settle new starters into it.
Three chapters of every day.
Regular enough to feel safe, loose enough to feel free.
Mornings — garden first
Breakfast club from 7:30, then free-flow between rooms and garden till snack. Keyworkers plant invitations — water walls, story dens, the mud kitchen — and follow where the children take them.
Middays — lunch and landings
Marisa’s lunch at small tables, then the split: sleepers to the quiet room, non-sleepers to stories and puzzles. The afternoon starts gently on purpose.
Afternoons — projects and pick-ups
Small-group time with keyworkers — the week’s project, forest walks, baking Fridays — then a calm wind-down so pick-up gets a child who’s tired in the good way.
How new starters land softly.
Three taster visits
An hour with you there, a morning without you, then a full day with lunch — spread across two weeks, at your child’s pace, extended whenever needed.
The first fortnight
Your keyworker sends extra photo-diary updates and a proper end-of-day chat — the wobbles are normal and we narrate them honestly.
The six-week chat
A sit-down about how they’ve settled, what they love, and what home and Meadow can each do next. Then it’s just childhood, scheduled.
Asked on most look-rounds.
Open 7:30 to 6, Monday to Friday, 51 weeks a year — we close only for the week between Christmas and New Year, plus bank holidays. Sessions can be full days or fixed mornings.
Marisa cooks everything on site, so ingredients are ours to control — allergy plans are agreed with you in writing, displayed in the kitchen, and every adult serving food knows every plan.
Very possibly, and we’d rather talk honestly than promise vaguely — Bea, our SENCo, joins your look-round, and if we can’t meet a need properly we’ll say so and help you find who can.
See the rhythm for yourself.
Look-rounds run most mornings — you, your small person, and a morning already in motion.