Ethelred Nursery School and Children’s Centre

Ethelred is now part of the Lambeth Nursery Schools Federation, bringing together five outstanding Nursery Schools and Children's Centres offering high quality provision for children and their families.

Ethelred is situated right at the heart of the local community offering rich cultural, social and ethnic diversity.

Joining our staff team means you would be supporting the delivery of an innovative and creative early years curriculum and working with a very committed staff team. All staff are offered opportunities for professional development.

There are very good transport links and we are situated close to the Southbank Cultural Quarter, the West End and the City.

• “Pupils' behaviour is second to none. They are eager to learn. They are kind, confident, articulate young people. They respect those from all backgrounds and heritages.”


• “The school's values are shared by its whole community. Pupils leave Ashmole exceptionally well prepared to take their place in society as fully rounded citizens.”


• “All adults share the drive to raise pupils' aspirations and provide them with extensive chances to take responsibility and to think for themselves.”


• “Adults are caring. Children are kept safe. Adults all know each child and provide for their individual needs extremely well.”

• “Pupils' behaviour is second to none. They are eager to learn. They are kind, confident, articulate young people. They respect those from all backgrounds and heritages.”


• “The school's values are shared by its whole community. Pupils leave Ashmole exceptionally well prepared to take their place in society as fully rounded citizens.”


• “All adults share the drive to raise pupils' aspirations and provide them with extensive chances to take responsibility and to think for themselves.”


• “Adults are caring. Children are kept safe. Adults all know each child and provide for their individual needs extremely well.”

Holmewood Nursery school is situated in Central Lambeth, off Brixton Hill.  The school is located in a densely populated area of contrasting households in terms of culture, ethnicity, and socio-economic status.

Holmewood provides education for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), with 95 full time equivalent places in the main nursery (2 - 4 year olds) and 12 full time equivalent places in the two year old provision.  The school's intake is very culturally diverse with a high percentage of children from mixed, or Black-British / Caribbean / African backgrounds. Nearly half of the children speak English as an additional language, with many at the early stages of learning English.

Holmewood is federated with Maytree and Triangle Nursery Schools.  As a Federated Nursery School, Holmewood is led by an Executive Head Teacher, Head of School and teachers working with other qualified early years practitioners. Holmewood offers highly inclusive education with qualified and caring staff.  It has rich and varied indoor and outdoor learning environments that allow children to play and be active in developing and acquiring new skills and knowledge; children are well motivated and are thoroughly absorbed in their learning.

They are encouraged to experiment and explore and children are very well challenged to enable them to take risks safely and develop their own problem solving skills. Outdoor learning is supported through the Natural Thinkers curriculum and an extensive allotment.

Each child is allocated a Key Person, one of our skilled early years educators or teachers. They get to know the children in their group very well and work in collaboration with their parents. Teachers and practitioners support, encourage and facilitate learning opportunities so that children are happy, confident and independent learners.

All teachers and practitioners have a thorough understanding of children’s early learning and development and the early years foundation stage and understand the importance of working together with parents and other professionals.

At Holmewood, we believe in investing in professional development and bespoke training to meet individual needs so that all teachers and practitioners feel motivated and committed to the continuing success of the school.

Visits to the school can be arranged by contacting the school office.

Check out our blog - Lots of useful information for NQTs and QTs!