Brearley Nursery School opened in 1939 and was the first purpose built Nursery School in Birmingham. It was originally based on Summer Lane from 1901-1938. In November 2004 we became Birmingham’s first Children’s Centre. In September 2006 the Children’s Centre building Developments were completed, which include a two storey family support base offering a drop in family room, training rooms, welfare advice, a base for Health Teams (e.g. Health Visitors, Maternity Services), support for childminders and rooms for crèche, Stay and Play, Baby Club, Playgroup, Out of School Club and Holiday Playschemes.

We work alongside our local children’s centre Soho Children’s Centre to serve the local community. This is an exciting “journey” for us and as a centre we will be offering provision for children from birth -5 years old all year round.

Our Ethos – What do we Believe in?

Our educational beliefs and aims are:-

• We aim to provide a warm, welcoming, emotionally secure environment, which caters for the educational rights of your child.
• The school/children’s centre recognises and values what each child brings to the setting, acknowledging that education starts at birth and parents/carers are the child’s first educators.
• We encourage children to be kind to one another and show a caring, sharing attitude.
• We value all children equally.
• We also encourage independence, support children in making informed choices and plan to give as wide a range of educational play activities as possible.

An important aim of the curriculum is the development of self-esteem, self-confidence and a "learning to learn" so that children want to go on learning for the rest of their lives.

Early Education

Our nursery school provides 110 places, some full time some part time on the Brearley site, and at present is open during term time. In addition to this we have 12 three year old places and 12 two year old places funded through Early Education Entitlement (EEE). This is a Local Authority nursery school staffed by qualifiedteachers, nursery nurses and support staff, many of whom haveobtained additional qualifications. It stands in large grounds and has a large outside play area with both grass and hard surfaces. Over the past few years there has been extensive planting of trees and shrubs and upgrading of equipment to establish a learning environment that mirrors opportunities available inside. It has four well-equipped classrooms, a resources room and a soft play area. We have recently had the kitchen area redeveloped which has created a new space for cooking and dining so that nutritious meals can be cooked on site.