Midget Gems - Birth to Pre-School Childcare, Before and After School Club and Forest Schools Sessions.

Established in 2006, Business Excellence Award Winner, Midget Gems Childcare is now celebrating  18 years in business and has achieved two Ofsted Outstanding Inspections. 

Midget Gems Childcare is a unique, highly respected and privately owned place for all children to have fun and thrive. 

We are situated at the bottom of St Nicholas Drive in Richmond, North Yorkshire very close to the schools.

We are a very unique, happy, nurturing and secure environment where all children feel valued and can develop into independent ,confident individuals. 

Midget Gems Childcare offers an exceptional standard of education for Early Years Children and a Before and After School Club.

Eleanor Roosevelt said "I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift would be curiosity." We all share this vision at Midget Gems Childcare. 

The Ofsted Inspector reported that at Midget Gems Childcare, " Children thrive in an inclusive and welcoming environment. They make excellent progress in their learning and development both within the home and outdoors. Children are well protected and the outdoor environment plays a huge part in the children's learning at this highly professional setting. "

Sarah Butler is an extremely experienced Childcare practitioner, she knows that research shows that children's development is at its greatest between birth and five. .

Sarah works alongside, Linda Carman and Rebecca Smart. These three ladies are dedicated to Midget Gems Childcare and  Early Years Education and Care, they bring a wealth of experience, enthusiasm and fun !

 The children have access to many areas to play and learn, we also love to go out and about, visiting local towns, farms, museums, libraries, theatres, gardens, castles etc . 

Throughout the years our setting has grown and flourished into an amazing place to be. We are passionate about keeping our ideas fresh and building upon our success by the development of our Christmas Tree Garden, and our Sensory Texture Outdoor Kitchen, aka The Mud Kitchen,  as well as using our adjacent ancient woodland for our Forests Schools Sessions for both Pre-school and After school children to enjoy. 

For many years we have certainly adhered to the Japanese practice of Shinrin Yoku, Forest Bathing. This translates to walking and supporting well being through sensory immersion in forests and other naturally healing environments.  

Life is an adventure and our Forest Schools sessions will provide the chance for children to explore the wonders of life in unique outdoor settings. It allows them to discover themselves and the world by managing risks and learning confidence, team skills as well as social and lifelong skills. 

The report from the Study of Early Education and Development (SEED) brings together the experiences of Early Years practitioners, who identified these three main themes as essential to good practice in Early Education settings. We are proud to say that Midget Gems Childcare adheres to the following : 

• Tailoring the curriculum to the needs of the children, including using assessment data to identify and support the needs of individual children.

• A culture of self-evaluation and an environment that encourages us to reflect on our own practice and those of our peers.

• A skilled workforce - Midget Gems strives for good practice and we work hard to recruit and retain high quality staff and we  prioritise ongoing support for our staff’s development.