OUR ROOMS

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Butterbeans

0 – 2 years

Peapods

2 – 3 years

Pumpkins

3 – 4 years

At Marmalade, every room has been thoughtfully designed to support children at each stage of their development. From babies taking their first steps, to pre-school children growing in confidence and independence, each space offers warmth, creativity, and opportunities to learn through play.

We believe children are born with a natural sense of wonder, and our rooms are carefully created to nurture curiosity, confidence and happiness every day.

Butterbeans

Babies & Toddlers

0 – 2 years

A warm, nurturing environment for our youngest children.

In Butterbeans, we carefully observe each child’s natural patterns of play, known as schemas, helping us understand how they learn best. Our experienced practitioners use these observations to create engaging activities and experiences tailored to each child’s interests and stage of development.

This means learning feels natural, exciting and meaningful from the very beginning.

In Butterbeans children enjoy:

Butterbeans curriculum

In Butterbeans, our curriculum is carefully designed to nurture our youngest children by observing and supporting their natural patterns of play, known as schemas. By recognising these patterns, practitioners are able to tailor activities and resources that encourage children to further investigate their interests, which in turn promotes deeper learning and development.

Each area within the room is thoughtfully arranged with these individual schemas in mind, ensuring every child’s unique way of learning is supported and extended.

Our practitioners are skilled in observing these play patterns and introducing provocations and resources that scaffold children’s interests into new areas—whether that’s imaginative role-play, sensory exploration, early mark-making or problem-solving challenges. This approach enables us to provide a responsive and holistic curriculum that honours each child’s developmental journey during their time in Butterbeans.

Key Schemas followed are:

Transporting | Trajectory | Connecting | Enclosing | Positioning | Enveloping | Transforming | Rotation

Peapods

Toddlers & Explorers

2 – 3 years

Confidence grows here.

Peapods is a warm and stimulating room where children develop independence, communication, social skills and curiosity through hands-on learning experiences.

Rather than using a fixed routine of activities, our team carefully observes each child and plans experiences that support their next steps in development.

Resources and learning spaces are regularly adapted to reflect children’s interests, helping keep learning fresh, engaging and exciting.

In Peapods children develop:

Peapods curriculum

In Peapods, our two–three room is a warm, nurturing environment where every child is seen as an individual learner. Our curriculum is built around skills-based learning, helping children grow in confidence, independence, communication, and curiosity through meaningful, hands-on experiences.

We understand that children aged two to three develop rapidly and uniquely. Rather than following a fixed set of activities, we observe each child closely and plan experiences that support their next steps in development. By focusing on skills such as language, social interaction, physical coordination, problem-solving, and emotional understanding, we create an enriched curriculum that supports the whole child.

Our learning areas are thoughtfully arranged to invite exploration and discovery. We regularly adapt and change the resources within these areas so they reflect children’s interests, abilities, and developmental needs.

This flexible approach ensures that every child is supported and stretched appropriately. It also keeps the environment fresh and exciting, encouraging children to revisit areas with renewed curiosity.

In Peapods, relationships are at the heart of learning. Our practitioners spend time talking, playing, and exploring alongside the children, modelling language, supporting friendships, and celebrating achievements—big and small.

Through our skills-based approach, adapted environment, and caring relationships, Peapods provide a rich and responsive curriculum where children feel safe, valued, and inspired to learn every day

Pumpkins

Preschool

3 – 4 years

Preparing for school through wonder, confidence and discovery.

Pumpkins supports children as they prepare for their next stage in education. We follow children’s interests and ideas, then carefully extend learning through guidance, conversation, resources and exciting experiences.

We use Floorbooks to capture each learning journey. Children help document their discoveries through photos, drawings, mark-making and discussion, giving them ownership of their learning.

This creates confident learners who ask questions, think deeply and love to explore.

In Pumpkins children build:

Pumpkins curriculum

Through years of experience, we have researched lots of different approaches into how children learn. We have adopted a selection of approaches that we feel address the whole child in their educational process.

Children are born with the natural capacity for ‘Wonder’ and we want to embrace that and follow the children’s lead with their interests and ideas, but also scaffold these along the way to ensure deeper knowledge and learning outcomes. One of the most powerful things we can do as educators is become witnesses to the work of children – their play and development growth.

A child’s learning is like a spider’s web, it goes in different directions.

Floorbooks

In Pumpkins we use our Floorbook to evidence our learning process. We start with a childs ‘Spark’ something they are interested in or have spoken about. We then go on a Wonder based journey learning about the world around us and documenting it along the way. The children fill in the Floorbooks with the staff, this gives them a sense of ownership of the learning process and develops their high order thinking habits and processes. They stick in the photos, write their own account of the day, and make their marks.

The Spark

(A child’s thought or interest)

The Activity

What we have put in to extend their ideas & Learning

Witnessing Wonder

We practice deep listening & Watch. Notice conversations their schema & development milestones

How we assist the Magic (PLODS)

We begin to assist in the magic. We
might add to ideas to scaffold play, provide opportunities, provocations and explore

Come and See Marmalade for Yourself

The best way to experience Marmalade is to visit us and get a feel for the environment, the team and the care we provide.

We’d love to welcome you, show you around and answer any questions you may have.