Caterpillars was founded in late 2018 by Gemma Dalfsen, a mum of two, who has lived in Fords Farm almost her entire life. The first day we were open we had just 4 children with us!
Over that term we enrolled more children and by the beginning of the Summer Term 2019 we had 12 children joining us each day. Saying goodbye to that first cohort was incredibly emotional, we felt so privileged that parents had chosen us to look after their world.
By September 2019 we had so many children enrolled with us that we could open all day, helping parents utilise their 30 hours of childcare.
Unfortunately we all know what happened in March 2020 - the world was rocked by the Covid Pandemic. Our amazing staff banded together to offer childcare to keyworkers, but it was not needed so we closed until September 2020.
During that time we enrolled dozens of new children and expanded our team. It was incredible opening up again after so long, seeing the children's excited faces to finally be able to see their friends, play outside the house and generally start getting back to 'normal'.
July 2021 saw the largest number of children leave for school - 22 in total, some of whom we'd looked after since they were just 2 years old. Even with the mass exodus of children that year we returned in September to a very full preschool. We extended our placement number with Ofsted in January and over the Easter holidays we gave the preschool a mini makeover.
We decided to split our giant hall into 2 sections - Caterpillars and Butterflies to best support the children leaving for school and ensure the littlest members of the preschool were allowed the freedom to explore in the way only 2 year olds do :)
Since April 2022 we have the Butterflies room for our school leavers and the Caterpillars room for our 2 year olds. Children that are 3 but not going to school the following September are placed in the room that best fits their development. This enables us to provide everyone with the activities that will help each and every one of them to reach their full potential.
When our Butterflies leave to go to school, the teams swap rooms. This gives continuity of care to the Caterpillars moving up to Butterflies and continuity of environment for the younger Caterpillars staying with us a bit longer. It also enables us to get to know your child on a deeper level when we care for them for such a long period in their early life.
To see more about our preschool and how each room is organised please visit our preschool page.
How to register
Registering your child with us is as easy as 1, 2, 3.
1) Click on the registration link.
2) Fill out your details.
3) Send the form.
We will contact you within 3 working days to arrange a visit.
