Welcome to the Erskine Stewart Melville Nursery
Erskine Stewart Melville Nursery is a joyful, welcoming place where highly qualified staff support every child to flourish. We provide exceptional opportunities that help children uncover their own unique strengths and interests.
Our three and four-year-olds spend their days exploring our beautiful grounds and enjoying bright, airy playrooms designed to spark curiosity and imagination. As an attachment-led Nursery, we prioritise close, caring relationships, taking the time to truly understand each child and celebrate what makes them special.
The ethos in our Nursery is vibrant, creative, and hands-on. Every day is an adventure, as children explore, discover, and grow in an environment designed to spark joy and encourage them to think for themselves while having endless fun.
1140
Free Council Funded Hours for eligible families
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Fulltime Qualified Class Teachers
36
PE, Music and Digital Learning Specialist lessons each week
40
Acres of outdoor space
14
Bee-bots being enjoyed at home each week
228
Nursery Bedtime stories available to borrow
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The most important thing is our children's happiness. If children are not happy, they'll not learn. Along with our excellent staff ratios, many families choose Erskine Stewart Melville because of the wealth of opportunities on offer.
Rhona Watt
Head of Nursery
Highly Qualified Staff
Together our staff inspire our children to become confident young people with good hearts and strong values. Each of our pre-school Nursery rooms have their own qualified teacher, and the children also benefit from our Junior School teachers on site for Music, Digital Learning, PE, Library and Forest Kindergarten lessons.
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What Our Families Say
1140 Council Funded Hours
We are in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council, which gives eligible parents living within the boundary of the City of Edinburgh, the opportunity to benefit from 1140 hours of Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) funding a year. This equates to 30 hours of funded childcare a week, during term time, from 8.15am to 2.45pm, Monday – Friday and includes a hot lunch in our bespoke early years dining facility. The funding can be accessed for the term starting after your child’s third birthday but cannot be used for our wraparound care provision.
There are some caveats to the funding, and for families who do not qualify for funding, we offer a special, subsidised fee model for our Nursery provision. Please email us at jsadmissions@esms.org.uk to find out more.
Come and meet us!
The best way to see if our Nursery is the right fit for your child is to visit us in person. Come along, meet our teachers, and watch the children at play. Simply complete the form below, and our Admissions team will be in touch to arrange a tour.
Applying for a place
It’s never too early to apply for a place in our Nursery – many parents even do so right after their baby is born! Places are offered based on application date, with some priority given to siblings and ensuring a good balance of boys and girls. Even if your child is a little older, it’s always worth getting in touch, as spaces can occasionally open up due to family moves.
Ready to apply? Simply click the button below to get started.
