Oxford News
Oxford prep school launches full-time nursery for toddlers
Chandlings Prep on Bagley Wood Road, near Kennington, announced the launch of its all-year-round nursery scheme, which will open in September 2026.
It will run alongside the school’s existing term-time nursery, providing families with greater flexibility while maintaining Chandlings’ established nurturing Early Years environment.
A spokesman for Chandlings Prep said: “The nursery is designed to help young children develop confidence, curiosity and a love of learning from the very beginning.”
Located within 60 acres of countryside just five miles from Oxford, the nursery emphasises nature, outdoor learning, and child-led discovery.
The provision includes outdoor learning, swimming, PE, library, drama and languages as part of the curriculum.
The spokesman said: “This holistic approach reflects Chandlings’ commitment to balancing play, exploration and learning in a setting where childhood is celebrated and each child is known and valued.”
The new all-year-round nursery will operate for 50 weeks of the year, offering greater continuity and convenience for parents.
The spokesman added: “The introduction of the All-Year-Round Nursery offers families extended childcare across 50 weeks of the year, providing greater continuity and convenience for parents while preserving the same high-quality provision and sense of community.”
Chandlings Prep said the scheme upholds its focus on nurturing every child’s early education with play-based learning and outdoor experiences.
The nursery emphasises play, exploration and learning.
Thames Valley Police will deploy Live Facial Recognition vans in Sheep Street on Friday, May 29.
The specialist unit will work alongside local officers to identify known suspects, deter crime and help keep the community safe.
READ MORE: Drugs still being dropped by drones into UK prison
The force says informing the community in advance is part of a commitment to transparency, even though it may lead some individuals to avoid the area.
A live CCTV feed captures facial images before they are input into the system.
The Live Facial Recognition technology then analyses facial features in real time to create a biometric template against a predetermined watch list of people suspected of crimes or wanted by the courts.
Reports state that Oxford Union president, Arwa Elrayess, allowed one of her senior committee members to link the controversial figure with the former president of South Africa.
Miss Elrayess is facing calls to resign and is being met with condemnation from her own committee over the invitations of Carl Benjamin, Tommy Robinson, Karim Khan, and Laurence Fox.
In a letter calling for resignation, Shermar Pryce, former chief adviser, said: “I am appalled by the absolutely idiotic and frankly insane comparison made between Tommy Robinson and Nelson Mandela by the director of finance: to, in any way, equate a violent, race-baiting criminal thug with an icon of liberation is a grotesque insult to history and a testament to the moral rot within the senior committee.
“I am beyond convinced that the current form of the TermCard is the direct result of such people being enabled and empowered.”
READ MORE: Fears for sports ground as teams told to stop playing immediately
Miss Elrayess has previously defended her choice to invite the controversial figure in an article published in The Telegraph
She said: “For more than 200 years, the Oxford Union has existed to host debates – not to platform views uncritically, but to subject them to the most rigorous scrutiny. You do not invite a speaker to endorse them: you invite them so that their ideas can be examined, and their claims tested.
“Today, the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act – passed under the last Conservative Government – exists precisely because we have recognised, as a nation, that the strategy of silence was not merely failing, but becoming a crisis.
“Universities are where ideas are meant to be tested, not protected from scrutiny.”
In late 2025, Robinson’s followers used the anti-apartheid anthem ‘Something Inside So Strong’ at a UK rally, the song’s writer, Labi Siffre, issued a cease-and-desist letter.
Bicester Play & Activity Day will take place at Spider Park on Keble Road from 11am to 3pm on Wednesday, July 29.
It is suitable for children and young people of all ages.
Activities will include Go Kart Party, Body Zorbing, Giant Bubbles, Ride on Time Toddler Vehicles, and Junk Modelling with Art Avalanche, alongside Bright Sparks Science.
Entry and all activities are free.
Attendees are welcome to bring a picnic, but no childcare will be provided.
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