RIMU – Nursery with music at its heart
As Beethoven said “Music can change the world” and RIMU is a nursery with music at its heart.
RIMU Music Day Nursery & Forest School was established in 2012. It now has 3 sites (2 in Blackheath and 1 in Lee).
As well as following the EYFS, the nursery has devised its own music programme for babies through to pre-school.
The programme is taught by specialist tutors.
The owner and founder of RIMU, Nathalie Richardson is a musician herself having graduated as an opera singer from The Guildhall School of Music.
Her ethos is that every child should have access to music tuition from a young age as she has seen first-hand the impact of music on a child’s development both in confidence and in communication skills.
The RIMU team draw musical connections with the various topics the children cover during the year highlighting different cultures and styles of music.
All the children do a performance twice a year and even when the RIMU children leave the nursery, many continue their passion for the arts through Step Up Performing Arts, a part time theatre school that Nathalie has been running for 27 years.
Recently 4 children who are RIMU alumni, performed with Step Up in a West End show at The Shaftesbury Theatre.
There is great emphasis on bringing as much variety of experience to the children.
Recently RIMU brought a planetarium to the nursery through the company Immersive Experiences as part of a Space project which was a wonderful sensory experience suitable for all ages.
The children do regular trips in the local area as well as regular events to raise money for various charities. RIMU works hard to develop strong links with the local community.
The full time Forest School is available at the Elsie branch for any child who is 3+.
Children can do Forest School only, a mix of Forest School days and normal nursery or normal nursery only.
The practitioners continue to connect music to the outdoors.
RIMU is also one of the chosen partnerships with Greenwich University for the Early Years Degree course.
For more information on the RIMU open days please visit www.rimu.co.uk or email: info@rimu.co.uk
The next open day for all locations will be from 9.30am- 11.30am on Friday 15th December where you will have a chance to see the nursery and meet the team.
(No booking is required)
Step Up Performing Arts offers free trials every Saturday in term time.
Next term begins on Saturday 6th January from 9am-12pm at Colfes School.
Visit www.stepupschool.co.uk for more information or email: Stepup@btinternet.com
Pictures: Laura Tapping