About Us

Welcome From The Managing Director

At Christopher Robin, a small independent nursery group in Surrey, we specialise in nurturing children from 3 months to 5 years old. Our mission is to make each day at nursery filled with fun, wonder, challenge, opportunity, and growth. We embrace the principles of Montessori practice, creating environments that foster curiosity and inspire a lifelong love of discovery and exploration. Our goal is to support every child in becoming happy, confident, capable, and resilient learners.

Daniel Seemungal-Owen, Managing Director

Established In 1986

Penny Owen, Founder

Our Founder

Penny Owen, mother of five, spent most of her early life in the Middle East. She and her twin sister were born in Egypt, then they moved to Kuwait, followed by Aden (their father worked for BOAC).

Penny met her husband in Aden and when they married they continued their life abroad. They spent seven years in Qatar where she ran a playgroup followed by two years in Bahrain where she taught at the Nadeen School.

Our Director Of Childcare And Education

Deborah Penny joined Christopher Robin Day Nurseries in February 2002 as Area Manager and became Director of Childcare and Education in 2021, a role she thoroughly enjoys as it allows her to work with our fantastically dedicated staff team and of course, the children who attend the nurseries.

Deborah has worked in the childcare sector for over 25 years, currently holding the Montessori Early Childhood Teaching Diploma, an Early Years Foundation Degree, a BA Honours in Early Years Care and Education and a Post Graduate Diploma in Professional Studies in Education. Deborah is also a qualified NVQ Assessor, External Examiner and Teacher Trainer for Montessori Centre International and holds a Level 3 Training and Development NVQ. Deborah also works as an assessor for The Montessori Evaluation and Accreditation Board.

Pedagogy And Curriculum

At Christopher Robin, our curriculum is built around offering your child a playful, nurturing and supportive learning environment that mirrors their interests and captures their fascinations. We always start with what your child knows and what they can do and build on this foundation to develop an individual learning experience that enhances all aspects of their development.

Our pedagogy, the way we teach and plan learning experiences, is built around our knowledge and experience of how children develop and learn, and we have chosen to follow the ethos of the Montessori approach to early years care and education because we firmly believe that it offers children the very best start in life.

We recognise that early childhood is the most important period of life; it is where our children discover both themselves and the world around them; it is where our children shape their future, and we begin to see the potential of the adults that they will become.

Our home rooms are set up to offer our children independent and wide access to activities and experiences that introduce new ideas as well as encouraging repetition and perfection of familiar concepts.

Our approach is “can do”! Through child initiated and teacher led learning our environments meet your child’s needs and challenge them to independently seek out and explore their world, firing their curiosities enabling them to be bright, bold, and well prepared for life and learning.

Christopher Robin As A Nursery Group

Christopher Robin as a group is small enough to ensure that the quality of childcare is kept to the same high standard throughout the nurseries, but large enough to reap the benefits of having many creative minds within its highly valued staff team. We work collaboratively together and support one another, which creates a community spirit across all five nurseries. This enables staff to feel confident to apply for promotions within the group because they feel part of the Christopher Robin family.