Ten years of unhurried mornings

The heart behind Growora

We started in 2016 with eleven children, two rooms and one very stubborn idea: that early childhood does not need to be rushed.

Lina Haddad opened Growora after fourteen years teaching in other people's classrooms, mostly wishing she could slow the day down. The first cohort was eleven children in a converted house with a lemon tree in the yard. The lemon tree is still there.

Ten years later we have four age groups, two afternoon studios and a waiting list, and the founding rule has not moved: no child is hurried through a stage to make an adult's schedule work.

180+ children with us

22 teachers and assistants

10 years in the neighbourhood

4.9 average parent rating

What we hold to

Four commitments we do not trade away

Childhood at its own pace

We would rather a child master something slowly than perform it early.

Every family in the room

Two languages, many home cultures, and a door that is genuinely open on Tuesday mornings.

Outdoors is not a reward

Garden time is timetabled first and cancelled last.

Grown-ups keep learning

Every teacher gets funded training time, in school hours, every term.

How we grew

From eleven children to a full house

2016 Eleven children and a lemon tree
Growora opens in a converted house with two rooms and one very small yard.
2018 The garden goes in
Families spend a weekend building raised beds. The first bean crop fails; the second does not.
2021 Arabic language programme written
Maryam builds our story sequence from folk tales collected in the neighbourhood.
2023 Little Makers Studio opens
Real clay, real tools, and a first exhibition that sells out to grandparents.
2026 Four groups, two studios
One hundred and eighty children, twenty-two staff, and the same lemon tree.