Expanding nursery gets ready to move into new £1m complex
Last updated 05:12, Friday, 24 October 2008
A CUMBRIAN nursery is preparing to relocate following the £1 million creation of a new site.
Manager Wendy Feddon and owner David Farrell have this week been putting the finishing touches to Stone Eden Nursery at Wheelbarrow Hall, off the A69 near Scotby.
Parents who have children at the nursery, currently in Warwick-on-Eden, will have the chance to visit the site when staff host an open weekend, running tomorrow and on Sunday, between 11am and 3pm.
Another event is planned later in the year for prospective new families.
The move to the new site comes three years after Stone Eden first opened in Moorhouse Courtyard, Warwick-on-Eden.
The new purpose-built nursery complex will allow the team to expand on the number of children it can accept, possibly leading to several new jobs.
It can currently look after 59 children in any single session. That number will go up to 79 once the move is complete.
Manager Wendy Feddon said: “It is so exciting that we are going to be moving to the new site.
“It has a lot of new features including a learning orchard.
“It is an outdoor learning area where the children are going to be able to get involved in all sorts of things.
“It fits in with the new Early Years Foundation Stage which has a real emphasis on outdoor learning.
“We’ll be able to grow our own vegetables and around all the trees there are special benches which children can lift up and inside there’ll be things to do on other subjects like maths and English.
“There is also a look-out point where the children will be able to use binoculars to look at wildlife.”
The new development also includes an outdoor decking area that children and staff will be able to use as a performance area.
Facilities and equipment also include a new parking area for parents and visitors, improved key pad and electronic security, a lift, a laundry, improved computers and technology and new triple pushchairs that staff can use to transport babies around.
The nursery will retain its own on-site chef who cooks to the specific requirements of all children.
Stone Eden Nursery currently employs around 25 members of staff, two of which have already achieved their Early Years Professional Status qualification.
A further two have started work on the new industry-recognised course for graduates.
