A day nursery baby
I like your paper very much, having taken it from its commencement.
Enclosed are two snaps of my little girl, now 19 months. She is a happy baby, but hates to be without a playmate, and attends Whitefield Day Nursery during the week, as I go to work. How I would love a nursery like one or two of those shown in your paper. 5, 12, 19 May 1926
Babies' hotel
One of the outstanding features of this country today is the evidence of the increasing love for and care of its children. For the destitute, institutions have been founded and endowed. For the poor and hard-working mother there are the Infant Welfare Centres, where help and advice can always be obtained and at long last the needs of the middle classes are receiving attention. It was for such parents that Buxted Lodge was instituted - for those who are able and willing to pay a moderate sum for their infants to be carefully tended, when for some reason or another, such as acute housing questions, illness and other difficulties, they themselves are unable to provide adequate accommodation and attention.
25 August 1926
Full charge
Advert: Babies from birth to 5 years received in beautiful residential nursery school. Large, sunny nurseries, indoor sandpit. Trained nurse's care. Personal supervision. Entire charge taken. 4 December 1935
Starting a nursery
I'm interested to set up a nursery school after the war and I wondered if you could advise me as to the latest books dealing with nursery designing and planning?
A new pamphlet is about to be published by the London University Press entitled Planning the New Nursery Schools, and written by members of the Nursery School Association.
19 April 1945
Baby park
Car parks and big stores are nothing new, but a baby park, where you can leave your child in safety while you shop at leisure, is a novelty that many young parents will appreciate. At the fourth floor Baby Park at Harrison Gibson's newly-opened furnishing store at Ilford, Nurse Wormall has been busy over the past few weeks assembling toys and occupations for the children who will play there while their mothers and fathers wander around the shop. 7 July 1960
On the rise
Last year the number of day nurseries provided by local authorities and factories continued to decrease, while the number of registered private nurseries and daily minders increased. The figures are given in the new Report of the Ministry of Health. The number of nurseries maintained by local authorities went down from 515 in 1957 to 477 in 1959. At the same time the number of factory nurseries went down from 90 to 62 and other private nurseries went up from 406 to 481. 28 July 1960
Kindergarten business
Employers have been urged to provide kindergartens if they want married women to be happy at their work. The choice is between employing a stable women's labour force who know their children are well looked after (at the firm's expense) or absenteeism and sickness. Barclay's Bank, Goblins vacuum cleaners and Reed International have all gone into the kindergarten business. They provide day nurseries and Goblins also take care of schoolchildren on holidays.
14 October 1976
Grim determination
Education adviser Sue Martin explains how to set up a private nursery: 'My first advice is don't do it - at least not until you have given great consideration to all the necessary organisation and financial support you will need. Examine your motives. You will not be successful if you imagine that running your own nursery school is an easy way of making money. You need bags of determination and mustn't be daunted by unexpected setbacks.
Getting your own hands dirty, making and mending and working exceptionally long hours will still not guarantee success but they are all the things you must be prepared to do if you really want to set up your own nursery school.' 24 April 1986
Nursery chains
Kids of Wilmslow Ltd has big ambitions. It offers companies a range of childcare options which could mean organising everything from the first planning application right down to buying the last packet of crayons and running the nursery on a day-to-day basis, or they could simply manage a nursery provided and equipped by the employer.
Though more businesses are taking an interest now, it has not been easy to persuade them that they and their staff need such facilities. 'Many UK companies have their heads in the sand,' says Stewart Pickering, 'but those who take the decision now to provide nursery care will be in a much better position when the demographic effects of the changing birthrate hit them in two years or so.'
Bringing Up Baby Ltd is a venture with similar aims set up by two women in West London, Sue Woodford and Anne de Zoysa. Both have first-hand experience of the difficulties in finding adequate childcare and they believe that a good nursery offers a much more stimulating and satisfying environment than the traditional middle class solution of child-plus-nanny rattling around in a private home. 27 July 1989
Big business
The childcare profession is becoming big business. Although traditionally perceived as a 'cottage industry' by the corporate giants, large companies are beginning to invest in pre-school provision as the market expands like never before. Alongside the most common type of setting, which is usually owner-operated and housed in a converted building, a new breed of nursery is springing up across the country. These are purpose-built, incorporating all the most up-to-date equipment, and can accommodate as many as 150 children. Often, they follow an original prototype and are owned by wealthy individuals or companies who have big plans for expansion.
Millionaire Duncan Bannatyne set up his nursery company, Just Learning, last year, when he found there was no provision suitable for his three-year-old daughter. He opened his first purpose-built nursery in Darlington, in September and since then, has built two more to the same 100-place model, on half-acre sites. Another Just Learning nursery is due to open in Braintree, Essex, this September, and he plans at least seven more in the near future. 29 May 1997
On the up
In the rapidly-changing world of nursery chains, there is a common consensus: the market has come of age. The commercial buzz around childcare has intensified just as it has risen up the political agenda, and the City is sitting up and taking notice.
There has been a spate of sales over the past 18 months, as nursery chains seek to grow by acquiring other groups, and heavyweight companies from abroad or other fields step in. Leading US provider Bright Horizons Family Solutions set up shop in the UK last year with the purchase of London-based Nurseryworks, and the healthcare giant BUPA branched out into childcare by buying Teddies.
'There is tremendous demand,' says David Beecham, a director of surveyors, valuers and agents Christie & Co. 'There are a lot of expanding groups buying existing operators which are 50 to 60 places plus, and there's a lot of demand in London. There are now waiting buyers for nurseries, whereas four or five years ago an operator who wanted to sell would have had to go out and look.' 22 February 2001
Higher fees
The Government has launched a national recruitment campaign for new staff, introduced start-up grants for new childminders and supported the establishment of childminding networks. Significant though these initiatives are, they do nothing to address the question of low pay, and there is little evidence to suggest that the Childcare Tax credit is enabling childminders to command higher fees.
10 January 2002
Slow down
There's no doubt that falling occupancy levels and escalating competition from Government-funded children's centres have put a damper on expansion among the UK's largest private nursery groups. However, the private sector will be needed if the Ten-Year Childcare Strategy is to keep its promises, and the extended schools programme is one area of opportunity. Nursery Chains, Winter 2005