Rascals Day Nurseries opened its flagship Circular Road site - its fifth setting in Northern Ireland - last week and plans to open another in the city centre in January at Belfast Institute's Millfield campus. There are four more day nurseries in the city and one in Derry.
Rascals co-owner Lynne D'Arcy set up Rascals Day Nurseries with her husband in 1988. She said the one-stop shop concept for the nursery derived from her own experience as a busy mother of three young children. 'Viewing it from a mother's perspective, I always found myself rushing around and wished for more things to be under one roof. Parents can have a light lunch while waiting for their children, and leave their dry cleaning and laundry to be done.
'We will also have an ironing service, and one of the mothers has offered to set up a beautician's with aromatherapy,' she added.
The day nursery and after-school club caters for children aged from six weeks to 11 years. Each play area for pre-school children is self-contained with its own nappy-changing room, staff toilet and access to an outdoor play area. The central core of the building has an atrium with a large soft-play area on a 'Jungle Book' and 'Tarzan' theme.
Mrs D'Arcy said, 'We have so much space at this site and I feel it is important that children are not cooped up in the same room all day but are continually stimulated.'
She said that great attention had been paid to the after-school facilities, which take up the first floor of the 13,000 sq ft building and include a computer suite and designated homework area. 'Many parents have told us that they want their children to do their homework before they come home, so there are individual booths with lights for them to do this.'
She said the opening hours of 7.30am to 6.30pm were designed to meet the needs of parents who often work irregular hours.
'In fact, if we kept it open until 8 or 9pm we would still have children to look after. The demand for places as a whole has been amazing,' Mrs D'Arcy said.