Nursery ready to expand after months of closure
A nursery is making up for lost time by offering a home from home for young children.
Little Oaks Nursery in Wolverhampton was taken over by a new team at the beginning of the year, but has only been able to operate and welcome youngsters in since March 8.
The nursery, which provides a service for children between six months and five-years-old, now has 13 children and has set its sights on attracting more families to use the facility.
Natalie Checketts, childcare and business manager, said the pandemic and lockdown had had an effect on the opening of the nursery.
She said: “The biggest issue has been getting the numbers up as we’ve struggled to get people in due to furlough, because as they’re not working, they’re not looking for childcare.
“It’s been about looking to build the numbers and trying to maintain the service and be sustainable going forward.
“We sent out a bunch of letters to people who were eligible and we’ve had a few Covid-secure open days for people to see what the nursery is all about.”
The nursery has nine rooms for all ages of children and runs alongside the partner nursery on Stafford Road in Oxley, with 39 staff in total helping run the services the nursery provides.
Benefits
Mrs Checketts said the appeal of Little Oaks was that they tried to make it a home from home and somewhere children can grow in a nice environment.
Provision manager Joanne Craze said the nursery had taken all precautions for Covid to ensure children and staff were kept safe.
She said: “My role involves making sure everyone stays safe, ensuring everyone has good hygiene and the children are looked after.
“All staff take lateral flow tests twice a week and we have proper procedures and policies, such as if a child has a cough, we ask the parents to get tested.
“The benefits of the children coming here are the social side, as they’ve barely seen anyone for a year, so they get to meet new people and build friendships, which is lovely for them.”
To find out more about Little Oaks Nursery and to make an enquiry, visit its Facebook page at facebook.com/littleoaksdaynursery/
