Nursery World - Editor's View (198)

Employers like to talk serenely about 'work-life balance', but for many mothers combining a full-time job with having a family is an exhausting juggling act. For some nursery nurses, however, work and life have dovetailed, as their child is cared for at the nursery where they are employed. We talk to mothers who take their children to work on page 14. The daily life of a nursery is all about caring and meeting children's needs, but private nurseries are also big business. The sector is thought to be worth 1.5bn a year and the interest of City investors continues to grow. We've compiled a league table of the 20 largest chains based on information in Nursery Chains' unique directory.

The daily life of a nursery is all about caring and meeting children's needs, but private nurseries are also big business. The sector is thought to be worth 1.5bn a year and the interest of City investors continues to grow. We've compiled a league table of the 20 largest chains based on information in Nursery Chains' unique directory.

In 1996, Nursery World was in contact with only ten nursery chains. In 1998, when the supplement was launched, the directory gave details of 70, owning 550 nurseries, creches and after-school clubs between them. In this edition it includes nearly 170 chains, and the number of settings they own or manage has risen to nearly 1,100.

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