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Fourth nursery boosts expansion plan

Provision
The nursery chain Kids Allowed has opened a new nursery in the north-west of England as part of its expansion plans.

Chief executive Jennie Johnson opened the first Kids Allowed nursery in 2003 and is now planning to expand at a rate of two settings a year.

The company currently has settings in Cheadle, Manchester and Knutsford. Its fourth nursery has just opened in Macclesfield.

The nursery is registered to take up to 161 children and will also be offering wraparound care through a breakfast club, an after-school club and a holiday club for up to 200 children up to the age of ten.

The nursery, which opened two weeks ago, already has 41 children on roll and is taking on staff as numbers increase.

Ms Johnson said, 'When we are at full capacity, we will have around 45 staff, full-time and part-time, which is similar to our other nurseries. We are very pleased with the numbers so far. Parents are just walking through the doors and signing up.'

Kids Allowed nurseries offer 'easy life' services to parents juggling with the pressures of their working lives.

The services include posting letters, doing laundry and dry cleaning, and serving free tea and coffee to take away.

'We now also have a hairdresser who comes in to cut the children's hair and she is booked up all day,' said Ms Johnson. 'It has been a real success, as it is one less thing for parents to have to do at the weekend.'

She said she already has a fifth setting in mind for which she is currently seeking planning consent. If it gets the go-ahead, she plans to open it within the next 12 months.

Ms Johnson recently won the business prize at the Inspiring Women Awards.

'I was absolutely delighted. It is fabulous for the company to get recognition for all the hard work we do,' she said.