The new premises caters for 128 children aged five and under and 35 staff members. Keele first opened an on-site nursery in 1965. Nursery places are available for local families, as well as the children of students and staff at the university.
Nursery manager Wendy Foster said, ‘We were in our second building and have now moved into our third. The building that we came from only had a ten-year life span, and we were there for 20 years. So it was well past its use-by-date.’
Ms Foster added, ‘The nursery is purpose-built and unique in its structure in that it is a triangle-shaped building with a secure, outdoor classroom. Children have access to the outdoors at all times.’ The structure is also environmentally friendly. It has solar panels, under floor heating and glass making it large and airy.
The nursery, which was officially opened in October by the Children’s Commissioner for England Dr Maggie Atkinson, has eight rooms for the children, a multi-function room and a parents’ room.
There is also a room within the nursery for four to 12-year-olds in school holidays. The ‘Klub House’ children have access to sports facilities on the university campus and can take part in wall climbing, trampolining, dancing and cooking classes.
Keele University Nursery is also used as a teaching establishment for nursery nurse students, nursing and midwifery students, as well as work experience students from local schools.
‘Keele University has started doing teacher training for the early years and the nursery is beginning to forge links with students. We are working with them to offer teaching facilities for eight trainee students at any one time,’ said Ms Foster, who has been working at the nursery for 20 years.
The nursery recently installed novelty smiley faced recycling bins from Leafield Environmental in order to promote and teach recycling practices to children from an early age.
Huw Evans, Keele University’s environmental manager, said, ‘The smiley-faced recycling bins at the nursery are ideal for children to use, and we also hope that they will have a positive impact on the children’s behaviour towards recycling.’
