Nursery World - Nursery rises from the ashes to become 'outstanding'

After being ravaged by fire a year ago, a nursery in Hertfordshire has made a spectacular come-back with an outstanding grade from Ofsted.

Rainbow House Nursery in Hatfield sounded its fire alarm last May, when sensory lights in its toddlers’ room overheated. It was 9.30am and the nursery had to make a full-scale evacuation of 28 staff and 78 children.

Kirsty Collins, who joined the nursery as manager two months before the fire, says, ‘The children didn’t know anything about the fire itself but were very excited when they saw police cars arriving. They were singing nursery rhymes while they were waiting for their parents to come and collect them.’

While children saw nothing of the damage, one room was entirely gutted and the whole building had to be refurbished. Rainbow House was forced to close for three months and 80 per cent of staff and children were re-located to different nurseries within a ten mile radius.

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