Daniel Brand, 29, was one of the first children enrolled at Play Pitnursery, owned by Penny Conway and Susan Spaulding.
He has worked intermittently at the setting in Felixstowe, Suffolk, andat Play Pit's other site in Trimley St Mary since leaving school andfinishing university.
Mr Brand is the only male staff member at Play Pit. He was promoted tomanager at the Trimley St Mary nursery three months ago after coveringfor the existing manager, who left to go on maternity leave.
He said he is a firm believer in the benefits of male role models forchildren. Since working at the nursery he has introduced a number ofphysical activities such as throwing and catching games, and assaultcourses, as well as bringing 'dinosaurs' to the Trimley St Mary nurserygarden. This term the children are learning about the topic of wheels bylooking at motorcycles and Ferris wheels.
Mr Brand said, 'The nursery acts as a surrogate family for the childrenand when they came here there is a mum and a dad like there is athome.
'The children treat me differently to the female staff at the nursery -they see me as one of the boys! They use me as a human climbing frameand they are always asking me to pick them up.'
Mr Brand first started working at Play Pit after he left school andbefore going to university in 2001 to study nursing, after which hecontinued to help out during the summer holidays.
After graduating he continued to work at the setting and has now been atPlay Pit for five years.
Since working at the nursery, Mr Brand has completed his NVQ Level 3 inchildcare and he said that he now hopes to start an NVQ Level 4 or afoundation degree.
