Designing a nursery from scratch which caters for children from birth to three has been a labour of love for owner Elaine Terry. Like her other two nurseries in the West End of Aberdeen, the new St Swithin Infant Nursery occupies a traditional, nineteenth century granite house. But unlike the others, it offers an environment that is tailored exclusively to babies and toddlers.
With its wealth of original features including high ceilings and elaborate cornicing, Mrs Terry says she has enhanced the natural beauty of the property in a way she believes is aesthetically appealing to babies. This includes designing beautiful stain glass windows with child-appealing scenes - which are greatly admired by parents.
As far as parents are concerned, it certainly delivers the wow factor. 'They love the nursery when they see it for the first time and are inspired by it,' says Mrs Terry. 'For me, it has been a wonderful opportunity to start with an empty shell and create an environment for an age group which I feel often gets overlooked.'
SMALL GROUPS WORK BEST
Mrs Terry acquired her first nursery at 24 St Swithin Street in 1991. At the time of purchase there were only two children cared for on the ground floor of the property, but under her ownership occupancy rapidly expanded and soon all four floors were being used.
Following this, 44 St Swithin Street was purchased in 2004 and swiftly repeated the success of its predecessor. Between these two nurseries, The St Swithin now has over 110 full-time children, cared for by a qualified team exceeding 30.
Mrs Terry reports that the latest site, based at 357 Great Western Road, represents a natural development for the business. 'We wanted to respond to growing demand for baby places in Aberdeen,' she says. 'While our other nurseries have baby units, these are limited in size and have been designed to sit alongside the older children's provision.'
The new nursery, which opened its doors last week, currently has 20 babies, who all happen to be first children for their parents. Eventually it hopes to increase its total number to 40 and these younger children will graduate into the other two nurseries as they become pre-schoolers.
The environment mirrors St Swithin's established ethos that a room-based approach to care and learning works best.
'Our preference to retain individual rooms, offering different activities, enables us to create a more intimate and calm ambience,' says Mrs Terry. 'This is particularly important for babies and toddlers, who need to be introduced to nursery in a gentle and empathetic manner, remembering that their only experience of care until this point in time has been within the home environment.'
She adds, 'Parents also tell us that they prefer individual room settings as they can witness how quickly and easily their child settles in their new environment which is very reassuring for them.'
The new nursery has rooms devoted to music, physical and imaginative play, a sensory room and a sleeping area, while the garden has a safety surface offering the babies easy access to this area. 'It is designed with the idea of encouraging stimulation and independence from an early age,' says Ms Terry.
STRENGTHENING PARENT LINKS
Finding the right staff - those with a genuine sense of vocation when it comes to working with babies - has been a priority for Mrs Terry and she began recruiting last December. Currently eight staff are employed but this will increase in line with occupancy.
'We wanted to find staff who had a particular desire to work with the younger age group and when we found the right candidates we immediately employed them to begin their induction within our existing two nurseries while the new one was being refurbished,' she says. 'We have also transferred surplus junior staff from our existing nurseries and have promoted a deputy manager to a managerial position.'
Positive relationships with parents were particularly noted in the organisation's 2009 inspection report and the baby nursery provides an opportunity to forge even stronger links.
The launch of the new nursery is very much a part of a long-term business strategy for The St Swithin group.
'It is a way of providing continuity of care for families,' says Mrs Terry. 'There is a baby boom in the city and between our three nurseries we can now maximise occupancy from birth through to school age, building strong relationships with parents who will naturally want all their children to attend the same nursery.'
She adds, 'We firmly believe that to maintain our reputation we must continue listening to our parents. One of the ways we do this is by asking our new parents why they chose The St Swithin and the reasons have remained consistent over the last 21 years. These include the high standard of care, the genuine welcome and respect they and their child receive, the attention to detail in the design of our play areas and the indefinable, instinctive feeling of reassurance, which they felt upon their first visit.'
SNAPSHOT
- The St Swithin at 24 St Swithin Street currently has 53 children on roll and 15 nursery practitioners; The St Swithin at 44 St Swithin Street has 58 children and 19 staff.
- The new baby setting aims to accommodate 40 infants and 14 staff.
- In its 2009 HMIE inspection The St Swithin achieved good or very good for all aspects of its provision.
As part of its ongoing commitment to improvement, The St Swithin implements a planned approach to monitoring and evaluating its nurseries, which involves all staff. It has also focused on developing learning approaches which involve children more fully in planning.
