When you're out to offer the highest-quality early years environment that you can, where children can thrive and families feel welcome, the first thing on your mind is probably not lighting. Yet this aspect of a setting can have a strong effect on the wellbeing of children and staff, and on achieving the outcomes everyone desires.
For Wendy Monaghan, who runs the 36-place Bedlington Bears day nursery in Northumberland, it's part of the nursery's USP that often seals the deal with new parents looking round the baby unit. She says, 'We chose our lighting because we wanted something that was restful and conducive to sleep, while also being attractive, yet not "distractive".
'Our fairy tree lights are on the ceiling of the sleep room and are enclosed in black netting - this has been checked by the fire department, of course. The blackout blinds make the room dark, but the fairy lights make it seem friendly and secure. The babies haven't said much about it, obviously, but we have never had any problems with sleepers in the room, and parents love it.
'The baby playroom lighting is natural, other than on winter evenings or dark days. The room faces north and was chosen to avoid the full sun during the day, which could make the room uncomfortably hot and bright.
'We find that with babies, parents who view our facilities always take up a place, as our nearest competitors have a baby room that does not have any windows in the room at all,' Ms Monaghan adds.
Appealing effects need not come from an architect's drawing board. As Ms Monaghan says, 'The idea came from a health spa that I have visited, which has "light therapy" in several of its rooms that consists of fairy tree lights that change colour slowly and induce a feeling of peace. Certainly, I felt at peace with the lighting and felt that our babies would benefit from it.'
When an architect is in charge, meanwhile, it's a matter of working with what the client has to offer them. Ric Blenkharn of architectural firm Bramhall Blenkharn was contracted for the new Top House school and nursery for Lincolnshire Montessori in Caistor, Lincolnshire, having also designed the Children's House nursery in Stallingborough six years ago.
He says, 'Our aim was to engage with the Montessori ethos, with an understanding of the natural ethos, appreciating all the elements that we see, including the sky.'
The new site for the Montessori project comprised a very old coaching inn, barns and cottages that were all listed buildings, so alterations had to be restricted to a minimum. The buildings all had to be linked into a cohesive centre for use by children ranging from birth to 12 years old, with a primary school, 72 early years places and 30 out-of-school places.
'We introduced a ridge light, by taking out the middle of the roof, as we did in the Stallingborough building,' says Mr Blenkharn. 'That's the key to making bright, light spaces.'
For dark days, electrical spotlights were placed around the ridge lighting to mimic the effect of daylight, and the different buildings were pulled together with the 'cloister' effect of a glazed corridor between them.
'We were keen not to have harsh strip lighting,' says Nathan Archer, development manager at Lincolnshire Montessori. 'We were sensitive to the fact that some children and staff might be in a room all day. It was key to us to have as much natural light as possible.' Having to work with an 'inherited' building, he says, it was decided to drop down the old high windows and give children a view of the grounds. What's more, even the first-floor out-of-school facility that extends under the eaves is flooded with light from the ridge light.
In the baby and toddler areas, 'zone mapping' led the architect to choose dimmable electric lights and spotlights on tracks that can be aimed in different directions, says Mr Archer. The outdoor play area can also be illuminated on dark, wintry days; the design includes uplighters in trees, while the bollards in the staff car park have their own lights.
As well as having psychological benefits, the light that nature provides is a free resource. Yet electrical fixtures will always be necessary in any childcare setting and their cost will depend on the extent of the project.
Mr Archer says, 'I know that the spending for lighting is something that tends to get cut towards the end of a building project. People might see that they are running out of money and make cuts. But I would urge against it.'
'It's quality, not quantity that makes the difference,' says Paul Morrey of the Aura Corporation in Wolverhampton, suppliers of Actulite polarised daylight lighting systems. For him, it is a health issue because young children's eyes are still at a critical stage of development. He thinks the lighting that many schools use can be detrimental to children's health.
The Actulite products aim to replicate natural light as closely as possible, he says, with an effect that is identical to being outdoors on an overcast - not a bright and sunny - day. They have been installed at the Alderwood special needs school in Ipswich that caters for children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, where Mr Morrey says they help to increase pupils' motivation and attendance levels.
Good lighting can be not just a matter of replicating the outdoors inside, but using its effects imaginatively outside. The makeover of the grounds of Woodlands Park Nursery School and Children's Centre in Tottenham, London (Nursery World, 14 May) included a diverse choice of lights. The many surrounding trees made it a naturally dark area.
Landscape gardener and designer Tim Archer says the centre's brief to him stressed that it would be open, with the outdoor space being used, until 6pm all year round - so in the winter it would be dark by 4pm.
Mr Archer wanted to avoid conventional floodlights and 'create an atmosphere' for the children using gentle high lights and low lights. He went for a mystical, 'enchanted forest' feeling, with twinkling fairy lights in the trees, and low-voltage paving lights along the pathways. There are also two towers made of glass bottles which glow from the high-voltage lamps inside.
This imaginative approach has made the outdoor area user-friendly all year round for children, families and staff. It illustrates that lighting should be prioritised when it comes to design - and not just indoors.
