Co-operative Childcare acquires 50th nursery
Katy Morton
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
The Co-operative Childcare has taken on the management of the workplace nursery based at the retailer Body Shop's head office.
All 32 staff at the 130-place nursery in Littlehampton, West Sussex, will continue to work at the setting, which was previously managed by kidsunlimited, now part of Bright Horizons, on behalf of L’Oreal, which owns the Body Shop.
The nursery, open to both Body Shop’s employees and the local community, will be offically relaunched by the Co-operative Childcare in September.
A spokesperson for kidsunlimited said, ‘The contract for the management and maintenance of the Body Shop Nursery was tendered by L’Oreal in 2012. We are pleased that the nursery continues to operate for the parents and families in the community, and are delighted that the nursery team remains in place to ensure consistency of care for the children.’
The Co-operative Childcare now operates 50 nurseries, offering a total of 3,483 places.
Mike Abbott, Co-operative Childcare group manager, said, ‘The Body Shop is a good fit with our business in terms of its ethical approach. We are looking forward to building on the success of the nursery, bringing our experience and skills so it can continue to flourish. We will invest in the nursery, as we do with all of our settings, and provide support from our focused quality team and training opportunities for our new colleagues.
‘We have grown substantially in the past two years and this acquistion brings our total number of nurseries to 50, which is a significant landmark.’
Emma Bowman, nursery manager, said, ‘We are excited about joining the Co-operative Childcare. It is a trusted provider which is keen to invest in our nursery for the benefit of the children in our care and the team based here.’
The nursery, open to both Body Shop’s employees and the local community, will be offically relaunched by the Co-operative Childcare in September.
A spokesperson for kidsunlimited said, ‘The contract for the management and maintenance of the Body Shop Nursery was tendered by L’Oreal in 2012. We are pleased that the nursery continues to operate for the parents and families in the community, and are delighted that the nursery team remains in place to ensure consistency of care for the children.’
The Co-operative Childcare now operates 50 nurseries, offering a total of 3,483 places.
Mike Abbott, Co-operative Childcare group manager, said, ‘The Body Shop is a good fit with our business in terms of its ethical approach. We are looking forward to building on the success of the nursery, bringing our experience and skills so it can continue to flourish. We will invest in the nursery, as we do with all of our settings, and provide support from our focused quality team and training opportunities for our new colleagues.
‘We have grown substantially in the past two years and this acquistion brings our total number of nurseries to 50, which is a significant landmark.’
Emma Bowman, nursery manager, said, ‘We are excited about joining the Co-operative Childcare. It is a trusted provider which is keen to invest in our nursery for the benefit of the children in our care and the team based here.’
