Press release from: Shenfield Day Nursery
Shenfield Day Nursery where children are cherished is definitely a special place and it certainly has some milestones to celebrate this summer. Not only is it the nursery’s 20th anniversary year but Nursery Managers Carla and Nikki are also proud to have worked there for 20 and 17 years respectively!!
This high quality, professional and friendly nursery has recently changed ownership and they’ve been warmly welcomed from both parents and staff alike. New Nursery Director Lee Stimpson, who also owns Little Adventurers Nursery in Upminster commented, “The most important thing for me was to ensure the continuity of high-quality care was maintained for the children through the change of ownership. I was very keen to reassure the fantastic team here that we are really looking forward to working with them all, to further develop the great strengths and foundations that this nursery has already built up within the local community. Sharing our plans with all the staff has always been an essential part of our approach and has been even more important over the last few months. I hope that our meetings with them have demonstrated our passion, our commitment and our excitement for the future together.”
Lee continued, “We have so many exciting plans for the nursery and are also delighted that we will be running a new Breakfast & After School Club at Mountnessing C of E Primary School from September.” Shenfield Day Nursery have been running a successful B&ASC at their sister school of St. Mary’s in Shenfield for the past 6 years. The Head Teacher at Mountnessing School, Holly Obank is equally delighted, “I am excited to work with the Shenfield Day Nursery team to finally be able to offer the Mountnessing school community wraparound care. We have been wanting a before and after school club for such a long time and have been planning this project for years. We received funding from Essex County Council for a purpose built building which has been completed this summer and I am looking forward to seeing lots of happy children and families use the facility led by the experienced team at Shenfield Day Nursery.”
Many of the children who attend St. Mary’s Shenfield Breakfast and After School Club are already familiar with the nursery staff as they also attended the nursery. This makes the relationships with the staff very special and deepens that sense of family. As one B&ASC staff member commented in their recent staff survey, “I like the fact that it feels like one big family. A sense of togetherness. I like the way it is run, so thorough and organised.”
It’s clear to see how enormously proud and committed both Carla and Nikki are about the children at the nursery and Breakfast and After School Club, their team and about their role of leading the setting. “The nursery is so family orientated; I come from a big family myself and for me this is the key to my life; it’s such a personal approach here and like an extension of your own family,” Carla explained.
Role models Carla and Nikki who share the manager role at Shenfield have both worked their way up from Nursery Practitioner and in the case of Nikki, the settings very first nursery apprentice to their leadership positions. Nikki said, “I love the rich extra-curriculum that we are offering; the children learn so much and they wouldn’t have the opportunity to do this at home. We have such fantastic staff, many of whom have been here a long time and they all work so well together as a team. Our Nursery cook has been here ‘a very long time’ is like the mummy of the family! Everything is cooked from scratch on the premises and we cater for all allergies and dietary requirements.”
The nursery staff team are equally proud of their setting and amongst the comments in their recent staff survey describe why they feel so happy in their roles, “It’s a place where children are truly loved and cared for,” “It is a very homely environment and we build lovely relationships with parents.” “I couldn’t describe how proud I am of Shenfield Day Nursery,” and “I am so happy working with everyone as they are such a strong team.”
Lee and his family run team (Aunts Chris and Karen support him with running the nurseries), is equally delighted with the results of the recent parent survey which found 100% of parents who took part to be very happy with the care provided at both the nursery and Breakfast & After School Club. “Shenfield Day Nursery is a fabulous setting made home from home by the incredible staff who are caring thoughtful and engaging.” “Staff are a true credit, they have all been wonderful, professional and caring,” were just two of the many compliments received by parents last month.
Business Development Manager, Chris Ford said, “We are really looking forward to working with all the team at Shenfield. Lee is a firm believer about everyone in the team being part of the journey; we take on board staff suggestions and ideas and progress these wherever we can. We are already delivering an exciting extracurricular programme and have a new software system to further support the managers in their roles. We are in the process of introducing our updated branding which will align our two nurseries and have many more exciting developments such as introducing the nationally recognised programme of Sing and Sign to our baby room. We have been an affiliated member in Little Adventurers Nursery for a number of years where it’s been very successful.”
With such fantastic tributes from parents and staff, Shenfield Day Nursery sounds like a special place and it looks like they have a very exciting and bright future ahead.
