Whitefield Neighbourhood Nursery

The Neighbourhood Nursery is located in the Whitefield ward of Nelson and opened its doors in June 2005 offering full time child care within this area. It was developed from an old parish centre building, which was in need of repair, and was an underused resource within an area short of such a facility.

The project was developed when there was no provision for full time child care in the Whitefield ward of Nelson and a lack of high quality, comfortable accommodation for the delivery of the range of family support, childcare, early years and adult education and health services that Sure Start aims to provide. 

The neighbourhood nursery is part of a Government initiative to bring accessible, affordable, high quality childcare to areas within the top 20% areas of deprivation. The nursery supports the services and activities that Sure Start has developed within the building for families in the area.

These include health provision, such as advice and support for pre and post natal mothers, women’s health and contraception advice, support for teenage mothers, child health screening, speech & language therapy for children, family support, counselling and training for parents and carers.

The nursery provides access for all families within the Sure Start remit to a local, non stigmatising setting providing a range of services, support, meeting and training opportunities. Many parents using the nursery have been able to enter work or training, and some parents have increased from part time to full time hours, as a result of having affordable nursery places available. New parents returning to work have also put their names down for places.

The refurbishment and upgrading of the centre helped to lift the appearance of the local area, and provide a focus for those families who wish to remain within the community. Statutory and voluntary sector service providers have access to a high quality space in which to deliver locally accessible services to the residents of Whitefield.