Bright Horizons Opens "Super Nursery" for Children and Parents

LONDON, September 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Today sees the official launch of Clapham Village, the first of a new breed of state-of-the-art "super nurseries" designed and developed by Bright Horizons Family Solutions. Clapham Village, in South London, offers children aged 3 months to 12 years a uniquely stimulating and safe environment through nursery and holiday club sessions, while also catering to the needs of busy parents themselves.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140926/708736-a )
     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140926/708736-b )

Clapham Village has been designed and built following close consultation with local parents about what they want most from nursery life. The result is a unique nursery with exceptional facilities and a strong focus on education and development, together with services which make life easier for the whole family. The Clapham Village ethos is to put the needs of both parents and children at the centre of everything we do."

Clapham Village has been named to reflect the African proverb "It takes a village to raise a child." With that in mind, the new nursery is designed to offer a safe and nurturing environment for children while also functioning as a welcoming and convenient "hub" where parents can spend time. The design, build and fit-out of Clapham Village cost in excess of £2million.

For children, Clapham Village offers:

• An experienced and enthusiastic staff team
• A dedicated Art Room with a local resident artist, bespoke "SMART table" - consisting of a metre-long tablet computer on wheels - and child-height art easels
• A hand built Science Kitchen with specialised work surfaces, cookers and kitchen equipment at child-height
• Garden play area with urban beach, play house, stream, and enclosed vegetable beds
• Lessons in piano, cookery, gardening, Spanish and French
• Playrooms fully equipped with wooden furniture and toys made by Community Playthings
• Dance studio, tablets and indoor mini-sandpits

For parents, Clapham Village will be offering:

• Concierge service to help with organising extra activities, transport, birthday parties and additional services
• Parents' work room with desks, computers, printers and conference call facilities
• Drop-off and pick-up laundry service, on-site yoga and Pilates with shower rooms, massage and osteopath service and ante/post natal classes
• Specially-made cooked meals for taking home
• Children's hairdressing service
• Coffee machine and lounge area
• Grab and go breakfast facilities

Simone Carter, Director of Operations at Bright Horizons UK, said: "We have worked closely with parents and distilled many decades' worth of our team's experience to create what we hope is a model nursery. We're incredibly proud of what we offer the children here, it really is a wonderful and safe learning environment where children can develop, have fun and be inspired by our dedicated staff and by the surroundings."

Carole Edmond, Managing Director of Bright Horizons UK, said: "The whole philosophy of Clapham Village was to listen carefully to what parents want most and build our new nursery based around that. We believe that nurseries should help you to make the most of family life, which means offering inspiring environments for parents and other useful services to help family life to run smoothly.  Following our discussions, parents told us they wanted services which are tailored to the whole family, with everything under one roof.  We recognise parents are travelling from further afield to their preferred childcare providers and are busier than ever, so we hope the extra services we are offering at Clapham Village make life easier and more convenient. We will continue to listen to our parents, to ensure that we're fully meeting their needs on an ongoing basis."

For more information about Clapham Village Nursery and Preschool please call: 0330 123 0243 or visit http://www.brighthorizons.co.uk/our-nurseries/clapham-nursery-london/about-this-nursery/overview

About Bright Horizons Family Solutions                                                                                    

Bright Horizons Family Solutions is a leading UK provider of high-quality child care, early years education and other services designed to help employers and families better address the challenges of integrating of work and life. Bright Horizons provides nursery care both to consumers and in partnership with employers and also offers innovative round-the-clock back-up care packages for children and adults. With a reputation for excellence spanning three decades, Bright Horizons has more than 200 nurseries in the UK and Ireland. From the implementation of the Early Years Foundation Stage in 2008 Bright Horizons has consistently outperformed its sector in terms of "Outstanding" awards made by Ofsted. Bright Horizons is one of the UK's Best Workplaces as well as one of the Top 25 Best Large Workplaces in Europe as designated by the Great Place to Work Institute. http://www.brighthorizons.co.uk

SOURCE Bright Horizons