‘Little’ nursery is pride of the north
STUART PIKE
AN Accrington nursery which goes above and beyond to support special educational needs is celebrating an “unbelievable” accolade after being named the north’s best nursery.
Staff from Little Tinkers Childcare Ltd travelled to Leicester on January 18 for the National Nursery Recognition Awards, where they were up against six other nurseries in their category.
The nursery, on Laneside Avenue, has been open for 12 years and was rated Outstanding across the board by Ofsted following its most recent inspection in 2018.
Kelly Harrison, proprietor and manager, said they didn’t know until the award was read out that they had won.
She told the Observer: “It was such an honour to receive this reward, as we are only a small nursery based in Accrington. I have an amazing long-serving team, who all put 100 per cent into their work and care for the children like they are their own. I really am lucky to have such a fantastic team by my side. I am so grateful to everyone who voted for us. It’s just been unbelievable.”
The nursery was nomimated for the award, but Kelly had to send in reasons backed up by supporting evidence why she believed they were worthy of it.
She said: “I really felt that we deserved this award, due to all the help and support we give our Special Educational Needs children and their families. We really do go above and beyond to help and support them.”
Kelly said they ensure that if any of their children are under achieving for their age, in particular their prime areas of learning, they act on it and follow county council protocol and make referrals to relevant professionals to help and support that child.
She added: “The workload for a child who has Special Educational Needs is massive, I won’t lie, but knowing you have secured a child with an Education Health Care Plan before they go to school is such an amazing feeling, so that workload is all worth it in the end.
“It is so sad to hear that children are going to school without these in place. At Little Tinkers we ensure that every child in the setting is included and no child is left behind for this to happen.”