‘The children are at the heart of all we do’
Staff, children, parents and grandparents have been celebrating the 40th anniversary of the opening of New Penshaw Academy Nursery.
The nursery first opened its doors to the community’s children in January 1982. Higher Level Teaching Assistant Carole Hall was there for that very first day and is still caring for New Penshaw’s children four decades on.
Carole, who is in her retirement year, said: “I opened the nursery with Mrs Darby who was here at the time and I’m still here and so I obviously enjoy my job.
“The children are at the heart of everything we do and no day is ever the same – it’s lots of fun.
“In that time, we’ve had three generations come through the nursery and it’s lovely when parents I used to teach recognise me and tell their children I was at the nursery when they used to attend.”
One of those families now in their third generation of attending the nursery is Ashley Watson, 44, who attended the nursery when it first opened in 1982, daughter Kenya Williams, 25, who started in 2001 and granddaughter Tori Devlin, five, who’s now a pupil.
Ashley said: “All my children came through the nursery and so it still feels very natural when I arrive.
“All the staff are really supportive and there’s a real family atmosphere.”
Kenya added: “It puts me at ease bringing Tori here rather than sending her somewhere I don’t know. It’s nice to be invited to the 40-year celebration and, hopefully, in another 40 years, future generations will still be coming to the nursery.”
It’s a full circle for Laura Foster who attended the nursery in 1991 and is now the class teacher.
She said: “It’s a real family feel as 50 per cent of staff live in the Penshaw area and we’ve now had several generations of the same families attending the nursery.
“Lots of things have changed since I was here. The nursery used to be a prefab building.”
As part of the celebrations, the children made 40th birthday cards, a celebratory balloon display and had their own disco party.
Theo Allison, four, said: “I really enjoyed the party. At nursery, I like the construction corner as I like building towers.
Frankie Thompson, four, added: “It has been a really nice day.”