Seaford’s Blue Door Nursery got a helping hand from Paradise Park to help celebrate its 15th birthday in style with an update to their outside space.
Paradise Park Garden Centre has donated £250 worth of plants and compost for new planted borders being designed and implemented by local gardener Katie Hall. The plants will brighten up the outdoor space for the children, and the addition of herbs and other plants of interest will allow them to engage with the outside world and inspire the next generation of green fingers.
2019 sees Blue Door nursery celebrate 15 years of providing high quality child care and education for the youngest children in Seaford. Established in 2004 by the Swindells-Greenop family, the nursery has gone from strength to strength. What was once a struggling provision of concern to Ofsted, Blue Door now celebrates back to back Outstanding inspection reports with the excellence of the teaching particularly commended. From 17 children in the beginning, the nursery now cares for over a hundred children of local families every week.
With 25 staff the nursery is one of Seaford’s larger employers. Senior staff from Blue Door work with students from Seaford Head school to encourage and develop their employability skills. As well as working to support the young people in secondary education the nursery works alongside Nova House care home bringing shared activities and songs to the elderly residents at regular visits. Rebecca Swindells, nursery owner, said she was proud of her staff’s dedication to the children in their care and grateful for the donations that had been made. “With highly qualified staff and a commitment to our families we really feel that we can make a difference. We are always looking for ways to enhance and improve the experience the children have, and it was so wonderful to be supported by two local businesses that will help us transform the outdoor space.”
Darren Clift, Director at Tates Garden Centres, the family run firm that operate Paradise Park, added “It is great to be able to support another long-standing family run business whilst contributing to the local community at the same time. Paradise Park celebrated its 30th birthday earlier in the year so we have been able to extend the celebrations and share in another’s success whilst also knowing that we could be inspiring the next generation of gardeners at the same time. I love the fact that the nursery strives to be part of the local community which is something that has always been part of the Tates ethos.”