A BERKELEY nursery is celebrating its first year of helping children have fun and develop.
There were balloons, cake, party games and a visit from a giant orange dinosaur at the Chapel Hill Day Nursery on Wednesday, to mark 12 months since opening.
Nursery owner Danielle Long said although it had been a challenging year, due to the pandemic, she has really enjoyed setting up the business and getting to know the community.
“Covid has brought lots of new challenges, but I’m still delighted to be here, running the nursery,” she said.
Danielle, who also runs Becket Hall Day Nursery, based in Bristol, brought ten years of experience with her when she decided to set up the facility in what was a former pub.
She converted The Stagecoach Inn, which once formed part of the Berkeley Estate, into her day care centre for youngsters.
Although schools have closed for the third lockdown, except for children of key workers and the vulnerable, early years settings such as nurseries and childminding services have stayed open.
But during the March 2020 lockdown, the Government told nurseries and other registered childcare providers to close their doors to the majority of children to curb the virus spread.  
The decision has led to some nursery workers raising concerns about staff safety.
Commenting on the situation, Danielle said: “Whilst it is a worry to some staff, we all understand the need for early years settings to remain open. 
“Some staff are more nervous than others.
“However since this pandemic began, we have not had one positive Covid case among any of the children in our care, in both our nurseries. 
“We care for over 100 children each week, so this is reassuring.” 
The nursery is open weekdays from 7am to 7pm. Due to the location of the premises, the nursery is well suited to working parents commuting along the A38. Although the nursery team are unable to conduct visits at the moment there is a link to a virtual tour on: chapelhilldaynursery.co.uk