Community-based nurseries; an intro to our community nurseries in the heart of Easton
In the first in our series looking at the benefits of community-based nurseries, we spoke about the wider impact we want to have on our communities, and the model behind Raised In as a social enterprise. This second piece in the series looks in more detail at our Easton nurseries in Bristol, and our community partner Eastside Community Trust who run the two well-loved sites at Easton Community Centre and Felix Road Adventure Playground.
Introducing Raised in Bristol at Easton Community Centre and Raised in Bristol at Felix Road Adventure Playground
Raised in Bristol started life in 2017 when the business was invited to open the first nursery at Easton Community Centre. Since then, the local Easton community has received a quality and sustainable early years provision, allowing parents to return to work and children to thrive. We employ over 40 early years professionals across these sites and are committed to training the next generation of expert practitioners via our apprenticeships.
In 2020, during the pandemic, Raised In opened the third nursery in the group at Felix Road Adventure Playground, in a purpose built building with direct access to a lovely enriching garden. Across all our nurseries we’ve paid over £500k in rent to date, income directly going to support Eastside Community Trust’s (and our other community partners) work in their local community.
A core part of our current operations is a commitment to profit share. This means that when the nurseries turn a profit, rather than keeping this for ourselves we share this with our community partners, enabling them to have further impact. A healthy and happy local community benefits everyone!
Our curriculum is also rooted in place. Our children regularly make use of the local parks and playgrounds, and we take them on outings like litter picks. This teaches the children about the environment and taking care of where they live, but also helps them to feel part of their community. Our organisational vision is that there are confident communities where children (people) can think big and have an equal chance to flourish and be part of creating a better community. We start them young with this feeling of belonging, so they can confidently exist in their local area, and advocate for what they believe in.
Our landlords and partners, Eastside Community Trust
Eastside Community Trust provides people of all ages with places and ways to connect. Working across Easton and Lawrence Hill, Eastside Community Trust strives to make East Central Bristol a place of possibility for everyone. Eastside Community Trust, with both Easton Community Centre and Felix Road Adventure Playground, exist to support the local community to thrive. Raised In’s ethos and curriculum focuses on supporting children to feel connected to their local area, helping them to become active and engaged citizens with a strong sense of place and local pride. In turn, Eastside Community Trust is a vital part of this local ecology, supporting our communities to be resilient, engaged and welcoming.
Eastside Community Trust is a membership organisation, so as well as running a huge range of events and projects for the local community, individuals are encouraged to join and be part of the local solution.
So what does this mean for Labour’s expansion plans?
Labour has stated that there is the ambition to open 300 new nurseries in empty primary school classrooms. Primary schools are often located centrally in communities, but they aren’t always open or welcoming spaces to all - for a wide range of reasons. The design of our nurseries has been carefully considered to ensure that the spaces are meeting the needs of the children - from the youngest babies to our more active and engaged four and five year olds. Any nursery opening in a primary school needs to carefully consider the design of the space, to ensure that it’s meeting the needs of the children and not a quick retrofit.
Our nurseries are also open for 51 weeks of the year, 8 am–6 pm. To really meet the needs of working families any primary-based nursery needs to consider carefully its opening hours, how these will be staffed and what the demand is from the local community. Running 9 am–3 pm rarely meets the needs of working families, and closing for holidays places additional pressure on parents to find alternative childcare.
We’d also strongly recommend considering how the private, voluntary or independent (PVI - any nursery which isn’t a maintained nursery school or children’s centre) sector can add additional value to any school-based nursery. We work in close partnership with our landlords, sharing the profits and supporting their wider work. We believe that this is a model which could lend itself to other community partners, or primary school landlords if there is the time taken to get this right.
But in all of this let's not forget about the existing community spaces also under threat. Is a better investment into existing organisations in communities where families need childcare, and can nurseries in these buildings be a multi-faceted answer to a current issue?
If you’d like to discuss the Raised In model or would be interested in finding out more about how a Raised In nursery could benefit your community please get in touch!
