Youngsters know the score after football club visit

The children of Nurserytime, in Beach Road, South Shields, were invited on a visit to the 1st Cloud Arena – The Mariners’ home ground – for a guided tour.

The youngsters were shown around by Nathan Kew of the SSFC Foundation – getting onto the pitch, exploring the stands, lounge, tunnel, changing rooms and the team’s trophy cabinet.

The nursery has a long-standing partnership with the club and the visit followed some recent football sessions and coincided with the start of the new season.

Nursery manager, Helen Coulson, said: “The club has been kind enough to allow our youngsters to visit the stadium a number of times and, after our

recent football sessions, the children were excited to visit the ground.“They fully explored their stands, lounge, tunnel, changing rooms and pitch, guided by Nathan, and even investigated their impressive trophy cabinet.”She added: “They satisfied their curiosity by asking lots of questions about the club during the tour.

"We would like to say a huge thank you South Shields FC for allowing us to visit, with special thanks to Nathan for taking time out of his busyschedule to show us around.”

Nurserytime was recently rated “Good” in all categories by Ofsted inspectors.

The inspector noted that children were eager to take part in a wide range of activities and the nursery was praised for the way it encourages the youngsters to learn about the community and places of local interest.”