Take a look around Hebburn’s new Noah’s Ark Nursery as it completes its expansion

Noah’s Ark Nursery, which was based on Victoria Road West, has officially opened in its new location after taking over the Hebburn Masonic Hall, on Aln Street.

The relocation has seen the Masonic Hall completely transformed into a space where young children can begin their educational journeys.

It means that the nursery can now take its daily number of children attending from 38 to 85, as well as creating 20 jobs in the local area as the staffing levels double from 20 to 40.

Nicola George, the owner of Noah’s Ark Nursery, has previously told the Shields Gazette that the nursery has a waiting list which is more than a year long for its baby room - prompting the relocation to ensure that it can meet demand.

Ahead of opening the new and improved Noah’s Ark Nursery, Nicola has expressed her delight in being able to offer more child spaces and job opportunities.

She said: “We’ve been at our Victoria Road West nursery for five years and after year four, we realised that we couldn’t cope with the demand so we bought the Masonic Hall.

“We’ve had a completely renovate the place by putting in walls, lowering ceilings, and installing corridors while learning from our old nursery to figure out what works for us.

“We are thrilled to up to an 85-day nursery and put out job opportunities into the local area.

“Finding good quality childcare providers is hard but I feel that we have the best, especially because we offer such an exclusive range of activities.

“We follow the curiosity approach where we encourage children to play with real life things rather than plastic toys so they can be taught to respect the world and their belongings.”

The renovation work at the Masonic Hall has seen the creation of two play rooms for children up to the age of five, a sleep room, a sensory room for children with SEND, a vast open plan space for younger children and an outdoor learning area.

Nicola has also expressed her pride in her team, who have taken what works from the previous nursery and implemented it into the new location with how the rooms have been set up.

She added: “It is really emotional for us to be at this point, I’m proud of the space and I’m proud of the staff.

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“Although I put the designs in for the nursery and its layout, I’ve had no ownership on the set up - the staff have come in and created the spaces.

“I want the staff to know that I fully trust their decisions and it just shows how great of a team they are and how much passion they have to give the children the best.

“Parent partnership is so important in childcare so we are all excited to show the new space.

“They’ve been amazing through and have been praising us on social media and telling other parents to come along to the open day.

“Because we’ve got such secure relationships with our current parents, they’ve been wonderful throughout the transition process.”

Noah’s Ark Nursery will be hosting an open day on Sunday, April 27, between 11am and 4pm for parents to take a look at the facilities.

You can find out more about Noah’s Ark Nursery by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/NoahsArkNurseryHebburn.

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