Overview of a Nursery

A Day nursery provides a secure environment for parents to leave children when they are working. These nurseries provide care and education for pre-school children aged from six weeks to five years of age. Hours tend to fit in with an average working day of 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, and care is usually provided all year round. Children attend full-time or part-time with some starting at only a few weeks old.

Nurseries vary in size from small home-based settings through to purpose-built 200-place units. All nurseries offer a wide range of activities and combine both care and early years' education. Many day nurseries also offer out-of-school care for children of school age such as holiday play schemes or breakfast clubs. Generally day nurseries operate on a larger scale to all other forms of childcare business.

Nursery Guide

This profile looks at setting up in business as a children's day nursery. It considers the personal attributes necessary to run this type of business as well as the training available. It looks at customers and competition, the issues affecting the market for this type of service, and the legal requirements and start up costs. Sources of further information are also listed.