Calthwaite Nursery has been operating since 1989. Until September 2006, it was housed in Calthwaite School. This provided twelve places for pre-school children and only operated for 2.5 hours, four days a week.
Due to ever increasing numbers, the committee conducted some research in 2004 which showed that there was an ever growing demand for the facility.
For the next two years, the committee and staff worked hard to raise funds to open a new, highly stimulating environment that would offer a greater range of facilities. This became a viable proposition, when in the summer of 2006, The Old Post Office became available to rent from the Brackenburgh Estate. Over this period we raised over £50,000 to convert the house into a day nursery and purchase a huge variety of equipment and resources.
Calthwaite Nursery, which now trades as First Class Kids became a Company Limited by Guarantee (No: 5261501) in 2004 and formed a new Charity (1108840) soon after.
Once settled into the Old Post Office, we were able to provide a full day nursery with 16 places. Shortly after opening we applied successfully for some grant monies to set up Breakfast and After School Clubs, this was followed by Holiday Club which started in Easter 2007.
To complete our facility, we added a six place baby unit to our services in April 2008.
The barn behind First Class Kids was then converted into another facility for our children through a phased approach. This addition to our nursery opened in January 2011. This now means we can accommodate an extra fourteen children making a total of thirty-six altogether.
First Class Kids continues to be successful; providing highly stimulating experiences in a safe and secure environment, to enhance children’s learning and development.