Editor's choice June 2007

Outdoor challenge 2007

By Alex Vannelli

Jakeman Early Years Centre won a national competition that will enhance the outdoor area for their children recently. The national competition, held by Nursery World magazine, saw over 400 nurseries throughout England compete for a prize worth £13,000.

The competition, which focused upon the benefits of outdoor play, used a series of questions about good practice to gauge the level of understanding of the entrants. In addition the competition required that the entrants demonstrate an appreciation for the use of imagination. As part of their entry Jakeman Nursery listed many of their past achievements to date including a ‘Secret Garden’ project, a “Dora the explorer” project to motivate the children’s interest and enjoyment with the natural world also the centre has started its children on growing and cooking organic fruit.

The questions that the nurseries were asked were based on what the project had done and what they were planning, their reasons for entering and how winning would help the project. Jakeman Early Years Centre gave a superior set of answers and included how the project currently involves parents/carers, governors and the local community in their work, and that this more importantly would continue. At half term Mrs Chaudri was informed that Jakeman had won and the play area was going to be improved.

The prize included £10,000 worth of shade sails from “keep it kool” and £1000 worth of resources from NES Arnold who provide educational tools as well as advice and support from Learning through landscapes and finally an annual subscription to Nursery World. The prize is planned to start on July 20th with the installation of four shade sails and will be in place for September 2007.

Mrs Chaudri said about the achievement “We are extremely pleased with the result of the competition and we believe this will not only make the area look better it will give the children hours of fun and education. This would not have been possible without everybody helping and I would just like to thank everyone concerned”.