25 January 2007

Parents eager to secure places at day nursery on £100m business park

A new 88 place children’s nursery is to be created on one of South Wales’ most prestigious business parks.

Interest is so great that parents are already registering for places at the nursery on the 45-acre Celtic Springs Business Park adjacent to Junction 28 of the M4. 

The nursery, at the £100m Celtic Springs Business Park, will be the third to be operated by St John’s-on-the-Hill, the Chepstow-based independent day and boarding preparatory school.  The School is a registered charitable trust.

The two day nurseries already run by the school are adjacent to the School, at Tutshill and at Chepstow Racecourse. They offer a total of some 100 places across the two sites.

The new nursery, which will lead to the creation of some 20 new jobs, is to be housed in a purpose built unit adjacent to the five star Ramada Plaza hotel and a 35,000 sq ft office building.

Ian Etchells, Headmaster of  St John’s-on-the-Hill,  said: “We are confident that the nursery we are building will be one of the most modern and well equipped of its type in South Wales.

“We believe the nursery will be very attractive to parents working on the business park, in an organisation such as the Prison Service or EADS as well as to those working in the eastern outskirts of Cardiff and to other people in the greater Newport area.”

The nursery will be open for the start of the new school year on Monday, September 3, 2007.

Mr Etchells said: “All studies show that there is an ever increasing demand in this area for the kind of quality care that we provide. It will be an added bonus for the business park and act as an incentive for those looking to locate to the park.

“For decades parents children from the Newport area have travelled to St. John’s -on-the-Hill now we are delighted to bring our high quality nursery provision to the City.”

Iain Logue, Operations Director for AWG Properties which, together with Chepstow-based Broadhall, is developing the business park said: “Provision of this first class children’s day care facility brings a further dimension to what is already on offer at Celtic Springs Business Park making us an even greater attraction for both existing and prospective occupiers.

“The provision of high quality, reliable child care facilities close to parents’ employment, of the kind that is being created by St John’s-on-the-Hill, is a prerequisite for any modern business park that, like Celtic Springs, is striving to be regarded as in the premier division in terms of excellence of service provision.”

Robert Carew-Chaston, Chairman and Managing Director of Newport-based Hutchings & Thomas, said: “The response to the prospect of a day nursery being built at Celtic Springs has been very encouraging.

“We have already registered keen interest with people enquiring about the possibility of putting their child’s name down to secure a place in September.”