A mother from Somerset who wanted to open a nursery in the grounds of her dairy farm took NVQ qualifications to enable her to take a more hands-on role in the enterprise.
Katherine Farthing told Nursery World that she struggled to find suitable
childcare for her daughter so decided to look into opening her own
nursery.
However, her lack of any official qualifications in childcare meant that it
would be difficult for her to have an active role in the day-to-day task of
looking after the children.
To solve this problem, she enrolled on NVQ courses and has now successfully completed level two and three studies in childcare, learning and development.
This has enabled her to have a more active role working alongside the manager, three full-time staff and one part-time employee.
Ms Farthing said: "The nursery has been a real success … We have had a huge amount of interest in the nursery and more children are joining as the weeks go on."
She managed to secure a £129,000 grant to construct a suitable nursery building on her property.
Her nursery features a pets' corner where children can pat the cows and ponies on the farm, and the environmentally-friendly building was constructed using locally-sourced materials.
It was opened on October 21st 2009 by local dairy farmer Michael Eavis, who is perhaps best known for running the Glastonbury music festival.
Earlier this year, Amanda Morris and Jane Waldon set up the Hadrian Park Play Group after gaining NVQ qualifications in childcare, learning and development, News Guardian reported.
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