How GNRC came about
Greenway Nursery was registered with Ofsted to start in September 2003. It occupies a purpose-built classroom block with a large enclosed garden on the campus of what was Greenway Junior School, Horsham, and consists of two large double rooms and a central hall, together with foyer, store room, sleep room, toilets, and storage areas. In 2012 Greenway School converted to Academy status, and subsequently became part of Castle Trust. The links between Greenway Nursery and the Academy have strengthened over the years and have become collaborative and cordial. In consequence, two years ago, Greenway Nursery opened its Rainbow Club, offering Wrap-Around Care (namely Breakfast Club, After-School Club, and Holiday Club) to the pupils not only of the Academy (Years 3, 4, 5 and 6) but to those of the nearby Trafalgar Infant School (Reception and Years 1 and 2). In the case of the Infant School, we operate a free-of- charge “walking-bus” scheme, taking the younger children to their school, only 200 to 300 metres across the Recreation Ground, after their Breakfast Club, and collecting them at the end of the day for their After-School fun and activities. We now have some 70 children on roll in our Nursery, aged between 2 and 4 years old, some attending only a few sessions each week, others full time. We are registered with West Sussex County Council to offer the statutory 15 hours per week of free nursery education to all children in the term after their 3rd birthday, and also the 30 hours per week of free nursery to those working parents who qualify. Furthermore, in our Rainbow Club we now have about 120 children on roll, some attending only once a week, others nearly every day. Average daily attendance at Breakfast Club is 55, average daily attendance at After-School Club is 56. Two of the directors of Greenway Nursery & Rainbow Club (GNRC Ltd) are qualified teachers, and all staff at both Nursery and Rainbow Club are experienced and suitably qualified. We opened a Wrap-Around Childcare facility, Rustington Funstars, at Rustington Community Primary School, near Rustington in September 2018 and Beachstars April 2021. Although based ‘in-house’, so to speak, they will be very similar in most ways to our Horsham-based Rainbow Club, offering the same range of fun activities both before and after the school day to the children, and providing a much needed service for local parents.