This year, we celebrate our 30th anniversary. We sat down with CEO and CBO, Susan and Harry, the mother and son team behind Cherubs Nurseries. We looked back over the past 30 years, recalling memorable moments and discussed how Cherubs Nurseries has managed to stay current, relevant and sustainable since being established in 1993.
Looking back over the past three decades, it’s fair to say we’ve had an exciting but challenging journey. Operating within the early years sector is incredibly rewarding but it is a sector that is constantly evolving. That being said, it is something I have come to love and admire about the sector over the years.
Thinking back to 1993, my partner John (who is sadly no longer with us) and I opened our first nursery, Cherubs Executive House in Bulwell, Nottingham. At the time, we were looking for a nursery to send our first child and nothing matched up to our expectations. Wanting to give the very best start to our family, we decided that the only option would be to open our own. Shortly after this, our first son arrived and would be cared for at Cherubs Executive House. The nursery quickly grew, and we worked hard to recruit the very best professionals within the early years sector. Back in the late 90’s there was still much gender stereotyping and we struggled to recruit male Educators. However, my partner John was a great advocate for this and really pushed to establish a truly diverse workforce. This is something we still champion today and I’m proud of the work Harry has done to be a role model and advocate in the sector, for men in early years.
Pictured above – Cherubs Executive House in January 1993
In 1996, we opened our second nursery – Cherubs Vale View. Not only was this to accommodate the waiting list we had for Cherubs Executive House but it would be the place where my twins would be cared for. Little did I know at the time that Harry and Jonathan would both be integral parts of the business and would really help me continue to develop and grow our nursery group into the business you see today.
Pictured above – Susan with her twins, Harry and Jonathan (circa 1998)
2000 was an exciting year for us. Not only were we celebrating the turn of the century, but we also acquired our third nursery – Cherubs Mansfield Woodhouse. This marked a real turning point for us, as we established ourselves across Nottingham. In 2001, we expanded further and acquired (at the time) Longdale Nursery and Children’s Centre (now Cherubs Longdale). Shortly after, we were recognised by the Nottingham Consumer Choice Awards. This was the first award we had received as a business, and I was incredibly proud to be recognised in this way. Cherubs Longdale was awarded a Silver Award and Cherubs Executive House and Vale View a Gold Award.
Pictured above – Cherubs Mansfield Woodhouse Nursery Photo (circa 2000)
In 2002, I was fortunate to be elected to and join the Nottingham Early Years and School’s Forum. Shortly after joining the Forum we acquired Cherubs Kimberley, previously Kimberley Primary School. Cherubs Kimberley has continued to grow over the years and is now our biggest nursery at 114 places. If you’re looking for a good nursery in Kimberley, Cherubs Kimberley continues to stand out for its nurturing environment and outstanding care. I proudly sat on the Forum for just shy of 20-years before resigning in 2021. I would like to thank the Forum for welcoming me and allowing me to be an influential part of early years across the East Midlands.
A few years passed and I really focused on ensuring that our growing group continued to provide the very best start for all children. When I was satisfied, we started to grow again – acquiring our first school-site nursery, Cherubs Wynndale in 2006. Sarah Savage was the first Nursery Manager for this nursery and has continued to grow with us. Sarah was promoted to Assistant Operations Manager and then Operations Manager. She is now Head of Commercial and Compliance and has been instrumental in establishing the Cherubs Nurseries Academy. In 2006, Cherubs Longdale was the first nursery in the East Midlands to be awarded the (new) Ofsted Outstanding grading. This really was a wonderful achievement for us and cemented the standards that our nurseries continually worked towards and exceeded.
Following our Ofsted success in 2006, we acquired Cherubs Pleasley in 2007. In 2007, we were at 7 nurseries and we again took time to really work on our business operation and ensure that we were in the best possible position. In 2011, we acquired our second school-site, Cherubs Worksop. This marked again our commitment to growth but also working with our communities to provide high-quality early years care and education in accessible locations.
2014 saw both Cherubs South Normanton and Cherubs Ladybrook join our group. These two nurseries made our numbers up to double digits – 10. This growth really allowed us to invest even more into our nurseries and provide an enhanced service to our parents. As a result of this, we were recognised in the first year of the DayNurseries.co.uk awards. Alongside this, Carl Walker won Apprentice of the Year at the 2015 Nursery Management Today Awards. This was our first “big win” at an industry awards and really highlighted the talented team we had and still have at Cherubs Nurseries.
Pictured above – Carl Walker, winner of Nursery Management Today “Apprentice of the Year” in 2015
In this year, we also started celebrating our staff at an annual Excellence Awards evening. Previously, our nurseries had celebrated individually so it was incredible to bring everyone together in this way.
Pictured above – Our first joint group Awards Evening for our team on Saturday 25th July 2015
In 2016, we thought a lot about our brand – as at the time we operated under various nursery names from those we had acquired. It was decided that we would rebrand all nurseries to operate under the established Cherubs Nurseries name. 2018 and 2019 were busy years for us, but equally very rewarding. In 2018, Cherubs Sutton in Ashfield joined our group. We also were finalists in numerous categories at both the Nursery Management Today and Nursery World Awards – in both years. 2018 also saw us celebrate 25 years of Cherubs Nurseries – an incredible milestone at half a century!
Pictured above – Cherubs Worksop celebrating 25 years of Cherubs Nurseries
In 2019, Cherubs Edwinstowe and Cherubs Ruddington Day Nursery joined our group taking us to 13 nurseries. At the time, we had plans to continue to grow with an aim to have 15 nurseries by the end of 2020. Whilst our focus has always been on the quality of our early years care and education, growth has been central to our approach. This is because we understand the effects of good quality care and it’s something we want to bring to as many children and families as possible.
Little did we know in 2019, that the coronavirus pandemic was just around the corner. In March 2020, we started to see and experience the effects of coronavirus. This pandemic was quite possibly the biggest challenge for us as a business and the early years sector. It is something that nobody was prepared for and is something we are still feeling the effects of today. We all came together to support our children, parents and workforce and I am to this day incredibly proud of how resilient we were. What the pandemic did do for us is allow us to really “take stock” and look at how we operate as a business and provider. We took time to make lots of integral business changes and decisions that have been instrumental in our success today. 2019 also saw the commencement of our 5-year refurbishment plan across all nurseries, starting with Cherubs Kimberley and then Cherubs South Normanton and Longdale.
Pictured above – Cherubs Kimberley full nursery refurbishment, completed in 2021
Pictured above – Cherubs Longdale full nursery refurbishment, completed in 2022
Just after a year on, we took the decision to start our growth plans again with the acquisition of Cherubs Day Nursery Mapperley in May 2021. In this year, we also re-defined our Approach and Curriculum – which has now been successfully embedded across all nurseries.
Having a look back over photographs, newspaper clippings and speaking to our long-serving staff has given me an amazing sense of pride and achievement. Reminding me of so many more memorable events and experiences from our 30-year history. Whether that has been our commitment to community life and fundraising or the continual investment in training opportunities and development for our team.
Pictured above – Cherubs Executive House team completing the RNIB Assault Course Challenge on Saturday 4th July 1998
It really has been an absolute pleasure and privilege to lead Cherubs Nurseries over the past 30 years. I would like to take this opportunity to thank every parent and family that has trusted us to be their childcare provider. We never take this for granted and it is a genuine privilege to shape the future generation. Lastly, thank you to those people who have made Cherubs Nurseries a great place to work. Whilst some have chosen to move on, we still have many established team members that have given incredible service to Cherubs Nurseries. From Maria Watson (Nursery Chef) and Amanda Davis (Accounts Administrator) who both joined us in 1999. To Rebecca Lee (Nursery Manager) and Michelle Long (Early Years Educator) who joined us in 2000. It also goes without saying that everyone across the business works so hard to make Cherubs Nurseries the business you see today. As we celebrate our 30th anniversary I am so grateful for every one of them.
I recently put together our 2022 year in review, which looks back over the year that was and outlines our plans and commitments for 2023. You can read this blog post here. Here’s to 30 years of Cherubs Nurseries and even more incredible years ahead.
