Parenting

There’s a nursery in a retirement home and it’s beautiful

What can a 4-year-old learn from a 90-year-old? Plenty, as this London nursery/retirement village is set to prove.
Apples and Honey at Nightingale

Sometimes the world blesses us with something beautiful, right as when we really need a boost.

This retirement home co-located with a pre-school launching in Clapham, south west London is just that.

There’s a lot to consider when you’re becoming a parent. There’s the exciting stuff like painting the nursery, but there’s also the more difficult decisions like sending your little one off to preschool, which one is best?

A nursery like this could make that choice a heck of a lot easier.

The village is run by the London-based charity, Nightingale Hammerson and will include daily programs and activities where the pre-schoolers can play and learn from those residing in the retirement village.

facebook.com/ApplesandHoneyNightingale

It’s not a new concept, in 2015 a nursery school/retirement home made headlines in Seattle in the US.

The Providence Mount St. Vincent care home is still thriving and is home to over 400 retired residents plus a nursery for kids between the ages of 16 weeks to 3-years-old.

The London-based nursery, delightfully named Apples and Honey Nightingale, is assumed to be the first of its kind in the UK. It will operate as a social enterprise and the care home will run as a charity.

Speaking to Nursery World in the UK, Judith Ish-Horowicz, the principal of Apples and Honey Nightingale said,

“It’s been my dream for a long time. Various circumstances got in the way, but I thought now is the time.”

“We believe it is the first of its kind. There are nurseries that have relationships with care homes, but this is the first time I’m aware of when the whole raison d’être is to have daily planned activities, particularly structured for children and residents together.”

She hopes that this model will be embraced by others around the world and we’re totally with her.

Spreading love while learning, could there be a better combination?

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