14 July 2022

Conquest Hospital First Steps Nursery officially opened

First Steps Nursery at Conquest Hospital has been officially opened. The new purpose built facility, provides 56 places a day for children aged 4 months to 8 years, and opened in January 2022.

The nursery offers a fully accessible learning environment for children with enclosed outside play facilities for different age groups.

Children from the nursery celebrating the official opening

Children from the nursery celebrating the official opening

Steve Aumayer, Chief People Officer at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said: “We’re incredibly proud of our new purpose built nursery at Conquest Hospital. The new building, combined with the dedicated team who run the nursery, will enable us to provide first class childcare on site for the families of our hardworking staff.”

The building was designed by HDS Architects using a modular construction, which was assembled on site by our contractor Cheesmur and completed in just under a year. The nursery is at the southern end of the Conquest Hospital site, replacing the previous nursery which was no longer fit for purpose.

The team prides itself on helping children achieve their potential by learning through play, with the nursery being rated as ‘Good’ by OFSTED in all areas, with praise for its well qualified and well trained staff and for the excellent relationship that staff have with parents.

Jacquie Fuller, Staff Engagement and Wellbeing Manager said: “The new building and commitment by the Trust board to secure these facilities for our staff is fantastic. We are committed to supporting all staff in reaching and maintaining a good work life balance. This amazing new facility ensures that, by providing flexible childcare on site, we can meet the demands of the our workforce as well as supporting staff to return to work from maternity leave. The childcare team have done an amazing job of settling into the new building and helping the children to get used to their new surroundings and they love it!”

The new nursery cares for babies from four months to school age, from 7am to 6pm, five days a week offering school holiday clubs for children up to eight years old. Places at the nursery are offered to Trust staff as a priority but are also open to other parents who work for the NHS.