Early Birds 1969-2024

Friday, 25 October 2024, saw Early Birds close their doors for the final time, after 55 years of providing childcare for the youngest generation of Bunbury and surrounding areas.

Mrs Jean Healey decided to start Bunbury Playgroup in 1969 from her home. Proving popular the group then progressed to Bunbury Village Hall where it blossomed and remained for many years, during which time it changed its name to Early Birds Pre-School.

A meeting with Mrs. Todd in 2016 (who was Executive Head of Bunbury Aldersey CE Primary School), encouraged Early Birds to move into the school premises in January 2017. One significant advantage of the move was having a dedicated space with no need to pack away every day!

Countless children have been in our care; we have even seen some return with their own children!  Many happy memories have been made over the years as we have nurtured, cared for and helped children learn through play and be ready for the next step of their education in “big school”.

Many parents have supported us as committee members and trustees, spending many hours organising fundraising events to ensure the children at Early Birds had a vast scope of toys and resources to ignite their imaginations and curiosity for learning.

We have also been fortunate to have had a wonderful array of staff over the years who each brought their own skills and personality to the role. Early Birds was often the first place a child would encounter being away from their parents, so our dedicated staff have always made it a priority to ensure that children felt happy and safe and so soon settled into the Early Birds family, making new friends along the way that often stayed with them for many years.

A new chapter will start for Bunbury Aldersey CE Primary and Nursery School as they open the doors to their Nursery on the 4th of November.

Thank you to you all – children, staff and families – together we created a vital, amazing and nurturing experience that has played an important part in our community and its history.

Leave a comment