Friendly Families Nursery is a Co-DB collaboration with NEF (New Economic Foundation) to co-produce affordable childcare.
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With funding awarded by the Greater London Authority's Good Growth Fund our initial year's work is to deliver an increasingly detailed program of play-based co-production workshops, through which local families, parent groups and nursery staff will completely fit out of the nursery space from the ground up.
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Through co-design workshops Co-DB Play facilitated the process of families coming together to share their ideas, hopes and ambitions for the nursery. This meant that parents and carers have been directly involved in the design and production of overall scheme and key items of furniture including a large external climbing structure, mud kitchen and nature area.
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Co-DB Play and Friendly Families Nursery co-designed the scheme. It reflects their desire for a high quality early years environment that incorporates access to nature and risk taking with a secure nurturing atmosphere that can be easily adapted to meet the needs of children and staff as they change over time.
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The build has been a combination of making in our the workshop in east London and installing onsite through a series of community build days. These community events were open to all the community including older children, partners and neighbours on the estate. They have been a great way to get more people involved as well as an efficient way to get stuff done.
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Working so closely with the families and their young children Co-DB Play have been able to learn from and design directly for the people who the space is for, the kids. By running regular sessions and testing ideas before creating finished items ensures Co-DB Play can embed the observations and learning directly into the fabric of the space.
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It continues to be a real pleasure to watch people use these community events to take ownership over the space and feel empowered to take actions which positively impact the space and other peoples relationship to it.
The nursery plans to open its doors, offering genuinely affordable childcare to local families in January 2020. For more infomation please visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Community-Service/Parent-led-Childcare-on-Albyn-Street-803177360035565 |