Northern Ireland nursery chain wins major UK childcare awards

Northern Ireland’s largest nursery group has won two prestigious UK industry gongs for all eight of its childcare facilities.

Clear Day Nurseries, which launched in 2005, operates in Belfast, Dundonald, Portadown, Glengormley, Lurgan, Lisburn and Bangor, employing over 270 staff across and catering for around 800 children.

Managing Director Audrey McCracken said the nursery was delighted to have been recognised at UK level with the Top 20 Nurseries and Top 20 Nursery Group awards – for a sixth consecutive year.

“We work in partnership with parents and offer quality childcare from a very early age,” she said.

“We believe that every child deserves the best possible start in life and these awards reaffirm our commitment to delivering exceptional early years education. That’s why we invest a lot into the professional development of our exceptionally dedicated team.

“We’re also committed to keeping our nurseries above industry standard and we’re constantly evaluating the practices we have within our nurseries. It’s that combination of people and passion which has allowed us to continue to grow and expand our footprint across Northern Ireland.”

Jill McWilliams, Head of Operations, added that the awards represented “a wonderful achievement for a brilliant team who always go above and beyond”.

“Our ethos is very much about supporting the needs of individual children and this is reflected in the praise we get from parents when they’re reviewing our services,” she said.

“Parents and carers need high quality, affordable, trusted childcare, which is what we strive to provide.”

Business owner and mother Nicole McLoughlin, whose daughter Sienna (2) has a place at Kids@BT9 at Ulsterville Avenue in Belfast, described the nursery as “a home from home”.

“I wanted to know that my child was going to be looked after as well as she would be at home,” said Nicole.

“Sienna has some complex dietary needs, due to a health condition, and we feel that Clear Day Nurseries has really taken that on board,” she said.

“The first months were very difficult but both the communication and the support we got from Clear Day Nurseries was unbelievable and it definitely gave me the confidence I needed to go back to work without constantly worrying about Sienna.”

Other childcare facilities in the group include Little Gems, Dundonald; Greendale, Glengormley; Holly House, Dollingstown; First Steps, Portadown; Clearly Kids, Lisburn; Clearly Kids, Belfast; and Clearly Kids, Bangor.

Clear Day Nurseries is consistently recognised as being in the top 20 day care facilities in the UK.