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58
A study day on the subject of play was organised for all nursing staff. The
nursery nurses exhibited creative work done by the children and toys which
could be made from a variety of things which would normally have been thrown
away. Two of the staff gave an excellent talk on the use of junk as play
material for the under 5's.
In recent years it has become increasingly difficult to obtain cooks for
work in day nurseries. A good cook is of the utmost importance since she relieves
Matron of much worry. Having been without a cook for three months in one
nursery, it was decided to try using frozen foods. This meant a less highly
skilled person was required in the kitchen and domestic staff could be reduced.
The foods have been most successful, and enjoyed by both children and staff. The
variety and palatability as well as nutritional value are excellent. Night cleaning
was extended and is now in operation in five nurseries. This avoids the problem
of having the floors cleaned whilst children are at the nursery, as well as meeting
the difficulty of recruitment of suitable domestic staff.
Apart from students, there was several hundreds of visitors to nurseries
during the year. These included people from overseas, health visitors, nurses,
midwives, and speech therapy students, teacher trainees, schoolgirls, potential
playgroup leaders. Help was given to several students doing projects on children
under 5. The year ended with Christmas parties in all the nurseries, which were
made to look most attractive through the enthusiastic efforts of the staff and
the children, and the parties were very much enjoyed by all.
DAY NURSERIES
Nurseries maintained by the Authority or by
Voluntary organisations under Section 22
of National Health Service Act 1946