Victoria Park Nursery unveils outside learning centre

The children enjoyed playing in the sun on their new equipment, which includes a timber tower, a beach area and a red train, replicated from the school’s logo.
A ribbon was cut by Newbury mayor Anthony Pick, and head-teacher Fiona Bridger-Wilkinson thanked everyone involved for their support during the project.
She said: “If you look around the play area you will appreciate how far we have come over the years. These facilities will provide the most amazing learning opportunities.”
The project began in 2010 and a charity, The Friends of Victoria Park, was set up to raise money, supported by local firms and parents.
The nursery, which has 147 children on role, received an outstanding Ofsted report in September, and Mrs Bridger-Wilkinson said that the outdoor facilities had contributed to this success.
However, the project had to be delayed when some money was diverted to deal with the cracks and subsidence that appeared in the playground in 2010, shortly after water extraction works were undertaken by Costain to build Parkway’s multi-storey car park.
Other residents also complained about cracks in the walls of their homes and the park’s football pitch was closed because of the damage.
Mrs Bridger-Wilkinson said. “We can’t say why it happened but it did and a lot of the money was spent taking back ground levels and resurfacing, but it gave us the opportunity to develop this project.”
She added that the next phase of the project was to improve the pond area.