* Imperial College Early Years Education Centre, London, is undergoing major refurbishment to expand from 66 to 110 places. The setting will cover three floors and a lift will be restored for transporting meals.
* Parents at a London playgroup managed to raise 3,000 for a new boiler system in the building by auctioning off their skills. Lots on offer at Playgroup 101 in Hornsey included pledges for babysitting and cake baking as well as a holiday abroad.
* Alveston Cygnets Nursery in Stratford-upon-Avon has achieved an outstanding grade in its Ofsted inspection. The report said children 'have great fun and relish their time at the setting, making independent decisions about how they would like to spend their time', and that nursery staff were 'animated and inspirational'.
* Leatherhead Trinity Children's Centre in Surrey has been rated outstanding by Ofsted. The centre, which opened last September, offers a 44-place nursery, a creche and out-of-school care. Inspectors described the premises as 'scrupulously clean' and 'extremely child-orientated'.
* A Merseyside nursery has been praised by Heart of Mersey, a coronary heart disease charity. Home from Home Day Nursery in Waterloo was awarded a food charter mark for its approach to providing a healthy diet for children.
* Tiny Tim's Children's Centre, a charity that offers free massage treatment to disabled children in Coventry, celebrated its tenth anniversary this month. The centre was set up by the late osteopath Stan Duncombe. It gives more than 3,000 free treatments to children with disabilities and special needs every year, and also offers play facilities, sensory therapy and exercise rooms.
* Little London, a Leeds children's centre managed by the Children's Society, won two prizes at the city's annual architecture awards. The centre designed by Bauman Lyons was praised for the use of slate and was praised for the use of slate and was praised for the use of slate and was praised for the use of slate and stained timber instead of traditional brick cladding.
