Nursery group Family First continues with expansion plans
Katy Morton
Monday, August 9, 2021
One of the UK’s fastest growing nursery groups, Family First, has acquired its 18th setting.
Family First, which was established by the former chief executive of Asquith Nurseries Andy Morris two years ago, who is chairman of the group, has bought Grace’s Day Nursery, a 73-place setting in Catford, South East London.
With this deal, Family First now operates 18 nurseries across the South of England, offering more than 1,000 childcare places.
In May, the group took on a new chief executive, Ollie Humphries, to oversee its expansion plans.
Speaking on behalf of Family First, the nursery group’s chief financial officer, Mr Craig Grant, said, ‘Grace’s is an excellent addition to the Family First Group. The former owners have built a great environment of care and engagement for the children attending the nursery. Family First will build on this to provide an outstanding environment for all current and future children.’
New nursery group established in North-East
A new nursery group, Nurserytime, has been set up by a Newcastle-based business with the acquisition of three settings in Willington, South Shields and Hebburn.
The deal has been made possible with a six-figure funding package from Lloyds Bank.
The three sites, which are undergoing refurbishment before opening at the end of the month, have a combined capacity of more than 250 places.
Nurserytime’s area manager Catherine Barrow said they have plans to rapidly expand the business and are in the ‘early stages’ of negotiations for a fourth setting.
She explained, ‘We’ve been exploring options to expand our business for some time and decided there was no time like the present to press ahead with our plans.’
Danielle Fraser, relationship manager at Lloyds Bank said that the establishment of Nurserytime ‘comes at a time when the childcare sector is bouncing back from the pandemic.'
