News, events and schools' information for families across Bath and West Wiltshire

The Hut Nursery & Pre-school in Bath has been nominated for a Play More award for its outdoor play area. Winning the prize will see the nursery provided either with help for playground regeneration or given a mural painted by award-winning artist Joy Pirkle.

Play More was set up by Sudocrem to help deserving nurseries improve their outdoor play areas with financial support or murals. The initiative is designed to encourage parents and children to get back in touch with nature and explore the greatest playground on earth – the outdoors.

As part of the campaign, Sudocrem carried out a survey which asked 200 children between the ages of 4 to 8 years old to identify some of the creepy crawlies in Britain. The survey revealed that 9 out of 10 children (89%) were unable to recognise a butterfly even though there is an abundance of native British insects, with around 27,000 insect species calling the UK home. Moreover, 51% didn’t know what a bumblebee looks like, and, surprisingly, 1 in 3 (29%) didn’t realise that bees make honey.

As part of the campaign, Play More asks parents to nominate a deserving nursery and The Hut Nursery & Pre-school in Bath has been shortlisted to receive support for their outdoor play area. Nominations for the awards close on 31 August, and the winners will be announced in September

Caroline Haworth from The Hut explained, “We are a community independent setting run by a local charity and play organisation. Inclusive play is our ethos and children learn best through play, particularly playing outdoors. We have an outside space at the nursery which originally was designed by children over 15 years ago and it now needs investment and love.

“We are located in the most disadvantaged ward in B&NES and so the support from Sudocrem Play More to improve the outdoor space would benefit those most in need. The outside area is looking tired due to constant use and I know any new addition to the garden will be used extremely well”.

Parents can nominate a nursery by clicking here