Home from home, since 1980-something
The Cornerhouse Nursery started with no children at all.
Back in the 1980s, our founder was working at another nursery in the area when she decided to do something braver: leave, and start a nursery built entirely around her own values, the kind of care she'd want for a child of her own. She had a name, a building, and an idea. She did not, yet, have a single family signed up.
Word travelled fast. The parents of a little boy called Michael, who'd known our founder from her previous nursery, tracked her down and asked if Michael could be her very first child. He was.
That's it. That's how The Cornerhouse began: not with a marketing plan or a waiting list, but with one family who trusted a person, not a brand.
Our very first child, and now his daughter
Michael was the first child ever to walk through our door. This September, his own daughter started here.
Michael is nearly 40 now, with a family of his own. He went on to become a senior construction project manager and, among his achievements, has served as Chairman of the House Builders Association at the National Federation of Builders.
His daughter started with us in September and is already settling in.
“Who else would I trust with my daughter?”Michael, when he enrolled her
Here's a photograph of Michael as a child at The Cornerhouse with our founder, Noreen, and here he is again, nearly forty years later, with Noreen, his partner Chantel and their daughter Isabella as she begins her own time here.
Where it all began
A few treasures from our early years, kept safe by the family ever since.
Independent and family-run, then and now
Nurseries open and close. Owners change. Chains buy out family businesses and the name stays the same while everything else quietly doesn't. The Cornerhouse has stayed exactly what it was on day one: independent, family-run, and built around the belief that a nursery should feel like a genuine home from home, not a franchise with a logo.
Michael's family is proof that isn't just something we say. It's something a family was willing to bet on twice, nearly forty years apart.
Learning through play, rooted in warmth
At The Cornerhouse, we believe every child, with their own needs and interests, should be loved and supported as they grow. Emotional security is the foundation for learning, so we work hard to build warm, positive relationships with children and families alike.
Children learn through play, free to explore their interests and develop their own talents. We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage, and we put health, safety, enjoyment and achievement first, so children leave us ready for school and confident in themselves.