When Farah Kawal opened her own nursery, aged just 22, she had just four children under her care. She said some parents were surprised that the new Bordesley Green nursery was owned by someone so young.

Two years on, having overcome the difficulties of launching during the Covid pandemic, Toddler's Den is now at full capacity, caring for up to 45 children at a time. What's more, Farah has reopened her childcare centre as a space for people in the community to enjoy at weekends.

It's already been hired out for birthday parties and events. And she has won Apprenticeship Connect award - for helping to inspire and train young people just like her.

Read more: Nans launch stay and play group especially for grandparents and their grandchildren

“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster!" said Farah, now 24. "We have grown so much in the past couple of years. At half term, there were only three or four children in and we said do you remember it was like this when we first started?

“Now we are at full capacity, taking up to 45 children a day. Most mornings, we have 20 children in the preschool room, 12 in the toddler room and five babies. We have some lovely feedback from parents on Day Nurseries and Google Reviews. It’s nice to see how appreciated the staff are. We’re like a little family and everyone is very happy and I think that's what counts."

Listen to Farah talking about how to help your child settle at nursery on the Brummie Mummies Podcast:

Toddler's Den is in a former community hall on Towpath Close. People's comments about its history got Farah thinking about how she could give back to the community.

"The building was a community hall before I took over and a lot of people said they used to use it back then so I thought why don’t we give it back to the community at weekends?" said Farah, who works closely with her manager Christine. "We clear the hall and put out tables and chairs and people can hire it for birthday and engagement parties, baby and bridal showers.

"It’s lovely because it brings the community back in here again and people really like that. We’ve had some great parties, including one where the people had horses in the car park for a birthday party! We have more bookings throughout the summer too."

Having opened in July 2020, Toddler's Den enrolled its first apprentice in 2022 and was named Newcomer of the Year at the 2023 Apprenticeship Connect Awards in London in March. Judges said the nursery had 'shown outstanding dedication' to the development of its apprentices, through tailored training, additional resources and opportunities for specialist training in epilepsy and physiotherapy.

"We’ve taken on two apprentices, aged 19 and 20, and they have now achieved their Early Years Educator Level 3 in childcare," said Farah. "It’s been amazing to see them start their learning journey and continue to grow and develop.

"Initially they were quite shy doing activities with the children so it’s been great to see their confidence grow. They are so confident with the children now. Just seeing them makes us so happy and it was great to get the award in recognition of that. They are looking to carry on their journey by getting jobs at the nursery which is great. We’d like to take on more apprentices going forward."

"For me, as a young nursery director, it’s important to be supporting young people, I like to grab the chance to support anyone who wants to continue this learning journey. We have an amazing team so they are very well supported. I was determined to start at a young age and I 100 per cent see it in them.

"We have 10 members of staff and we're looking to employ more. We have parents asking for more slots for their children so we need to take on more staff so we can have the capacity for more children. We had our first Ofsted inspection in October and we got a Good rating so we were really happy with that. It felt like a real achievement."

Find out more via the Toddler's Den Facebook page and by listening to Farah on the podcast. You may also like to listen to our sleep podcast with Night Ninja Lisa Lamb and pre-school activity ideas podcast with former teacher Ruth Lue Quee.

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