Nursery World - Outdoors - Crime stoppers

Instead of shying away from the problems blighting the housing estate on which it is located, a kindergarten in Hackney turned the space into its own, explains Bettina Sebek

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A growing challenge for inner-city nurseries is the lack of suitable outdoor space. Nurseries have no or very small private gardens to provide a rich and creative outdoor learning experience. And often the limited public spaces available are perceived as unsuitable, unsafe and uninviting for children to play in.

However, our nursery, on a housing estate in East London, has taken a radical approach to inhabiting an underused public space and creating better outdoor learning for our children.

IN THE MIX

Morland Estate in Hackney is a typical inner-city housing estate with a wide social mix of residents. It has apartments that provide social housing, older residents who have lived there for decades and relatively expensive privately owned flats, because it is located in a central and desirable area of the capital.

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