The Chepstow area’s longest-running nursery is marking 37 years of providing care and education to local families.

Mathern Day Nursery was established in 1989 by Mandy Gore after she found it difficult to locate appropriate childcare for her toddler son.

What began as a modest village-based provision rapidly attracted growing interest from parents.

Initially, the setting served youngsters from two and a half years upwards, with sessions running from eight in the morning until six at night.

The surge in popularity prompted Mandy to enlarge the premises by constructing an upper level.

This development enabled the nursery to admit babies from just six weeks old, matching the maternity leave provisions that were standard at the time, right through to children of primary school age.

The baby unit reached full capacity rapidly, leading to earlier opening times of seven in the morning to accommodate employed parents.

Over almost 40 years, the establishment has responded to substantial shifts in childcare legislation, funding arrangements, and how families structure their work lives.

Through determined and progressive management, Mandy has transformed the provision into Monmouthshire’s biggest childcare operation.

The company now operates an after-school facility at Dell Primary School and an additional site in Caerwent that commenced operations in September 2019.

Like comparable providers, the nursery has confronted recent obstacles such as reduced birth rates in the post-pandemic period and mounting financial strain as expenses increase faster than state funding.

In response, Mandy has decided to steer the nursery back towards its initial emphasis, repositioning Mathern Day Nursery as a setting exclusively for pre-school age children.

This fresh direction prioritises practical, outdoor and nature-focused education.

With extensive grounds available, young people are motivated to investigate, scale structures, excavate, construct, and cooperate to build self-assurance, self-reliance, and inquisitiveness through genuine encounters.

A nursery representative stated that the team has consistently upheld the principle of fostering a setting where children develop through unstructured play, and that reverting to a pre-school specialism enables them to direct greater resources towards those valuable outdoor experiences that enable children to flourish.

Mathern Day Nursery welcomes all eligible government childcare funding schemes.