ITV Show Featuring The Old Station Nursery to Air Tomorrow
News release
30th May 2012
A prime-time ITV 1 show on the rising cost of childcare featuring a nursery in Gloucestershire will air tomorrow (Thursday 31st May).
The documentary will be broadcast nationwide on ITV Tonight – formerly Tonight with Trevor McDonald – after crews from the weekly current affair series spent a day filming at The Old Station Nursery’s Innsworth setting for their documentary The Parent Trap: Tonight.
The show will look at the struggles parents face when sending their youngsters to nursery, such as managing childcare fees, how parents cope with separation and concerns about how their child will be affected in a nursery environment.
It is estimated between three to four million people will tune in to the episode.
Sarah Steel, Managing Director of The Old Station Nursery, was interviewed for the show. She said: “We agreed to help the television crew present some of the issues around the rising costs of childcare as a chance to help explain how the costs are calculated and perhaps dispel the myth that private nurseries charge inflated fees.
“The filming went very well and the crew seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say on the subject; parents also enjoyed the chance to have their say. I am very keen to see the final version of the show when it comes out on Thursday.”
All three and four-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours of free nursery education for 38 weeks of the year. Nurseries are reimbursed by the Government for the sessions they have to provide, but the cash they receive in return often does not cover the cost of delivery.
This effectively means that parents using the fully paid-for services, such as childcare for under-threes and hours outside the free sessions, are subsidising the ‘free’ places.
Harriet Gill, Assistant Producer for ITV Studios, said: “The media often points the finger at private nurseries for charging inflated fees so we wanted to visit a nursery where the owner could break down the costs for us and explain why the fees are what they are – we were really grateful to Sarah Steel for allowing us into her nursery and for being so open and honest about how the business runs.”
The half-hour documentary will be shown on ITV 1 at 7.30pm on Thursday 31st May.
Ends
Notes to editors
- The Old Station Nursery Ltd was founded by Sarah Steel in 2002 and now runs 13 settings across England.
- To find out more visit www.theoldstationnursery.co.uk
- Find out more about free nursery places at http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/parents/preschooldevelopmentandlearning/nurseriesplaygroupsreceptionclasses/dg_10016103
- For more on ITV’s Tonight programme visit http://www.itv.com/news/topic/tonight/
Cerri Delaney
Shooting Star PR
01522 528540
cerri@shootingstar-pr.co.uk
www.shootingstar-pr.co.uk
t: @cerridelaney
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