CHILDREN'S NURSERY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22976, 2 March 1938, Page 7

CHILDREN'S NURSERY

PROJECT IN LONDON I RECLAIMING A STREET The very last word in nurseries—a veritable wonder nursery —is not, as might bo imagined, in the home of some millionaire. Forty-two lucky babies from .a London slum are to enjoy all the facilities it has to offer for a small cost to their parents of Is 3d a week. The brains of famous child specialists, writers, architects, and artists have been pooled to help give these little ones a happy, healthy place in which to spend their days. The scheme is part of the St. Pancras House Improvement Society's project to reclaim Litcham Street, Kentish Town, which once used to be described as London's "Worst Street." Large blocks of very attractive flats for workers have been erected in Liteham Street, and it is on the roof one of these that the children's "Fairy Tale House" has been built. The nursery's real name is Sherborne Nursery School, but among the children who have been living, many of them under conditions far from satisfactory, and the parents who are enthusiastically welcoming this good start j in life for thrur Rabies, the more romantic name is likely to be generally used. The colo ir schemes employed throughout the nursery are beautiful—sufficiently gay to appeal to the eye of a young child, but most harmoniously blended. Colour and design were considered of great importance, for the society holds the belief that beauty has a powerful influence on the development of children's minds and imaginations. Some of the delightful features of the place are a "jungle-gym," where the children will exercise in the most exciting surroundings—paddling pools, sand pits, flower beds, indoor play and classrooms, a model kitchen for the preparation of meals, delightful washrooms with miniature furnishings, and an observation room, in which will bo temporarily isolated any cases of suspected illness. All this on a roof! The walls of the roof garden are of unbreakable glass, set in concrete, so that the children can play in perfect safety "on top of the world." Another ingenious piece of architecture provides for a "floating floor" of pavement on rubber; this will prevent any noiso penetrating to the flats beneath. The children are not to be hampered by constant injunctions to "Be Quiet!" 1