mind the innocents
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Next to west London's THT Lighthouse HIV centre is one of the only two
specialist HIV children's nurseries where positive parents can get full-time
childcare support. (The other is the Mildmay Hospital's nursery in east
London). Prince Charles opened it as the Brian Shaw Children's Centre last November.
On my visit, I nearly trip over a young boy of about three who is trying to force-feed a big furry gorilla (posing below) a large piece of Lego roof - without much success. Other kids pile sand from a small sandpit into containers with holes in them, so sand
can leave a lovely mess all over the floor.
Several staff members are discussing the week's timetable: "Let's
do Meccano and magnet blocks first, then something with dolls and fishy
things later, and maybe a bit of science and cooking tomorrow..."
As a registered nursery, they must follow the Early Learning guidelines.
"We look after, on average, 10 children each day," says Angela,
one of the staff nursery officers. "Most of the kids are about three
to four, but we do have some very young ones - from three months to one year old. It depends on the age of the group as to how many staff
are
