History

A little background

Sunny Brow Nursery School is housed in the childhood home of Edgar Wood who as an adult went on to become  an architect, artist, craftsman, conservationist and town planner. It is said the building inspired him to become an architect. At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, he had a national and international reputation and was regarded as the most important avant-garde architect in the north of England.

Wood was born into a wealthy Middleton family in 1860. From an early age he had a passion for art and spent hours sketching with his friend, Fred Jackson, who later became an artist. Wood instead trained as an architect, though he viewed architecture as an “art”. He filled his buildings with beautiful furniture, stained glass and paintings, often of his own design or making. Jackson and Wood sometimes co-operated on painting murals for his buildings.

Sunny Brow Nursery School’s history goes back to 1942, when it was purchased by Middleton Council Health Committee for £1,750 as a ‘war nursery. It enabled mothers to leave their children in a supervised environment while they were employed on vital war work.

The initial reaction locally was not encouraging. The Middleton Guardian gave its impressions of the house:

• “There is something solemn about its spacious rooms and corridors and we should imagine that it might be adaptable and suitable for any other purpose than that of a war nursery”.

However, war nursery was the use to which the building was put. In January 1944 it was officially opened with 54 places, and was staffed by a matron, deputy matron, nursery nurse, warden and six nursery assistants, with four ‘domestics’. It opened from 7 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. and took children aged from six weeks to five years.

It switched to the three-to-five-years age-group Nursery School after the war, when government subsidies were reduced and local authorities were required to fund nurseries. The school has continued to provide a service to the local community, from then right through to the present day, and now offers full time (8:45-3:15 daily) or part time (8:45-11:45 daily) for  three year old children  over five days (Term time only)  the year before they are children are due to start in a Reception Class.

TIME LINE 

1860
Local mill owner Thomas Broadbent Wood builds a house for his family, with south facing views, atop a hill, hence its name.

1944
The house became a war nursery.

1946
Opens as a Nursery School for 3–5 year olds.
Headteacher

Miss El-Winkley (1946-1948)
Mrs Whitworth (1948-1969)
Mrs Potter (1969-1987)
Mrs Segabarth (1987-1998)
Miss Butterworth (acting) (1998-1999)
Miss White (1999-2012)
Mrs Cook (2012-2021)
Mrs Wright (2021- present)

1984
The building was devasted by an arson attack.    During the refurbishment of the building children attend Demesne. Local people fought to have the building re-built and was re-opened on 30th September 1985

2000

Outdoor area  developed and the coach house was converted to a Forest School training room

Sunny Brow added Forest School to the curriculum

2016
Sunny Brow Nursery School is 70 years old!