Busy Bees still on the takeover trail

It is paying £87 million for the BrightPath childcare group in Canada.

Now it has acquired half a dozen UK nurseries to add to the 334 it already operates.

Busy Bees will now be providing care for over 35,000 children aged from three months to five years

It has acquired four nurseries formerly owned by Bramleys Nurseries: Bramleys Day Nurseries in Ardington, Rockwell House Day Nursery in Wantage, Ladygrove Nursery in Didcot and York House Day Nursery in Salisbury, as well as Toybox Great Denham Nursery in Bedfordshire and Heriot Hill Nursery in Edinburgh.

The four nurseries, which were part of The Bramleys group, currently offer 351 places to children from the age of three months to five years.

Toybox Great Denham, which is an Ofsted rated Outstanding nursery, has been providing exceptional childcare in Bedfordshire since it opened in April 1998 and offers 73 places to children up to the age of five. Meanwhile Heriot Hill Nursery, which was established in Edinburgh in 1988, offers 132 childcare places.

Marg Randles, managing director at Busy Bees Childcare, said: “We have very specific requirements when choosing who we buy. It has to be an environment that allows children to be happy and to thrive. It has to be a place that either gives children the best start in life or where we think we can make it happen.

"We look for great leadership and committed teams willing to strive to deliver exceptional opportunities for children and support services to parents. We can provide support tools and training opportunities expertise in child development, nutrition, health and safety, but staff are the key to success.”

Originally founded in 1983, Busy Bees opened its first nursery in Lichfield the following year. Now based at Burntwood it has 340 nurseries across England, Scotland and Wales and employs 8,000 staff.