ROTARY ROUND-UP: Rotarians support Kamelia Kids nursery

Members of West Worthing Rotary Club were recently taken on a tour of the Kamelia Kids nursery in Wellesly Avenue, by Dottie, Linda and Rachel, members of staff at the centre.

Kamelia Kids day nursery, one of the club’s selected charities, is for children of all abilities up to eight years old.

The nursery supports a number of pre-school children with a wide range of complex needs (long-term medical and life-limiting conditions) and those with social, educational and additional needs.

It provides ever-improving facilities for all children; with a sensory room and both indoor and outdoor play areas.

The nursery offers 51 weeks with full day care from 8am to 6pm with the provision of breakfast, lunch and after school clubs.

They are Ofsted registered and their last report was graded as ‘Good’.

The nursery is a ‘not-for-profit charity’ and relies very much on donations.

They are permanently trying to source outside help to finance equipment and to enable them to update existing internal rooms with new carpets and decor.

West Worthing Rotary Club has selected Kamelia Kids as one of its charities.

Club members were shown the items that had been bought with a West Worthing Rotary Club donation earlier in the year.

These include a sparkly play foam set, emotion balls, Ruff’s House, a liquid wheel mood change, a visual contrast and sound sensory mat and a mirrored linelite panel that had been placed in the sensory room called, the Buttercup Room.

In another room, the Sunflower Room, was a step or rocking boat, depending on which way up it was, also donated by West Worthing Rotary Club.

The tour was completed with Marie, the baby room manager, showing club members around the garden and the playrooms generally used by the mainstream toddlers, who were quietly munching away at their lunch boxes at the time.

Dottie explained: “Out of the hundred children registered, there are approximately 25 per cent who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). We seek to dedicate our time to provide the highest possible standards of care and education to meet the children’s interests and needs. The safety, personal development and education of each child is our prime objective.”

West Worthing Rotary Club is seeking to develop their relationship with the Kamelia Kids nursery.

It is hoped to use the grant that the club has secured from Rotary District funds to set up a steering committee comprising of club members and Kamelia Club workers.

This will help raise the profile of the nursery in the town and support their fundraising.

As part of this initiative, there are plans to hold a cheese and wine evening at the Kamelia Kids nursery sometime in the not-too-distant future.