WHEN Helen Warinton, a consultant computer analyst and programmer, sought childcare her first born, three month old child, David, she felt all the anxieties which any new mother experiences in the run up to that inevitable separation. Visiting creche after creche, she came away feeling "uneasy", not least because some seemed wary of letting her look too closely.
"Some of them wouldn't let me in the door to the creche itself and would talk to me only in an outside office," she says.
She had wanted a creche because she felt that a childminder, who could cancel the arrangements at a moment's notice due to illness, would be too unreliable. But at the same time, she wanted warm, personal care.
Then a friend told her about Mary McGibney, a childminder who was making the jump from running her own small creche at home, to opening a large purpose built creche and Montessori school, the Park Academy in Cabinteely, Co Dublin, caring for 100 children. "The way my friend put it was that Mary had looked after her children and she would trust Mary with her life and with her kids' lives," says Helen.
The creche opens at 7.45 a.m., boasts a doctor on call, nutritious meals (breakfast, dinner and two teas) and "homely and tender" care for children from the age of three months at a cost of £75 a week. There is also a morning Montessori school (£30 per week for Montessori only). And after they enter primary school, children as old as 10 can join the after school club (£50 per week), which collects the children from school and throughout the afternoon offers arts and crafts, Irish dancing, speech and drama, computers, languages, ballet and music appreciation, as well as dinner and tea.
"A home away from home", is how Helen describes her first impression when she first visited the Park Academy. She was also relieved that the creche immediately offered to fit in with David's individual feeding and sleeping schedule rather than fitting him into theirs.
David became the first baby to enrol in the academy and quickly bonded with Caroline, one of the trained nursery nurses, while Helen relaxed into a state of trust with the creche. "I remember issuing loads of instructions and they were followed to the letter," she says. Not only are they heeded, but every day each parent is given a one page summary of the child's development, eating and sleeping, to bring home and compile into a diary.
Helen also appreciated the open door policy which meant that parents could drop in at any time. (The doors are kept permanently locked for security reasons, but TV monitors by all the doors and in all the rooms mean that staff instantly see, that a parent has arrived and "buzz" them in.)
Helen feels staff at the creche have done more than just fill in for her; they have enhanced David's life by offering him more experiences than she could have at home on her own with him every day, all day. "They have put a vast amount of attention into each individual child. He's never bored. When he was five months old, they sat him up and put a paint brush in his hand," she says.
David is now a "happy and sociable" 17 month-old. "It's such a relief to know he can have an independent life," says Helen. "In the beginning you think he's an extension of you ... but he needs more than that and I like the fact that the creche is like a second family."
Only one year after it first opened, the Park Academy has been named Large Creche of the Year 1996 in Cow & Gate's annual competition. Located in a small shopping centre adjoining a public park just off the Stillorgan dual carriageway, the creche serves parents from all over south Dublin. When picking up or dropping their children, they can also visit the Family General Practice (where the academy's doctors on call are based), hairdressers, drycleaners, video shop and supermarket. Mary McGibney and Mary's business partner Georgina Cobb, former owner of the Gallery 22 restaurant in St Stephen's Green, borrowed a substantial sum from ACC Bank to build the Park Academy from the ground up.
"We want the Park Academy to be the blueprint for creches for the future and by selling these standards what we are saying is that we think that these should be the minimum standards in childcare," says Mary. "I think we give 110 per cent, but that's what everybody should do whether they are looking after children in their own home or in a creche.
"We are privileged to be asked by parents to look after their children. There is a bond, and trust built up which is very important."
The creche building was designed for safety and good hygiene, as well as the enjoyment of the children. Toddlers play in enclosed outdoor areas covered in sports matting. The huge, colourful toddler room also includes a "Toddler's Den", fenced off from the rest with a low barrier so that the children can slumber or relax without fear of being stepped on by other children. Toddlers are taught to wash, brush their teeth and use the toilet in child size washrooms, with pint sized wash basins and toilets.
In the peaceful, sunny baby room, each baby has its own cot, changing and feeding equipment to reduce any risk of cross infection. Four nursery nurses care for nine babies, a nearly two to one ratio which ensures that those in need of one to one attention get it. For toddlers, the ratios are usually about four staff for 14 children.
THE creche's central reception area exudes the smell of fresh baking from the kitchen, where the children's meals are freshly prepared by Mary and Georgina's mothers, who are both mature and friendly. Parents come and go, chatting easily with the staff. Being "parent friendly" as well as child friendly is a high priority for Mary, who says she doesn't mind how often a parent telephones or calls in.
A mother of two herself, Mary gently encourages the mothers to continue breastfeeding their children in the mornings before work and in the evenings after they return (some creches encourage mothers to fully wean their babies) and they are welcome to do this in the baby room.
"We are a back up to mums and dads and that is why there are not a lot of rules and regulations, it would become clinical otherwise," says Mary. "Our philosophy is that if you have back up for parents, you have happy parents and that means you have happy children too."