“We want to say thank you”: Burngreave children’s centre celebrates 30 year anniversary
Ahead of Ellesmere Children’s Centre’s 30th anniversary celebrations, we visited the centre and spent some time speaking to its CEO and manager Dr. Sharon Curtis
Established in 1996, Ellesmere Children’s Centre is a multi-cultural, multi-faith and diverse formative learning institution that has been committed to providing an environment focussed on play and nurture.
The Ofsted-recognised, non-profit community nursery and family hub is situated at the site of the former Ellesmere Road School in Burngreave and inhabits the old infant school building, a very impressive building that for many years it was left crumbling and dilapidated, a forgotten relic of education.
For the past 30 years, Dr. Sharon Curtis and her experienced team of multi-lingual early-learning practitioners have been building something very important to its local community, all while revitalising and restoring this impressive building which dates back to 1919.
There’s an impressive scale of work that has been done to the building since then, with the centre taking ownership of the premises in 2018.
“In terms of Burngreave, it doesn’t always get the press that it deserves,” said Dr Curtis.
Ellesmere was founded to ensure that children had a quality service that families could use, with affordability being a key factor.
Often seen as a deprived area, Burngreave is a locality with a wide-range of different cultures, ethnicities and economic elements.
It has been said that the area has been overlooked when it comes to providing educational and support provisions that take into account the richly diverse community and its needs.
This is something that Ellesmere Children’s Centre has aimed to provide wherever it can, says Dr. Curtis.
“I’ve been so proud to be in charge of the leadership when it comes to Ellesemere’s development along with a very supportive and dedicated team,” she added.
The school is not only a place of learning, play, safety and nurture. It is one of calm, thoughtfulness, care and consideration.
Children ranging in age from two-years-old up to 12 attend the children’s centre throughout the week, engaging in a number of activities from music and art to history, yoga, mindfulness and multi-faith and multi-cultural understanding. It’s a place where difference on its many levels is embraced, discussed and positively emboldened.
Dr. Curtis said: “We believe that every child’s unique culture is important and that a sense of belonging is something that we strive to produce.”
Ellesmere is delivering a beneficial and inclusive service to its children and parents, the centre is currently rated as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted and has received this recognition twice already – it was also the first in the area to be rated as such.
Dr. Curtis is very clear when discussing why she set up the centre three decades ago. She said: “I think my inspiration comes from understanding the importance of early years and the development of children in their early years.
“It is our hope that each child is able to flourish to their individual but full potential. We feel that good play experiences are key to engaging in the many facets of the world.”
In addition to the lovingly crafted and vividly appealing classroom learning environments, the centre also has the well-equipped outdoor play area in Ellesmere Garden, complete with toys, playhouses and water pumps to encourage children to embrace the joys of play – complete with a beautiful mosaic mural on the wall.
One of the adjoining buildings, formerly the caretaker's house, has been renovated from the ground up to become ‘The Emosi Centre’. It was created to support children’s social and emotional wellbeing.
On May 2, 2026, Ellesmere Children’s Centre will be hosting a 30th anniversary celebration.
“It’s a celebration of everything we’ve done really well, a celebration of the old and new parents, as well as all of our staff, both old and new,” says Dr Curtis. “For me it’s a way of saying ‘thank you’ to everybody who has come here for being a part of all of this.”
Find out more about Ellesmere Children’s Centre here: https://www.ellesmerecc.org.uk/