During the February half term I plonked myself down for the morning in a social learning space – on the top floor of a business school building at a post-92 university.
I didn’t notice at first, but throughout the morning the space got busier and busier – just not with students. There were a lot of school-age kids. Adults came and went each hour – chatting about deadlines, jobs and classes.
At first I thought it was some sort of visit, or holding space for an event – but the more I listened in, the more it became clear that the space around me was being used as a makeshift creche.
I should be clear, I think, that I’m not suggesting this was a big problem – for me, the parents or the kids. Campuses ought to be much more hospitable to childcare in my view, and there was quite a buzz.
