Habla is the brainchild of Jenny Birch who subscribes to the theory that bi-lingual children fare better educationally and socially than those who speak just one language. Tony McDonough reports

Merseyside’s first Spanish-English bi-lingual nursery has opened in Wirral.

Habla, in Salacre Lane in Upton, is the brainchild of entrepreneur Jenny Birch who subscribes to the educational theory that bi-lingual children fare better educationally and socially than those who speak just one language.

It is only the second bi-lingual nursery in Merseyside, the other being a Cantonese-English kindergarten in Liverpool’s Chinatown.

Half the staff at Habla will be native Spanish speakers – the other 50% are English speakers. 

All primary schools in England were required to teach their pupils a second language and Ms Birch, who lives in New Brighton, believes her nursery will give kids a head start. She is already talking to her own four-month-old-son Joseph in Spanish.

She explained: “British people are notoriously poor at learning a second language because English is already a world-wide tongue. We’ve traditionally thought ’why bother?’.

“Many top educationalists are convinced that children who speak more than one language develop educationally and socially much quicker than those who don’t.

“Children are far more able to cope with two languages than adults.”

Habla is based in the former Wendy House nursery and Ms Birch, who speaks fluent Spanish, has set the facility up in partnership with her mum.

She added: “I’ve set this up with my mum who’s worked in primary schools for more than 25 years and we’re both passionate about the benefits of a bi-lingual culture from an early age.

“We’d love to meet as parents who are keen to learn more about our new nursery and answer any questions – in English and Spanish if necessary.

We’re not putting up our fees, either, so they’ll be fixed at the same level as the previous nursery in Upton and we’ve no catchment area – our new nursery school is for children anywhere in Wirral.”