EXPANDING childcare group, Northumbrian Trust Day Nurseries Ltd, has acquired a nursery on Teesside for £250,000.

The Rainbow Day Nursery in Norton takes the number of day nurseries owned by the Newcastle group to four.

Rainbow was established 15 years ago and now employs 14 staff, catering for up to 60 children aged from six weeks to five years.

It is the only nursery in the area to offer in-house training facilities to students wanting to pursue professional childcare careers.

James Gould, director of Northumbrian, said: "We are delighted with the acquisition of Rainbow Day Nursery, which has grown to become one of the most popular children's nurseries in the area.

"The company is hoping to expand its childcare division further and investment into facilities such as the new training suite at Rainbow is a step forward to achieving this goal."