Nursery closure 'sensible decision' - charity

Busy Bees' Leeward Nursery will close later this year

A childcare charity in Jersey has welcomed the way a local nursery has handled staffing problems.

Busy Bees said it would close part of its Jersey Leeward nursery, in St Helier, from Friday 3 October for up to a year.

Fiona Vacher from the Jersey Child Care Trust (JCCT) said: "We think that it's a sensible decision [because] their priority and our priority is about the welfare of children and families".

She said moving the children to other nurseries would ensure they were cared for "in a safe, good-quality manner".

Fiona Vacher said the charity was working to help affected families

The planned closure of Jersey Leeward comes after staff shortages at the nursery earlier this year.

In July, it closed for one day as "a last resort" after months of trying to recruit and train enough staff.

Last month, Acrewood nursery manager Kirsty Haslehurst said finding childcare staff was "difficult" and other nurseries in Jersey faced similar issues.

Ms Vacher said the trust was working to address the sector's workforce problems by training more people and providing support workers for children with disabilities.

The Education Minister reassured parents there were enough nursery spaces in the island

The Education Minister said he was "urgently" trying to understand the situation.

Deputy Rob Ward said his priority was "to ensure all children would continue to access high-quality early years provision."

"There remains some spaces in school nurseries and any parent wishing to consider that option should contact the school in the first instance", he added.

Busy Bees has apologised to the 38 families affected for the inconvenience caused.