Nursery to partly close due to staff shortages

Busy Bees said it has temporarily closed part of its Jersey Leeward nursery

A nursery in Jersey has made the "difficult decision" to temporarily close due to ongoing staff shortages.

Busy Bees said it would close part of its Jersey Leeward nursery, in St Helier, from Friday 3 October - and apologised to parents for the inconvenience caused.

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

In a statement, the Busy Bees group said it was closing its Toddler and Pre-School rooms at the Leeward branch - adding it had not taken the decision lightly.

Exhausted all options

The under two baby room will continue to operate as normal at Jersey Leeward, according to the group's statement.

It said: "We have made the difficult decision to temporarily close part of our Jersey Leeward nursery.

"Whilst places are available at our other nurseries for all the families affected by this decision, we understand the impact that this will have and have apologised to parents for the inconvenience caused."

The group reviewed operations at the nursery to ensure it was able to offer a "safe, consistent and reliable care to the families we support".

However, the review revealed it was unable to continue in its current capacity - in line with the requirements of the current legal framework.

It added: "This review centred on the legally required staffing levels to operate and looked at current and future staffing levels, apprenticeship provision (and the time taken to qualify), recruitment trends and continued support for our existing staff team.

"This decision has not been taken lightly and has been reached by exhausting all other options to keep the nursery fully open, whilst prioritising the safety and education of the children."

'Temporary measure'

Divisional director for Busy Bees Steve Goodchild said places for all the affected families and their children were available at its Castle Quays and La Providence nurseries and all its staff would transition to these nurseries.

He said: "We see this step as a temporary measure however at this stage we are unable to provide an exact timeline as to when the rooms will re-open but anticipate this will be within 6-12 months.

"We are now working on a plan to re-open at full capacity through a combination of continued investment in our existing team, reviewing our local support structure and exploring solutions to tackle broader sector issues around recruitment challenges."