Nursery to close for day due to staff shortages

Jersey Leeward nursery said it had been trying "for several months" to find and maintain staff

Seventy families will be affected when a Jersey nursery closes for one day on Friday due to staff shortages.

Jersey Leeward nursery said it had been trying for several months to find and maintain staff at Busy Bees but there were still not enough qualified staff to care for the children.

It said it had been proactive in promoting careers in early years education but there was a national shortage of staff.

The nursery said closing was "a last resort".

"The safety and wellbeing of the children in our care is our highest priority and it is because we cannot guarantee the required staffing levels we have made this decision," it said.

"We appreciate the impact this will have upon our families, especially coming at such short notice and we have apologised to them for the inconvenience this may cause and thank them for their patience and understanding."

Jersey Leeward said it had worked with its sister nurseries to get the extra staff but was "unable to find adequate cover".

"We will continue our efforts to recruit and work with our other nurseries to ensure that we have the staff we need to keep the nursery as a whole and individual rooms within it open," it said.

"It is a legal requirement that we meet all the statutory staff to child ratios and have suitably qualified supervision in nursery to operate, and tomorrow we are unable to do that."