Bath nursery forced to close due to lack of staff

Nursery director Amy Parfitt said parents were "heartbroken" at the news

A nursery in Bath said it had been forced to close its doors after struggling to recruit staff.

Amy Parfitt, director of Midford Road Children's Nursery, said long hours and low wages were leading to a crisis in recruitment in early years education.

She said the government needed to increase funding to nursery providers to stop the problem getting worse.

The Department for Education (DfE) said it was investing millions in better training for pre-school staff.

Ms Parfitt said the parents of the nursery's children were "heartbroken" that it had closed earlier after seven years and some have been forced to give up work as a result of their sudden loss of paid childcare.

Speaking to BBC West, she added: "People are leaving the industry altogether, there are other flexible work options which we can't have in early years settings.

"As well as that, other industries are better paid unfortunately because we don't get the support we need from the government with the funding."

Ms Parfitt says she wants the government to provide more support to nurseries

Ms Parfitt, who runs a chain of three nurseries, said recruitment had never been a problem until recently.

"We look after our staff so we have managed to recruit good quality staff," she said.

"At the moment no matter how many adverts we put out we just don't get any applications and the ones that do apply just aren't qualified."

Remaining staff at the nursery will be relocated to the other two sites, but parents have been left scrambling to find alternative provision.

Rachael Waite, whose daughter is at Midford Road, said the closure had been "really hard" for parents.

"(My daughter) settled in unbelievably well - the nursery is great at including everyone and making everybody feel really welcome," she said.

"She's made some really lovely friends since being here and I've met a great network of mums."

Ms Waite continued: "They do so much with the children, they are always out and about doing lots of little trips and everything - she walks miles.

"She's doing lots of walking and lots of outdoor play and staff have just been really creative in getting her involved in lots of different activities."

Ms Parfitt said many parents signed their children up to the nursery when they were three or four months pregnant, while others put a child on the waiting list before they were even conceived.

"On paper it's a perfect business, we should be thriving but we can't recruit staff, the whole early years industry is really struggling to recruit," she said.

"I am not prepared to lower my standards of what I want from the teachers who come in and play with the children every day."

The nursery shut on Thursday after struggling to recruit enough staff

She said staff needed to "professionally love" the children, because "a child won't learn until they feel loved and they feel safe".

Ofsted requires a ratio of one adult to three babies, one adult to four toddlers or one adult to eight small children.

• Staff shortages 'mentally exhausting' for nurseries

• Difficult to fill vacancies says nursery group

• Parents likely to face rise in nursery costs

But changing the requirement would not help, Ms Parfitt said, because "I am not getting the applicants in the first place".

"The government needs to change the funding they give these businesses if we are going to provide a suitable standard of care," Ms Parfitt said.

A DfE spokeswoman said the government had spent more than £20bn in the past five years to support families with the cost of childcare.

She added: "The number of places available in England has remained broadly stable since 2015, with thousands of parents benefitting from this support."

Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [e-mail]