Majority of childcare settings stay open to children of key workers
Katy Morton
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
A Twitter poll by Nursery World reveals that just over 80 per cent of respondents said their setting is continuing to operate, as they have vulnerable children and those of key staff on roll.
The 24-hour poll, launched yesterday, received a total of 68 votes.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced last week that childcare settings and schools would close to all but vulnerable children and those of key workers which include NHS staff, the Police, those working in social care and in supermarkets from Monday (23 March).
A list of those considered key workers has been published by the Government and is available here.
Once the Coronavirus Bill is given royal assent it will give local authorities the power to keep open schools and settings or close them. The emergency legislation is currently going through Parliament.
Writing on Twitter, Little Angels said, ‘We are open to a few children of critical workers – [the mood is] very positive and happy. [We] have a great staff team (if not smaller than usual), who are ready to help in whatever way they can.’
Nursery owner Rebecca Swindells said they’d had 20 children in.
Julie Lightley (@julielightley), director of the Village Nursery Group, tweeted, ‘All seven settings are open with 8-20 children on average each. The numbers will dwindle as the message becomes clearer.’
Tracey Swaffer (@SwafferTiny) said, ‘We have provided care for 11 children today, with skeleton staff. We are a large nursery school, with 100 children usually every day so it took staff and children a little while to get used to it. We have a child joining us from another setting tomorrow too.’
Sarah Neville, owner of Knutsford Childminding (@knutsfordhildm), tweeted, ‘We are open for children of critical workers – we’ve enjoyed being in the garden all day. Not doing school runs is strange – not having to share the fun is off. Feeling proud we can support people to keep working for now.’
Writing on Twitter, Debbie Palmer, owner of the Village Montessori Nursery in Theydon Bois, Essex, said despite a letter sent to parents about who the setting would be open to from this week, Ofsted rang her to check they were following Government guidance. It was in response to a phone call from an anonymous person claiming that the setting was open as normal.
