All nine of Early Years Childcare nurseries in London and the south-east remained open as staff made their way to their nearest setting, as set out in the chain's contingency plans. Parents were sent texts informing them that the nurseries would be open and a message was displayed on EYC's website. General manager Kate Peach said, 'We are a service industry and have a strong responsibility to have thorough plans in place to ensure parents can get to work as normal. In this situation it's all hands on deck.'
Sydenham Children's Centre in Somerset was open as usual, thanks to two members of staff who were able to walk from their homes to the centre. Fewer families visited the centre and staff rearranged sessions to suit those who did turn up.
The London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) also opened all its settings and carried on as normal.
Busy Bears Children's Day Nursery in Durham remained open and an extra special effort was made to grit the surrounding roads and paths the weekend before. About 60 per cent of the children attended the setting and staff even offered to sleep at nursery if they couldn't get home or stayed with friends who lived closer.
Emma Graham, manager of Busy Bears, said, 'As part of our contingency plans we have increased the number of staff with keys, but as owner and manager I always ensure that I am there to open up regardless of the weather, and forward-plan and watch the weather each day.'
Kerri Bishop, a childminder from Southampton, had to look after one of the children she cares for overnight as his parents were unable to fetch him. For the rest of the week only one child who lives locally was able to attend.
Ms Bishop said, 'As a childminder I can be extremely flexible in the activities and outings I arrange, so while I don't have a contingency plan in place, everything we do is adaptable for the children who are there at the time. This weather is forecast for a good couple of weeks, so I have also added a snow risk assessment to my file and started making plans for an ongoing garden igloo project.'
On the forum
Readers having their say on the Nursery World forum led a debate about staff ratios in such conditions. One contributor expressed concern over keeping her setting open with fewer practitioners. 'I don't want to run the risk of opening as usual with staff not making it. An EY consultant that we are connected with mentioned that Ofsted is unlikely to have an issue with the odd one or two staff down under the circumstances, but I don't really want to fall foul of that,' said Raramoo.
Another poster, Janny, said, 'Our setting remained open during the heavy snow last year with a ratio of 1:4, so only the first 20 children could stay. Parents were OK with it.'
Denise 85 said, 'Yesterday we closed early and today we are closed. Most parents understand that we need to think of the safety of our staff and ensure that they get home safe. We refund our parents on the days we are closed or give them a day in lieu. When we have snow like this we rarely have more than ten children come in, so really it's not worth the hassle.'
