Buxton nursery in shock closure after 25 years

Staff at The Willows have been saying final goodbyes to children and parents as the nursery prepares to close its doors for good on Friday April, 1 after 25 years.

The shock closure comes after Ofsted inspected the Park Road nursery earlier in the year and deemed it inadequate with several safety failings.

This has resulted in the funding which is available to parents to subsidise costs of sending their child to nursery being removed.

Manager Helen Connolly said: “This rating is not fair and not a true reflection of the nursery and the standard of care we offer.

"We knew being rated inadequate would put future parents off so we would lose money but when they said our funding would be going we knew parents wouldn’t stick with us for the six months it takes to be reinspected.

"So we came to the very sad decision that we didn’t have any option but to close.

"It’s not how I thought we would be saying goodbye to our families and I’m heartbroken.”

In the report inspector Lora Teague said: “Children's safety and welfare are not assured. Staff do not supervise them well enough, particularly when moving around the building during daily routines.

"Staff and managers do not understand safeguarding procedures and children are not safe when they are sleeping.”

However Helen said: “At the request of some of our parents they ask for their children to sleep in a pushchair at nap time but Ofsted think we aren’t putting the children’s safety first which is so wrong.

"This is our first rating lower than a good since we have been open. We have staff members with 20 or 25 years service here. We are an institution in Buxton and even have children who came here bringing their own children here now.”

Since the funding was withdrawn, the nursery has been making up the money lost for a month in order to give families a chance to find another setting.

Helen added: “Thank you to each and every child we have looked after over the years, it really has been a pleasure.”

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