Families and staff 'devastated' after Wellingborough nursery closes overnight leaving children locked out and in tears

Children, parents and staff at a well-respected Wellingborough nursery say they are ‘devastated’ after the pre-school announced its closure.

Welcome Nursery, previously Little Champs, in St John’s Street, was taken over by Harp Group in August and rebranded The Willows Children's Day Nursery.

Yesterday evening a call came through that the nursery was to close with immediate effect, with 50 families told via a message on the ‘Family’ communication app.

Tom Jones collected his three-year-old son from the nursery 10 minutes after a phonecall saying the business was closing had been received by staff.

He said: “At 5.50pm I arrived to pick up my son. They had been told at 5.40pm. They were in tears. To be clear, the staff are just passengers in this. They have diligently looked after our children.”

A message sent to parents and carers by Jill Woolliscroft, regional manager, said: “It is with deep regret and sadness that I write to you today to inform you that The Willows Children's Day Nursery will be closing its doors on Monday, November 7, 2022.

“This decision has been made due to the heating system no longer working and becoming a health and safety issue.

“We pride ourselves on providing high quality care and education for all our children and this is something we want to maintain across all our nurseries.

“Our nursery manager, Clare, will contact you shortly to discuss the collection of your child's belongings.

“We hope you understand the decision was not made lightly and we apologise for the inconvenience this will cause and the upset this will bring to our children, parents, and staff.

“We understand that this will come as a shock to you, and we apologise for the short notice and any frustration or inconvenience caused.”

This morning, the gates were locked, although a delivery of milk had been left on the doorstep. Some parents and staff turned up at the gates to be greeted by a member of North Northants Council’s public order team and Mr Jones, who has organised a Facebook group to keep parents informed.

He said: “I’m one of the lucky ones. I can work from home, my boss will be accommodating. I have already seen one parent who has just started a new job in customer services and is on probation. She’s afraid she will lose her job. Quite a lot of parents’ jobs will be in danger. That’s 12 direct jobs lost and others that are affected.

"We paid £700 in advance – the message said nothing about that. Our children’s belongings, their caring relationships and their friendships sit in that building.

"We’ve had a couple of parents turn up this morning with children and left crying.”

Staff, parents and carers believe that the nursery will be closed permanently but have yet to have anything in writing.

Harp Group MD Richard Boulton apologised in a message seen by the Northants Telegraph blaming a condemned central heating system after a gas engineer had visited yesterday. Other ‘health and safety’ issues had also been uncovered that need ‘rectification’.

An unnamed member of staff said: “Of course we’re devastated and we are devastated for the families. I can’t imagine what they are supposed to do.”

This newspaper is awaiting comment from the nursery.