Latest news with #nurseries
BBC News
10 hours ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Aberdeenshire nursery parents win review but concerns remain
Aberdeenshire Council has agreed to pause the mothballing of four rural were told in April that Ballogie, Crossroads, Glass and Sandhaven nurseries would close at the end of have now agreed to put those decisions on hold while it reviews its guidance around how it consults with have welcomed the move, but said they had lost confidence in the local authority. At a special meeting of the full council, councillors agreed to pause all future mothballing - which means closing premises but keeping them in a condition ready for future use - while a review of guidance was carried the meeting, councillors on the local authority's ruling administration decided not to allow members of the public to give their and parent Lindsay Love told BBC Scotland News: ''We all came hoping to speak on behalf of our communities and we were silenced.'''She said she had mixed emotions about the decision to pause Love said: ''I'm nervous that they are actually going to move forward with integrity. I feel like they're trying to control the narrative now. "We just need to make sure that we're protecting our nurseries and our rural communities as best as we can."She added: "Whilst is it a good thing that they've decided to pause the mothballing, I don't have a huge amount of confidence in them as an institution to do the right thing.'' Council leader Gillian Owen said the council had carefully reflected on what parents had been calling timescale was given for the Owen said: ''I think we're looking at doing a review quite swiftly but we've got to wait for the Scottish government guidelines.''She denied families had been "silenced" by not being allowed to speak at the councillor added: "We've actually made the changes that they want.''They must look at that as an actual celebration, not as a slight.''When the move to mothball the nurseries was announced at the start of the Easter school holidays, it sparked a backlash from local then, families have been campaigning to keep them open, arguing the decision was made without proper Scottish government also wrote to Aberdeenshire Council to highlight the need to consult parents in such week, the local authority's ruling administration said it wanted to pause the controversial plans.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Aberdeenshire Council set to pause mothballing of four nurseries
Aberdeenshire Council is set to recommend pausing the mothballing of four rural local authority informed parents in April that Ballogie, Crossroads, Glass and Sandhaven nurseries would close at the end of this leader Gillian Owen said the council could potentially review its guidance so that it included a consultation process with parents.A meeting of the full council planned for Monday is expected to be asked to approve a review. Mothballing means closing a premises, but keeping it in a condition ready for future use. Last month, Aberdeenshire's education committee noted a decision to mothball the the Scottish government then wrote to the authority to highlight the need to consult parents in such Owen said on Friday: "We acknowledge the strong feelings concerning the four settings and appreciate the concerns of parents who highly value their local early learning facilities."We are trying to balance the needs of children and families, with a challenging financial position - but it is critical we do this in the right way." 'Unusual step' Ms Owen said the council's administration would recommend that planning for all future mothballing activity be paused while the guidance was said: "Whilst we have been engaging with parents, we need to consult at a much earlier stage to inform the decision-making process, and we will explore how to integrate this into the procedure."We are taking the unusual step of announcing our intention prior to the meeting in the hope that we remove further anxiety for the people who have made requests to speak."Aberdeenshire Council said its mothballing guidance had been used successfully for many years to support changes in education in response to local circumstances.
CBC
19-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Winnipegers busy getting their gardens ready
The cool weather couldn't keep people away from nurseries, and many were working on their gardens as the long weekend marked the unofficial start to gardening season.
The Guardian
12-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Changing space requirements for nurseries in England risks overcrowding, experts say
Plans to change space requirements for nurseries in England to enable them to offer more childcare places are being considered by the government, prompting warnings about overcrowding. The Department for Education has launched a consultation on whether early years settings should be allowed to include 'free-flow' outdoor areas within the required floor space for children aged two years and above. Early years experts are concerned that the pressure to create more childcare places to meet the government's funded childcare expansion plans is threatening to undermine quality. In an earlier survey, nurseries said one of the barriers to expanding their childcare provision was physical space, and in particular the indoor floor space requirements set out in the early years foundation stage statutory frameworks. Currently, each child under two requires 3.5 sq metres, each two-year-old requires 2.5 sq metres and children aged three to five 2.3 sq metres. Under existing requirements, outdoor space cannot be included where indoor activity is integral to the early years provision. The government said its new proposals would enable early years providers to increase the number of childcare places they can offer without increasing the size of their building and support the early years market to meet additional demand for places. The consultation said: 'If any changes are made, it is critical to maintain a safe environment for children. That is why we want to hear from as many people as possible to inform a decision on what to do next.' The consultation opened as the latest stage of the government's rollout of its funded childcare expansion got under way. From Monday, all eligible working parents of children who will be nine months old before 1 September can apply to access up to 30 hours of funded childcare a week. The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said: 'Early years is my number one priority, and making sure families are able to benefit from this rollout is a promise made, and promise kept. But this is just the beginning. 'Through the hard work of the sector, supported by our record investment, landmark school-based nursery rollout and focus on vital early learning support, we will deliver an early years system that gives every child the best start in life.' Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Neil Leitch, the CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said: 'While we recognise that some settings may welcome the additional flexibility that would be created by this change, we remain concerned about the impact that such a policy could have on the quality of provision – and in particular, the risk that these reforms could result in overcrowding in some settings if the implementation, assuming these proposals go ahead, is not properly monitored.' Purnima Tanuku, the executive chair of the National Day Nurseries Association, said: 'Even if providers can increase capacity based on space, providers are still telling us that they need more staff to be able to meet local demand for places. 'We need to see a fully costed workforce strategy from the government to ensure that the sector can recruit and retain the specialist staff that we know are needed to give children the best start in life.' The space consultation closes on 11 July.
Times
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
The best 10 geums for a joyful spring garden
Last May I was filming in the floral marquee at the Malvern flower show. The aim was to surprise the nurseryman and grower Roger Proud, of the Cumbria-based East of Eden nurseries, and talk to him about his fab range of geums. I did the classic surprise walk-up from a distance … he would suspect nothing … but he wasn't there! He'd nipped off to grab a cup of coffee. There was a decent queue of people holding plants and waiting to pay. Sadly I didn't know how to use Proud's contactless machine but I managed to stall the shoppers by immediately turning into a second-hand car salesman (it's in my locker), waxing lyrical about the qualities of geums and what a great price
