Latest news with #nursery
BBC News
9 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
Belfast nursery school shuts due to E. coli outbreak
A Belfast nursery school has closed for a "deep clean" following an E. coli outbreak. The Public Health Agency (PHA) confirmed it was investigating and managing an outbreak of "Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC)" linked to the nursery. The PHA did not name the school but said it had shut voluntarily for cleaning and to allow all staff and pupils to be tested for the infection. STEC symptoms can include diarrhoea, stomach cramps and fever but most people recover within five to seven days. However, a small proportion of patients, mainly children, can develop a serious life-threatening condition which can lead to kidney failure. The PHA said it was "working closely with the nursery to ensure all infection control measures are in place" and was continuing to monitor the situation. It explained "diarrhoeal illnesses can be easily spread from person to person in nursery settings due to the close contact between children and staff".The outbreak was first reported by Belfast Live on Tuesday morning.
Washington Post
26-05-2025
- General
- Washington Post
My rookie mistakes gardening include cursing at the nursery lady
A few years ago, I welcomed spring by cursing at the kind lady working at the local plant nursery. It was entirely unintentional. She offered her assistance while I marveled at a row of hanging baskets bursting with pink and purple ruffled blossoms. Pointing to the plant's tag and care instructions, I asked, 'Would these work well on a porch? The hybrid fuchsia.' Only I pronounced the name in a way that rhymes with plucks ya. Her widening eyes seemed to ask in shock, 'The hybrid does what?' — and then, just as quickly, her face softened with understanding: 'It's pronounced 'few-shuh,' dear. Like the color.'
The Independent
19-05-2025
- The Independent
These trees exist in only one place on Earth. Now climate change and goats threaten their survival
On a windswept plateau high above the Arabian Sea, Sena Keybani cradles a sapling that barely reaches her ankle. The young plant, protected by a makeshift fence of wood and wire, is a kind of dragon's blood tree — a species found only on the Yemeni island of Socotra that is now struggling to survive intensifying threats from climate change. 'Seeing the trees die, it's like losing one of your babies,' said Keybani, whose family runs a nursery dedicated to preserving the species. Known for their mushroom-shaped canopies and the blood-red sap that courses through their wood, the trees once stood in great numbers. But increasingly severe cyclones, grazing by invasive goats, and persistent turmoil in Yemen — which is one of the world's poorest countries and beset by a decade-long civil war — have pushed the species, and the unique ecosystem it supports, toward collapse. Often compared to the Galapagos Islands, Socotra floats in splendid isolation some 240 kilometers (150 miles) off the Horn of Africa. Its biological riches — including 825 plant species, of which more than a third exist nowhere else on Earth — have earned it UNESCO World Heritage status. Among them are bottle trees, whose swollen trunks jut from rock like sculptures, and frankincense, their gnarled limbs twisting skywards. But it's the dragon's blood tree that has long captured imaginations, its otherworldly form seeming to belong more to the pages of Dr. Seuss than to any terrestrial forest. The island receives about 5,000 tourists annually, many drawn by the surreal sight of the dragon's blood forests. Visitors are required to hire local guides and stay in campsites run by Socotran families to ensure tourist dollars are distributed locally. If the trees were to disappear, the industry that sustains many islanders could vanish with them. 'With the income we receive from tourism, we live better than those on the mainland,' said Mubarak Kopi, Socotra's head of tourism. But the tree is more than a botanical curiosity: It's a pillar of Socotra's ecosystem. The umbrella-like canopies capture fog and rain, which they channel into the soil below, allowing neighboring plants to thrive in the arid climate. 'When you lose the trees, you lose everything — the soil, the water, the entire ecosystem,' said Kay Van Damme, a Belgian conservation biologist who has worked on Socotra since 1999. Without intervention, scientists like Van Damme warn these trees could disappear within a few centuries — and with them many other species. 'We've succeeded, as humans, to destroy huge amounts of nature on most of the world's islands,' he said. 'Socotra is a place where we can actually really do something. But if we don't, this one is on us.' Increasingly intense cyclones uproot trees Across the rugged expanse of Socotra's Firmihin plateau, the largest remaining dragon's blood forest unfolds against the backdrop of jagged mountains. Thousands of wide canopies balance atop slender trunks. Socotra starlings dart among the dense crowns while Egyptian vultures bank against the relentless gusts. Below, goats weave through the rocky undergrowth. The frequency of severe cyclones has increased dramatically across the Arabian Sea in recent decades, according to a 2017 study in the journal Nature Climate Change, and Socotra's dragon's blood trees are paying the price. In 2015, a devastating one-two punch of cyclones — unprecedented in their intensity — tore across the island. Centuries-old specimens, some over 500 years old, which had weathered countless previous storms, were uprooted by the thousands. The destruction continued in 2018 with yet another cyclone. As greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, so too will the intensity of the storms, warned Hiroyuki Murakami, a climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the study's lead author. 'Climate models all over the world robustly project more favorable conditions for tropical cyclones.' Invasive goats endanger young trees But storms aren't the only threat. Unlike pine or oak trees, which grow 60 to 90 centimeters (25 to 35 inches) per year, dragon's blood trees creep along at just 2 to 3 centimeters (about 1 inch) annually. By the time they reach maturity, many have already succumbed to an insidious danger: goats. An invasive species on Socotra, free-roaming goats devour saplings before they have a chance to grow. Outside of hard-to-reach cliffs, the only place young dragon's blood trees can survive is within protected nurseries. 'The majority of forests that have been surveyed are what we call over-mature — there are no young trees, there are no seedlings,' said Alan Forrest, a biodiversity scientist at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh's Centre for Middle Eastern Plants. 'So you've got old trees coming down and dying, and there's not a lot of regeneration going on.' Keybani's family's nursery is one of several critical enclosures that keep out goats and allow saplings to grow undisturbed. 'Within those nurseries and enclosures, the reproduction and age structure of the vegetation is much better,' Forrest said. 'And therefore, it will be more resilient to climate change.' Conflict threatens conservation But such conservation efforts are complicated by Yemen's stalemated civil war. As the Saudi Arabia-backed, internationally recognized government battles Houthi rebels — a Shiite group backed by Iran — the conflict has spilled beyond the country's borders. Houthi attacks on Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea have drawn retaliation from Israeli and Western forces, further destabilizing the region. 'The Yemeni government has 99 problems right now,' said Abdulrahman Al-Eryani, an advisor with Gulf State Analytics, a Washington-based risk consulting firm. 'Policymakers are focused on stabilizing the country and ensuring essential services like electricity and water remain functional. Addressing climate issues would be a luxury.' With little national support, conservation efforts are left largely up to Socotrans. But local resources are scarce, said Sami Mubarak, an ecotourism guide on the island. Mubarak gestures toward the Keybani family nursery's slanting fence posts, strung together with flimsy wire. The enclosures only last a few years before the wind and rain break them down. Funding for sturdier nurseries with cement fence posts would go a long way, he said. 'Right now, there are only a few small environmental projects — it's not enough,' he said. 'We need the local authority and national government of Yemen to make conservation a priority.' ___ Follow Annika Hammerschlag on Instagram @ahammergram. ___
BBC News
18-05-2025
- BBC News
Genevieve Meehan: Safety training call after baby's nursery death
The parents of a baby who was killed at a nursery are calling for mandatory safe sleep training to be introduced in all nurseries, among a raft of other safety Genevieve Meehan died from asphyxiation when she was tightly swaddled, strapped to a beanbag, and left unattended at the Tiny Toes nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, on 9 May worker Kate Roughley was later jailed for 14 years for manslaughter. Genevieve's parents, Katie Wheeler and John Meehan, have now launched a campaign to improve safety standards in early years settings, with extra training provided where necessary. The couple have previously described as "horrifying" figures obtained by the BBC that show there were almost 20,000 reports of serious childcare incidents in England's nurseries in the past five latest figures for serious incidents in the year 2023-24 are 40% higher than five years previously. Ms Wheeler said when police reviewed CCTV footage at the nursery following Genevieve's death they "discovered multiple examples of harm being caused to children over a short period of time".The family is now calling for:Compulsory CCTV in nursery settingsUnannounced inspections by Ofsted to be routine in early years settingsReview of CCTV footage during Ofsted inspectionsClear, statutory safe sleep guidance for early years settingsMandatory safe sleep training for all nursery staff and Ofsted inspectors andClear statutory guidance as to the use of sleep products in early years settingsThe family are calling for people to write to their local MPs to support their on their campaign website, Ms Wheeler said: "Like many other working parents, we enrolled Gigi at a nursery. We trusted that she would be kept safe. We never imagined that she would come to harm whilst in the care of trained professionals."The way in which Gigi was put down to sleep carried a high and obvious risk of death. Her death was entirely preventable. "Gigi is not the only child to die in a nursery in the last five years. It is incomprehensible that other families are suffering the same heartache that we are and we want to ensure that no child dies or comes to harm in a place where they are meant to be safe."Gigi deserved to live a long and fulfilling life but instead she has suffered and died in a way that no child or person ever should," Ms Wheeler said."The system failed Gigi and urgent reforms are needed." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
BBC News
18-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Plans to convert house in Stocksbridge into nursery rejected
A proposal to convert a house into a pre-school nursery in Sheffield has been plan would have seen an end-of-terrace house on Smith Road in Stocksbridge transformed into a two-storey nursery for a maximum of 22 applicant had said they wanted to create the nursery to cater for children from birth to four years old because "at present there are no nurseries within the Garden Village area of Stocksbridge".However, Sheffield City Council planning officers rejected the plans on several grounds, including its impact on neighbours, harm to the character of the area, parking and loss of biodiversity. 'Increased demand' The proposal was for the nursery to care for the children over two floors of the property, along with four staff members.A two-storey side extension and a single-storey rear extension were also planned "in order to cater for the proposed number of children", according to the their submission to the authority, the applicant had also stated that plans for the nursery should go ahead because, from September, additional government funding would be made available for working parents with children aged nine months and up, to receive 30 hours of nursery provision."As a result, the demand for nursery places will increase," they said."Stocksbridge is also undergoing an expansion in the provision of houses with planning applications being recently approved."According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a total of seven letters of objection were submitted to Sheffield City Council by people living close to the raised issues with the development, including access, inadequate space for 22 children, traffic and parking.
