Closures of day nursery spark parents' anger
Parents of children at a Horsham day nursery are upset and angry after what they say have been repeated sudden closures.
They say they have been left in the lurch having to find emergency replacement childcare.
The nursery – Bright Horizons in Broadbridge Heath – was officially opened last September in a new purposebuilt building in Wickhurst Lane.
But parents say that it has announced its closure a number of times over recent months.
One mum said: “They are always closing. I think it’s disgusting how they can be allowed to continue advertising a service they clearly aren’t providing working parents.
"It has got to the point where it is affecting my career. I am a single mum and I have to rely on childcare and they are not providing it.
"It irks me that they are advertising they are a nursery – and they are not opening.”
She said the nursery was ‘great’ when it first opened, and had a limited number of children.
“It is almost like they have got too big and they don’t have enough staff to help them with the kids they have there.”
A spokesperson for the nursery admitted they had faced staff shortages.
“We’re working hard to provide care and education to all our nursery families,” they said.
"Unfortunately, on some occasions over the past few months, due to staff shortages, we have not been able to welcome all nursery children.
"We have apologised to the families who have been impacted and are working to minimise disruption wherever possible.
"The shortage of qualified staff is being experienced across the early years sector and we are focusing on resolving the challenges at our Horsham nursery as quickly as possible.
“We have invested significant amounts into our staff benefits and training to retain and develop our existing team members, created referral schemes for new practitioners and redeployed colleagues where possible to help us return to delivering the care and education that parents can rightly expect from us.”
The nursery was officially opened last September.