Parents given less than two weeks notice of Thornliebank nursery closure due to 'staff crisis'

Parents have been given less than two weeks notice to find alternative childcare after an East Renfrewshire nursery announced it would be closing.

Happitots Nursery in Thornliebank will be permanently closing on May 31 due to a staffing crisis.

Nursery operators said they had been unable recruit qualified staff and had “exhausted all other options” before notifying parents on May 20, less than two weeks before the anticipated closure date.

The centre is run by Thrive Childcare and Education, who have 48 nurseries across Scotland under different brands.

The nursery said it will aim to identify potential spaces for children affected at its other nearby sites, based near Glasgow Airport, Robroyston and Garrowhill.

A spokesperson for Happitots Nursery Thornliebank said: “We are sorry we have had to take the extremely difficult decision to permanently close the nursery at the end of May.

“We realise the impact this will have on families, our staff and the local community and have only done this after exhausting all other possible options.

“Like many other nurseries in Scotland and indeed across the UK, we have faced recruitment challenges, at all levels, where we have been unable to recruit sufficient qualified staff to continue to provide the safe, high-quality care and education our parents rightly expect.

“We appreciate the short notice will be problematic for parents and are working with them to identify an alternative nursery place at our other nearby settings.

“We will also be contacting other local providers to see whether they can provide any other spaces.”