Coronavirus: St Leonards nursery staying open to support children of key workers

On Wednesday (March 18), Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, said all schools would close on Friday until further notice.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in his daily conference, confirmed the closures but said some schools would be kept open with a skeleton staff to provide support for children of key workers, including NHS staff, police and delivery drivers.

However, Little Skaters nursery and pre-school, in Stockleigh Road, St Leonards, said it would stay open to support the affected children – the first childcare provider to publicly announce such a move.

Nick Porter, managing director of Total Childcare Services Ltd, which runs Little Skaters nursery said: “It is essential that we support families during this critical time.

“It has always been our ethos to support working families and key workers. For us, it will be business as usual, until we’re forced to closed.

“We are proud to be the first nursery in the local area to publicly announce that we will do our best, whatever it takes, to support local working families.

“If you’re not already a customer of ours we will take your child anyway. Where possible, we will even extend our service to support others to work.”

Little Skaters can be contacted on 01424 717857 or by email [email protected]