A message from the Directors

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed our landscape beyond belief. It has brought huge challenges to every single member of the world’s population. This is a challenge that we have all risen to and whether it is a Key Worker working on the front line treating patients with Covid-19 or a Grandma missing out on cuddles from her grandchildren as she stays home to protect the NHS, or those who ensure they keep 2 metres from other people during their weekly shop,  they have all played their part in beating this pandemic and getting us back to normality as soon as possible.

We as a Nursery Group with seven settings have created one hub at Tynemouth Nursery at Billy Mill to look after Key Workers and vulnerable children from all our settings and indeed any new parents who need our help.

The team at Billy Mill are from all our settings and are doing a fantastic job helping those parents/carers who need our help to carry out their essential duties in beating this pandemic. The staff themselves have become Key Workers and it is fitting that we all think of them with NHS workers and other Key Workers on the now regular Thursday night applause at 8.00pm.

We will continue to monitor numbers and if demand for Key Workers childcare increases, we will deploy more staff to Billy Mill and if demand increases further, we will re-open more settings as appropriate.

We will not turn away any Key Worker or Vulnerable child, there will always be childcare available at one of our Settings.

We chose Billy Mill as it is the most central nursery of all our settings and has good road links to the Coast and Newcastle.

Although in many ways it would have been easier and financially more sensible to close all our settings we had a strong determination to play our part in this challenge and offer the childcare needed to those on the front line. We are more and more certain as each day passes that this was the right decision.

Other nurseries are closed and concerned about their future as government changes in funding and furloughing have had a major impact on their future sustainability.

I wanted to make sure that all our Parents/Carers who are currently ‘on hold’ know that we are a long established company, incorporated in 1999, we are resilient and we have done everything in out power to manage this situation and steer our way through this crisis. We will be here for you when this is over!

Kaye and I are passionate about delivering the very highest quality of childcare. We are having the nurseries checked and ‘serviced’ on a regular basis so we can open very quickly as and when everyone gradually gets back to normal.

If needed we will introduce new settling in sessions and we will do everything in our power to make sure coming back to nursery is as smooth and as stress free as possible.

So we are strong, we are up for the fight, we are determined to play our part in beating this virus and we are determined to be ready for you as soon as you need us and are allowed to return to nursery.

Robert KIlsby B.Sc., A.C.M.A and Kaye Kilsby

Founders and Directors