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I’m a working mum of 3 and my youngest attends Oakfield YMCA dartford where both her older siblings attended. The nursery is at full capacity and the children thrive there. 

On Monday 20th March, out of the blue we all received an email to say they were closing the nursery down due to government funding and the children’s last day would be Friday 31st March, not even 2 weeks notice. 

To say we are all devastated is an understatement. The nursery is next to a Primary school, where a lot of the older siblings attend including mine, so with only 2 out of 6 terms left, other nurseries within distance of the Primary school are all full. This means my daughter and many others are left with no nursery to attend between April and July. 

This is such an important time for them especially those starting Primary school in September. Not only are they missing out on learning, but also social skills with their peers and building their characters in the school environment ready to transition across. 

It saddens me greatly when mums are encouraged to go back to work and are told the government are doing all they can. When in truth it appears to be the opposite, as the nurseries are underfunded. KCC is constantly adding new housing, where will these children go when the nurseries they have are closing down and they can’t even accommodate the children already here. This along with the bad planning of the YMCA to decide to finish before the end of the academic year with unacceptable notice, makes no sense when provisions should have been made to ensure they could reach the summer holidays, now leaving these children with no where to go. 

Myself and the families of children at the nursery have contacted the MP/council and want to do all we can to see if we can get some help and this decision reversed till at least the summer holidays, so the children can see out the school year and everyone (parents and staff) has a chance to make thought out alternative arrangements if nothing can be done to save it going forward. 

If anyone can help in anyway and could share this post so we can raise awareness it would be greatly appreciated by many families, we need all the support we can get, so please help our babies save their nursery �

#YMCA #nursery #school #saveournursery #dartford #children #education #GOVUK