Parents have been left scrambling to find childcare after a north-east nursery announced its closure.
Mud Kitchen Nursery in Maud will shut its doors for the last time on July 8 with bosses blaming storms and the impact of Covid-19 leading to a “large financial impact.”
A letter sent out to parents said the decision was “not taken lightly” and bosses said they “have done all we can to avoid closure.”
Aberdeenshire Council bosses are offering support to those affected by the impending closure.
Mud Kitchen Nursery registered with the Care Inspectorate in October 2019 and its last report said it could look after a maximum of 12 children aged from birth to three years old.
Founders Wendy Shaw and Clare Morrice set up the nursery with the idea of offering children a chance to get their hands dirty through outdoor play.
‘We’ll miss kids and families’
Wendy Shaw said she poured her “heart and soul” into the business but they can not continue due to a number of setbacks.
Mrs Shaw said: “We’ve given the Care Inspectorate and council our 13 weeks notice so we can allow families time to find placements for their children.
“It is things like the Covid and the impact of that on staff. We’ve had storm closures as well.
“It is mainly due to personal reasons and my ill health as the manager.
“We are obviously devastated because we have heavily invested in the project since its inception.
“It has been five years to this and we will families and children and it is not a decision taken lightly.”
‘Closure has come out of nowhere’
One parent, who did not want to be named, said they were on the verge of paying a deposit for a space for their two children.
She said: “We were just away to pay the deposit for three full-day spaces for two kids.
“It is not cheap and literally going to be paying within the day. So we are glad we didn’t really in case we never got that money back
“They were just recently going to be taking children from three to five years old and were advertising for more staff.
“Seems that its closure has come out of nowhere. It’s all up in the air.”
Letter sets out nursery position
In a letter sent out to parents, nursery bosses said they had decided to close the doors.
The document said: “I’m getting in touch to share some news with you.
“Unfortunately we have taken the difficult decision to close the Mud Kitchen Nursery. This is a decision we have not taken lightly and we have done all we can to avoid closure.
“Sadly, the business has come under increasing pressure recently and this has impacted on financial viability.
“We have been forced to close on a number of occasions in recent months, due to severe weather and due to staff being unwell with Covid.
“This had a large financial impact on the business, and this pressure has continued to increase due to the rising cost of fuel and food.
“In light of this we will not be able to take any new starts as we have given the council required 13 weeks’ notice of the closure and our last day of operation will be Friday July 8.”
An Aberdeenshire Council spokesman said: “We are sorry to hear of the upcoming closure of the Mud Kitchen.
“Our development workers are providing support to parents and identifying alternative early learning and childcare provision, and the team can be contacted at earlyyears@aberdeenshire.gov.uk for those who have any queries.”
More from the Schools and Family team
Impact of poverty affecting children’s growth in womb
Masks to be encouraged but not required in schools after Easter holidays
CHECK: When will you sit your exams in 2022? SQA publish timetable
