Parents have been left frantically trying to find alternative childcare after The Little Treasures nursery in Pinchbeck closed unexpectedly.
Little Treasures Nurseries also operate in Spalding, Holbeach and Kirton, and it is understood that those three are unaffected by the closure on Knight Street in Pinchbeck and remain open as usual.
Families were reportedly only given short notice about the closure at 6pm Wednesday, March 2. Lincolnshire County Council was informed late afternoon on March 2 that the nursery would close overnight and not reopen for business on March 3.
Lincolnshire County Council is working with the provider to signpost parents to other childcare where available, but it has left many parents frustrated with some having to stay home from work to find a solution. Some local nurseries have also tried to offer support.
Jo Kavanagh, assistant director for children’s service at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “This was an unexpected closure, and we are working with the provider to signpost parents to other childcare where available.
“In addition, we have contacted other local childcare providers and Ofsted to explore the possibility of creating additional places in the area.
“We understand that this is a difficult situation for the parents and can assure them we are working hard to find a solution.”
Concerned parents can contact the early years and childcare support team on 01522 552752.
Little Treasures Nurseries Ltd is owned by director Miranda Beba, according to Companies House.
In March 2021, Ofsted published a summary of outcome from a regulatory visit to the Pinchbeck nursery in February last year.
All early years providers must meet the legal requirements in the statutory framework for the early years foundation stage.
On November 12, 2020 and January 5, 2021, Ofsted received concerns that “this provider was not meeting some of these requirements”.
After carrying out a regulatory visit on February 16, 2021 Ofsted found the nursery was not meeting some of the requirements.
As a result, Ofsted issued a notice to improve to the nursery. The notice requires the provider to take certain actions within a timescale set out – by March 8, 2021.
In the summary of outcome, Ofsted said: “We are satisfied that the provider has taken the necessary steps to meet the actions raised. They have restocked all first aid kits to ensure the contents are suitable and in date.
“Fire safety requirements are now complied with and all staff are now trained in food hygiene. The provider has reviewed the staff to child ratios to ensure these are always adhered to.”
Prior to this inspection, the nursery was inspected on March 14, 2017 and given a ‘good’ rating at a time when it had 35 children on its books.
The Lincolnite has contacted the nursery via email as the phone number was not reachable, with a constantly engaged tone. At the time of publishing, we had not received a response.
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Nominations are open for schools and education settings to be recognised in the 2022 Lincolnshire Education Excellence Awards.
The event is organised by Stonebow Media, publishers of The Lincolnite, to celebrate the best school and teachers in Greater Lincolnshire.
The headline sponsors making the awards possible are Lincoln College Group.
Twelve categories are now open for nominations. The deadline for nominations is June 3, with a judging lunch scheduled for June 7.
Nominations are open from parents, carers, friends, families or education settings themselves, so if you know someone who deserving of winning now is the time to vote!
The awards ceremony will be held at the Engine Shed on July 7.
It’s been a week since the controversial statue of Margaret Thatcher was installed in Grantham’s St Peter’s Hill.
The £300,000 bronze monument immediately caused a stir and debate from both supporters and opponents of the first female Prime Minister of the UK.
Within hours of its 7am installation last Sunday, it had already been egged by a man later revealed to be 59-year-old Jeremy Webster, a deputy director at the Attenborough Arts Centre at the University of Leicester.
Mr Webster’s mother-in-law recently described his actions as “childish”.
Quoted in the MailOnline she said: “Margaret Thatcher lasted a long time in power. She was a trailblazer as the first woman prime minister and she had such energy, even though I know she slept very little.
“I’m very surprised to hear about all of this [egg throwing]. I’m going to have to call my daughter. I wouldn’t have thought Jeremy would be the sort of person to do this. It seems very childish to me – he has a responsible job.”
There have been reports of other antisocial behaviour taking place including people urinating up the statue, but investigations into these are yet to be confirmed by officials.
Away from the statue itself, others took to social media to react to the new monument.
Twitterer @BolsoverBeast thought Mr Webster’s actions should be expanded as a way to… get more people involved?
I think it would be a good idea to put Thatcher’s statue on a low loader and tow it slowly around the country so that we all have a chance to throw something at it. pic.twitter.com/uftMqr0LgR
— Chloe Schlosberg (@ChloeSchlosberg) May 19, 2022
Some called back to the fate of other statues
@Irritatedllama called back to the fate of slave trader Edward Colston who was thrown into the Bristol Harby in June 2020.
It's absolutely disgraceful that people are throwing eggs at the Margaret Thatcher statue in Grantham! We need to deploy a taskforce to give it jolly good wash!#Granthampic.twitter.com/RKftKUls4u
It wasn’t long before a parody account of the statue was set up on Twitter – nor before “she” was interacting with other parody accounts.
It was awful. I could see almost all of Grantham
— That Statue of Thatcher (@thatcher_statue) May 18, 2022
A… positive view?
There were supporters of the statue, however, Darren Grimes from GBNews was one of the few popular posts calling on people not to “give in to threats of petty vandalism”. He later posted the statue should be in parliament – where it was previously rejected from.
I honestly think Margaret Thatcher would have found this first round of petty vandalism of her statue to be utterly hilarious.
The statue looks absolutely glorious.
Almost a decade on from her passing, she’s still winding them up!
Some, like @Jonnyhibberd were more measured in their response.
I don't see a problem with a Thatcher statue and I also don't see a problem with people throwing eggs at it. Thatcher is an important part of our history, and so is what a lot of people thought about her.
— Jonathan Hibberd 🇺🇦 (@Jonnyhibberd) May 18, 2022
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