To be pissed off at nursery constantly closing at short or no notice?

[AngeloMysterioso]

Not for the first time, I've just received a message from nursery, saying due to sickness they're having to shut DS2's room and I have to pick him up by 11.

I work nights. I had literally just got in bed when the message came through and was about to get 5 hours sleep before picking DS1 up from school. As it is I'll now have to go through until 2am with no sleep at all.

AIBU to be really fucked off that this keeps happening?

Pretend you didn't get the message? 🤣Seriously though after night shifts I'm dead to the world.

YANBU at all. I’d look to switch nurseries - DS2’s nursery went this way and ended up closing abruptly one day as too many staff quit (of course they said it was illness and recruitment shortage but none of the other local nurseries were struggling). Luckily he was about to start school so just had a couple of weeks off! Can’t have been a very happy business. Is there a different option?

That's really poor. I'd be looking for a new nursery. Reliability is very important to me (I've also been a shift worker in the past)

Could you explain you’re a shift worker and it would be dangerous for you not to sleep and could your child be looked after in another room?

In the longer term I’d look to move nurseries as this is not sustainable.

Find a new nursery! We’ve used 5 nurseries over the last 7 years with our 2 kids and this hasn’t happened to us once. The closest we’ve come is the school nursery wrap around once closed an hour earlier, at 5.30 rather than 6.30. But that’s a single incident and didn’t cause any issues at all because 5.15 is our usual pick up anyway.

Not an option, I replied to the message asking if he could go back in his old room for the afternoon (he only got moved a few weeks ago). Apparently they don't have the space.

You need to move him to another setting. There is absolutely no reason they should have to repeatedly close at short notice. As a one off sure shit happens but if this is a regular occurrence then I would be looking to move him asap!

I guess they are running on minimum staff numbers to keep costs/prices down.
But that means as soon as someone is off sick they are stuffed.

Wouldn't they have known this when he got dropped this morning? Am I being stupid?

Very annoying but I suppose there's not much that can be done if they know you've got the message.

YANBU

I'd look for another nursery.

Ime it's unlikely that this nursery is otherwise well run apart from a problem with last minute sickness. This is indicative of wider problem with management.

Apparently they've had to send three staff members home due to sickness. Guess it's just as well I'm not a doctor or a teacher or someone who can't just drop everything to go and pick my kid up. I've genuinely lost count of the number of times this has happened.

In three years of nursery, this never once happened to us even during the Covid years. Definitely look for a new nursery.

That seems incredibly unlikely...

Seriously no one I know who has used nurseries has faced constant closures, I'd be spending the afternoon ringing other settings.

So 3 teachers thought it would be okay to risk going (and making everyone else Ill) in for a couple of hours all to be send home before lunch? Doesn't seem normal.

Just for comparison we have used our nursery for 3 years. In that time they have shut once due to snow making it impossible for staff to get in. They treat staff well so manage to keep them and have a robust policy for cover including the managers who step in regularly with the children.
You need to find a more reliable setting - we absolutely couldn’t cope with that when paying so much for childcare

We've had 2 period of this but due to staff shortages.
Once at the start of 2022 for 6 months - luckily I was on maternity leave with my second so I could accommodate.
And then again in 2023 for a whole year. Eventually the nursery did a rolling closure of one room a day so at least we knew which day every week it would be.
It was all down to the industry staff shortage issues. Where before they would be able to call on bank staff to help recover from staff sickness, being in 2022 they either didn't have any bank staff available or they couldn't get enough staff.

Ultimately you either stick with them or move nursery. We opted to stick it out esp when we got the set day each week so I could find cover (mainly me taking holiday). I didn't want to risk moving to another nursery and then going through the same issues.

That would annoy me too. Our nursery has only ever closed once for a deep clean after 2 DC came down with the same serious illness. This is partly the reason I chose nursery over childminder, because there will normally be enough staff there to cover sickness.

Move him to another nursery. They'll probably close in the next 12 months if they're struggling that much anyway so best to be ahead of the curve. In 3 years of nursery this has never happened to us.

That’s poor. I’d look at another nursery.
We used ours for 7 years between our 2 children and there wasn’t a single incident of this.

It's not good that it's a constant thing.

I've put 6 through nursery and I've only experienced the "please come we're closing for staff sickness" twice (and one of those was food poisoning from a staff meal the night before - entirely not their fault!)

Not teachers. Early years practitioners/nursery nurses. They probably dragged themselves in because sickness is so frowned upon and i doubt they get paid. Then it was realised they weren’t fit to be responsible for young children.

Also most teachers work through sickness because it’s harder to be off sick than work through it…..

I can't believe you put up with that for a whole year!

That’s harsh. Reliability was the reason I chose nursery over childminder, because of work patterns and lack of anything like family support - it was bad enough when my child was ill, having to manage absences caused by other people being ill would have been madness.

I'm genuinely so angry and exhausted I could cry. I was back in bed! I was going to get 5 whole hours of sleep! But no, fucking nursery is closing AGAIN

@PrioritisePleasure24 yes, I realise teachers was the wrong word to use. I just think it's mad that 3 of them all did the same on the same day. Paid or not. It messes everyone around more for the kids to go in for a couple of hours. If they're shut from the beginning at least you know from the get go.