20 March 2020

With the impact of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak being felt by businesses around the world, we are writing to update you on the current status of our Nursery and Childcare facilities in line with the government’s latest announcement.

As you may be aware, it has been announced that all schools in the UK are to close from Friday 20th March 2020, in the latest response to the Coronavirus (Covid-19).  Nurseries and other Early Years provisions have been asked to do the same. 

In line with the government’s advice and instruction, we regret to inform you that all of YMCA’s Black Country Group’s childcare settings will be affected and as such closing on Friday 20th March 2020 until further notice. These include:

•    YMCA City Tots

•    YMCA Carters Green

•    YMCA Greets Green

•    YMCA Small Street

If a child needs specialist support, is vulnerable, or if parents are ‘Critical Workers’ as defined by the government we will be able to provide childcare for your child.

Please click on the following link for a full list of Critical Workers

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision

If you believe you fit into the above criteria please contact your Nursery setting if you haven’t already done so.

Any parent/carer who require access to the Nursery under the ‘Critical Workers’ category, will need to visit the nursery setting to complete the relevant paperwork, including a declaration form.

We appreciate the impact and upset this change will have on our children, staff and families. We understand that you have many questions, and we are working with the relevant government departments to update you on this matter as soon as further guidance is issued.  

While we understand the issues this creates for working families in any service – we ask you spare a thought for the nursery staff who are to in a vulnerable situation, and ask you respect the government guidelines on this matter and refrain from presenting at any of our settings if your child or any family member are symptomatic.

We would like to thank our passionate and dedicated members of staff for continuing to work hard to provide and maintain a good quality service across all of our childcare settings.

Finally, we ask you to please stay safe and thank you all for your understanding and cooperation during this challenging time and as this unprecedented situation continues to unfold. 

We will continue to provide regular updates on our service(s) as and when received, via our social media channels.

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