Where are they now?

Good morning, readers — welcome to today’s edition of The Tribune.

Late last year, we tried something new — a round-up edition providing updates on several of our previous stories — and it went down a treat. Members told us they appreciated us taking the time to make sure loose threads didn’t get dropped, so we’ve decided to make it a semi-regular part of what we do. 

Today we’ve got updates on the forest nursery that failed to impress Ofsted, the ongoing bin battle of the unions at Veolia, and we’re answering the question: how concerned should we really be at the bad news coming from Sheffield Council’s finance department? Let us know in the comments if there are any other Tribune stories you’d like us to return to in future.

Beloved nursery closes after all

In April, The Tribune reported on the threatened closure of Middlewood Nature Nursery — a Scandinavian-inspired “forest school” where children spend almost all of their time outside — after it received an “inadequate” rating from Ofsted. With only a month’s notice to find new nurseries for their children, Middlewood’s owners told parents the damning Ofsted report meant Sheffield Council would no longer fund the places of children eligible for free childcare and that their business could thus not afford to continue. However, after huge uproar from parents, Middlewood Nature Nursery agreed to stay open and Ofsted agreed to reinspect.

Unfortunately, though Ofsted’s second report has not yet been published, the nursery has made it clear the inspection did not go well. On 4th August, a message appeared on the internal app it uses to communicate with parents, explaining that the nursery would, once again, be closing at the end of the month. 

Forest Schools Education founder Sarah Blackwell wrote, “with deep regret,” that it was apparent that the council would not be able to resume funding childcare at Middlewood after the new Ofsted report. “Although we have continued to provide care for all the children currently enrolled, we have absorbed the financial impact over the last six months. However, without any new children joining us for a further six months, the situation becomes untenable… We have no option but to transfer all childcare to Kenwood Nature Nursery, subject to availability.”

A parent of a child at Middlewood told the Tribune that staff at Middlewood had also been offered jobs at Kenwood Nature Nursery, owned by the same company. However, as far as she was aware, no staff had accepted this offer. In her view, both staff and parents have been let down by the nursery’s owners. “It was so hard to keep the nursery open, we really put ourselves out on a limb,” she said. “I became a full-on Karen and I hated myself for that. I suspect the owners felt backed into a corner by us and, if they’d had their way, they would have just let it die.” Middlewood Nature Nursery has been contacted for comment.

The note from Sarah Blackwell adds: “Although I firmly believe that Middlewood offers outstanding childcare, we have continually met resistance to the forest school ethos at our much-loved setting. Sometimes, regrettably, we must accept that some forces are too big to push back against.” She added: “I would like to thank Sheffield City Council for their support over the last six months. The council has gone above and beyond what’s expected of them and has backed the nursery every way they could.”

Is bankruptcy beckoning for Sheffield Council?