Sadness’ as Kaleidoscope nursery in York set to close

A YORK nursery, which sacked a whistleblower after she raised concerns about children’s safety with social services, is closing.
Kaleidoscope says that with ‘‘great sadness’’ its City Nursery in The Groves will close this week.

Managing director Jane Middlebrook said Kaleidoscope had run the nursery, in a building owned by York St John University, for 15 years and she thanked all the staff and parents.

Kaleidoscope told The Press it did not wish to comment in detail on the closure, as it had been an ‘‘extremely upsetting time’’ for directors, parents and staff, as well as being unsettling for the children.

It claimed one of the main reasons for the closure was ‘‘adverse and unfair reporting’’ by The Press.

“It has been difficult for us to come back from that,” it added.

Steve Hughes, managing editor of The Press, said it had been in the public interest for the newspaper to report the whistleblower’s concerns.

The Press reported in January how Joanne Todd, a qualified social worker from Stamford Bridge, had informed City of York Council of her worries over a number of issues including hygiene and staff-children ratios.

The company said her employment was terminated because she had not followed its whistleblowing procedures, but Ms Todd later won a claim at an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal.

In April, Ofsted said prompt steps were taken to safeguard children at the nursery after concerns had been raised and said a notice to improve was issued to put appropriate arrangements in place for the supervision of staff and managers who had contact with children.