Children’s centre comes to the rescue for flooded ‘Tadpoles’ tots

Babies and toddlers whose Kirkstall Road nursery was flooded over the Christmas holidays have been given a temporary new ‘home’ at Burley Park Children’s Centre.

The Bright Horizons Tadpoles Nursery was one of many businesses in Kirkstall to fall victim to the Boxing Day floods which affected many parts of Leeds and saw up to 2ft of water running down Kirkstall Road where the nursery is located. The ground floor of the nursery was badly flooded and is currently unusable.

Staff at the nursery acted swiftly and worked around the clock throughout the festive period; as a result the majority of the children were able to use the top floor of the nursery on their return after the New Year.

In order to help the nursery continue to provide care for the babies and toddlers and to ensure the families’ lives could continue as normal, Leeds City Council’s Burley Park Children’s Centre has offered a temporary home for the remaining children until their building is back up and running.

Nursery Manager, at Bright Horizons Tadpoles Nursery Fiona Stewart, said:

“We acted quickly and we were able to offer alternative childcare arrangements to our parents through the Bright Horizons Back-Up Care programme. We have also been working closely with Burley Park Children’s Centre to create a smooth transition for a handful of our children who couldn’t immediately return to the nursery due to water damage on the bottom floor. These children have been relocated at Burley Park, together with their Key Person and other members of the nursery team, ensuring a smooth transition while they wait to return.

“The safety and wellbeing of our children is paramount and we’re thankful to our parents for their support and understanding. I am so proud of all of the nursery staff who have pulled together to ensure that we continue to provide the highest level of care and education for the children. We are working hard behind the scenes to ensure that the nursery is fully operational very quickly. In the meantime our thoughts are with those families and businesses that have been more seriously affected than ourselves.”

Three members of staff from Tadpoles nursery are currently based at the children’s centre to ensure the young children have consistent care from people they already know.

Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, executive member for children and families said:

“Hundreds of businesses have been badly affected by the floods, but we have already shown that we, as a city will not be beaten. We have a fantastically resilient community in Kirkstall and this is a great example of how we are all pulling together to make sure our community can continue to function.

“We are happy to provide Bright Horizons and the affected families a home for as long as they need our support.”