Sunny Day Nursery in Glendinning Avenue, Weymouth established in 2001 will be closing later this year.
The Sunny Days group currently has three nurseries based in Poundbury, Bridport and Weymouth and over the past 7 years the requirements of child care provision by parents has changed significantly. Several large employers have relocated from the Weymouth area, some have downsized their businesses and many have relocated outside of Dorset completely. This has had a significant impact in the need for childcare in Weymouth.
The weakening of the local economy during and since the recession has meant that the demand for childcare places in Weymouth has been steadily declining.
On the other hand Sunny Days Nursery in Poundbury has been growing over the past 13 years since it opened in 2002, when it was one of the first businesses to open on the new Poundbury estate. Likewise, the Bridport economy appears to be on the upturn so the Bridport nursery is enjoying an increase of numbers of children attending.
David Scadden, Owner of Sunny Days Weymouth said “This is a very sad day for myself and my wife Joy. We started our first nursery in Weymouth in 2001 and it is with great sadness that due to the consolidation of our nursery offer into Poundbury and Bridport, it will mean that we will close the Sunny Days nursery in Weymouth later this year. Many of our parents at the Weymouth nursery either work in Dorchester or live mid-way between Weymouth and Dorchester and we will be working with them very closely to offer places for their children at one of the other two nurseries. The children will be cared for to the same first class standard in Weymouth until they can be safely and considerately moved to their new nursery”.
Sunny Days provides employment for over 85 members of full time and part time staff. The consolidation of the business will mean a number of redundancies across the three nurseries. This number will not be known until the consultation process is concluded by the end of October. The Side by Side training division of Sunny Days will continue to provide first class training to its staff on all levels and it is hoped that the company will retain as many of the Weymouth staff as possible.
