Hawley Green Day Nursery

The reycling collection left glass on the road in Hawley Green today. We have swept up the big pieces but still finding small sharp slithers of glass on the road. Please dont walk your dog in the coned off area while we wait for it to dry so we can see what still needs collecting to make the road safe again.

The Department for Education have published their reasons for keeping Day Nurseries open whilst closing schools in the current lockdown. However, Nursery Operators will have to make their own commercial decision as the take up of places has fallen as Parents stay at home and take back their childcare.

DfE reveals reasoning behind its decision to keep nurseries open The Department for Education has shared with NDNA its rationale behind keeping nurseries open to all children but closing schools to most pupils.

Whilst Santa has been exempted from COVID travel regulations in most countries for his 1 night world home deliveries, this year is his biggest challenge. In England, his deliveries are allowed under current Coronavirus guidance for home deliveries. However, advice has been given to Santa recommending he minimises contact wherever possible and have single workers load and unload his vehicle. Concern has already been expressed concerning Santa's Occupational Health risks in a paper published in 2015 which put him into the "at risk" COVID category. Santa's backup workers are facing a logistical nightmare bigger than Amazon in getting all the presents in the right locations before the night whilst minimising any health risks to Santa as he travels worldwide. We have heard that local fulfilment locations staffed by Santa's socially distanced helpers may be setup to meet this year's challenges. We have offered the Day Nursery as a suitable location for their use. There is no risk to local airports as we understand that Santa has CAA airspace approval as he flies higher than controlled airspace and any risk of mid-air collisions are minimised by the reindeers whiskers and sense of smell whilst briefly transiting controlled airspace. Sleigh flights are therefore possible from our location, so if you see any abnormal activity in the area before Christmas, particularly at night...............

The occupational health of Santa Claus Previous publications in the field of Santa studies have not focused on health and safety issues arising from Santa’s workplace activities. However, it should be acknowledged that unique occupational hazards exist for Santa Claus. Major occupational ...

A lot of people are walking past with time to ask questions. Thanks for the compliments on how nice the building looks. Top question " is that real or synthetic wood cladding? The timber is Siberian Larch finished factory finished with Sansin SDF Driftwood stain. When it first went on, the stain was very strong and looked like the bold colouring of the cement based cladding boards. This has begun to soften in the sun and the wood grain is now showing through. This process will continue and the natual ageing grey colour of the timber will develop. Why Siberian Larch and not British? British larch is grown quickly and used for sheds and fence panels. Siberian timber grows slowly in the cold, producing a close grain plank much heavier than the quick grown. It has more of the properties and weight of a hardwood. The planks are attached by hand nailing with stainless steel nails, no gas powered nail guns! The planking lines were setup by laser to ensure that the start met with the finish when the line had been all round the building. All this work was carried out by Stuart Farmer, who many of you will know. The cladding was supplied by Silva Timber Products who were the only company I could fnd that could supply with a factory applied stain finish, saving a lot iof site time. Silva are going to use the building as a case study once the landscaping has been completed.
https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-siberian-larch.htm
https://www.ribaproductselector.com/Docs/6/26446/external/COL305288.pdf

www.ribaproductselector.com

Nurseries are staying open for key worker childcare but are doing it at their own expense

Around half of nurseries staying open for key worker families Around a half of nurseries in the UK are staying open for children of key workers and vulnerable children, a survey by the National Day Nurseries Association suggests.

We may have 3 weekend storms this year, but the same time last year we were fighting snow and ice and risking overhead head pump pouring of the concrete casing of the steel foundations. The road was still sheet ice when the lorries arrived!

We Care About Children campaign has been launched by over 360 childcare providers. OFSTED reported that over 500 childcare settings closed each month between April 2018 and March 2019 with a disproportionate number closing in deprived areas. The reaon is that government "free place" funding doesnt cover costs, so Nurseries can only offer a % of their places as "free place" to achieve an overall viable business. In deprived areas, this mixed funding cannot be achieved and Nurseries cannot operate at a loss.

We Care About Children We care about children is a campaign to support and develop a professional early years sector for the benefit of all children.

Are all stairs the same? The stairs have been installed during 1st fix. These were manufactured off site by Multi-Turn. The stairs are 2 flights for little developers to take a break on their travels. They are wider than domestic to allow someone alongside them and the rise of the steps shallower to match little legs. 2 wall hand rails at different heights will be installed at 2nd fix. Straight wood spindles will be used on the other side rather than glass on the advice of nursery operators - something to hold onto and no need to constantly clean off sticky finger marks!

Its been a while since the last update on progress, but a potential security issue meant that it was unwise to show anything until the building was fully secured. Some people commented that it looked like work had come to a halt and this impression was intentional! The externals have now been fully completed with roof, cladding and doors and windows all fully installed. Considerable progress has been made in parallel internally with 1st fix nearly completed including electical and fire alarm wiring. The plumbing design has now been approved 2 months after submission and the necessary piping is being installed. For those that have missed the "reveal" after the scaffolding was removed and all the windows and doors had been installed, here are some pictures while the sun was still out!

Went off site over lunch time today. This is what I found hiding when I got back, made out of off cuts of cladding and battens. If its a bird table, then the rest will probably quietly appear tomorrow followed by a possible relocation to Quebec Gardens. All product enquiries to Stuart Farmer directly please!

Halfway through adding the timber cladding and 2 questions are frequently asked. 1. Is it synthetic? No - its Siberian Larch. As it grows in cold conditions, it has a tight grain due to a much slower growth than UK grown larch used for fencing and shed cladding. The weight of the wood is noticeably heavier than expected and more like a hard wood. 2. What colour are you going to paint it? The wood has been factory finished in driftwood colour SDF satin sealer from Canadian company Sansin. This is a low maintenance finish designed to let water escape to minimise the risk of rot. Over time, the cladding will change colour as the natural grey of the larch appears. The cladding is attached using stainless steel nails to avoid staining of the wood from rust.