A POPULAR nursery in Malmesbury has confirmed it is closing next month.

K&S Childcare, which has been operating in the town for 21 years, will be closing on August 31, “after much heartache and deliberation”.

Karen Phipps and Steve Paginton, who run the nursery, informed families of the decision to close by email.

In a statement they said: “This is not a decision that we have in any way taken lightly but after much heartache and deliberation, feel that it is the right decision for both ourselves and our family.

“The building and running of our business from its beginnings over 20 years ago has, at times, been all consuming, not that we regret this for one minute but we are now at a point in our lives where we wish to be proper grandma and grampy to our ever-expanding group of wonderful grandchildren.

“We did have a disappointing Ofsted inspection back in April, but had a clear vision and plan of how to move forward from this and how to achieve a better grade at re-inspection in April 2019 and were fully confident that we would do so.

“This aim could only have been reached, however, with a full quota of staff and, after losing key members for varying reasons, we felt that we would be doing a disservice to those left as well as to our children to try and continue.

“We would like to thank our staff for their dedication and commitment and our parents for their overwhelming support but especially the children for the laughter, tears and special moments too numerous to begin to mention.”

The school’s provision based at St Joseph’s Primary School, in Holloway in Malmesbury, will remain as Tykes.

Karen and Steve added: “We thank the school for their continuing support and look forward to taking many of our wonderful staff members to new heights in the care of school aged children from St Joe’s as well as from Malmesbury CE Primary and surrounding village schools at breakfast, after school and holiday clubs.”

Malmesbury town councillor Gavin Grant added: “K&S have been terrific for many families in Malmesbury including helping through Heals‎, the charity I chair.

“I’m really sorry to see them close. They will be missed.”

A highlight of its recent calender years has been the Malmesbury carnival procession, from rats and cats to Minions and trolls.

This year they want to go out with their heads held high, and are asking parents and children past or present to join them in the most spectacular of entries this year. Anyone who wants to be involved should contact Sarah at lewis_sarah_jane@hotmail.com or Hannah at hannahjthompson@hotmail.com