The high society artist and the insolvent nursery

‘She never understood that if it wasn't for her staff, if we weren't there, she would never have the money that she has now’

Dear readers — some parents might be breathing a sigh of relief now that kids are heading back to school, after seven weeks of balancing the demands of childcare, work and socialising. And for the younger ones there’s always nursery, if you can stomach the cost. 

Unless of course, your child’s nursery has suddenly announced its insolvency with immediate effect. This was what parents of children at Kids 1st Steps in Burnage had to face six weeks ago, after owner Emma Baxendale suddenly shut up shop. She explained that the unexpected loss of children to school and other nurseries left her with no choice. 

But as parents scrabbled to make other arrangements, some began to wonder if the story was quite so straightforward. Much of the communication around the insolvency didn’t look completely official. And Baxendale’s immediate move to “the other side of the pond” to pursue her burgeoning career — producing art that featured in high society magazines — didn’t look entirely unconnected. In the meanwhile, many parents are still waiting for hundreds of pounds back that they paid upfront in advance fees, and children are struggling with not seeing their friends and teachers again.

So was this a deliberate attempt to take parents’ money and run? Or just a nursery experiencing the sharp end of the high-risk, high-reward business of childcare? We asked Mollie Simpson to try to get answers.

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A mouthwatering festival of flavours at RHS Bridgewater

From today’s sponsor: September is time for enjoying the fruits of the harvest — and RHS Bridgewater have lined up a fantastic Festival of Flavours to help you celebrate. Savour dishes from around the globe, with live cooking demonstrations by renowned chefs such as Andrew Nutter, Ching He Huang MBE, Mary-Ellen McTague, Ben Chaplin, The Little Yellow Rice Co, Eddie Shepherd and more. There’s also loads of tips to help you grow and cook your own food at home, and the chance to try and buy amazing local produce. On top of that, there will be talks on a host of topics including beekeeping and cheesemaking.

The festival is running from the 13th — 15th September and you can book your place here. Activities are included with garden admission — RHS members and under 5s go free.

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Your Mill briefing

🏉 Salford Council has fully acquired Salford Community Stadium — home to the Salford Reds and Sale Sharks — and the surrounding land. “This decision will protect Salford’s unique sporting heritage as the birthplace of William Webb Ellis [the disputed inventor of Rugby],” said Deputy City Mayor Jack Youd. The 50% of shares in the stadium company are understood to have cost more than £2m, and have been opposed at every turn by the local Conservative group, who believe it is a frivolous use of public money.

🚶 A new app has been launched to help people identify safe walking and public transport routes in Manchester. The Walksafe app has been backed by Manchester City Council, and helps share users’ location with family and friends, sending alerts if they don’t reach their destination. Emma Kay, co-founder of Walksafe, said the app is “ideal for students, commuters, runners and just about everyone”.

🏫 30 students from Manchester Grammar School were offered places at Oxford and Cambridge University in 2023, out of 84 that applied, according to figures released by the universities yesterday. It puts it in the top 25 schools for Oxbridge offers. No.1 is Westminster School, where 68 out of 165 were offered places.

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The high society artist and the insolvent nursery

By Mollie Simpson

It was a warm day at the end of July when, according to a former staff member who picked up the call, Emma Baxendale rang to ask for the keys to be left in the office. The nursery — Kids 1st Steps in Burnage — was going through some planned maintenance, she explained. A senior staff member left the keys in the building and everyone headed home around 4.30pm.  

Just after 6pm, they were all informed that they were being made redundant. Later that evening, a message was posted on Famly, an early years education app that helps families and teachers stay in touch, advising parents that the business had entered insolvency and that they would need to find alternative childcare arrangements.

Twenty minutes before everyone else found out, Baxendale called Emma Dawson, the operations manager at the nursery. Baxendale explained that she’d been in a three-hour meeting with HMRC, who had advised her the business was no longer financially viable. “I was in a state of shock,” Emma Dawson says. “She seemed almost normal, as if it wasn’t a shock to her. Usually, you’d be quite upset. But she didn't seem anxious.”

Illustration by Jake Greenhalgh.

Parents Katie and Ben were getting their four year old son ready for bed when they saw the message. “It was like, wait what? I’m starting work on Monday, what am I going to do?” Katie remembers. “We thought, we’re going to have to tell him you’re not going to nursery again, you’re not going to see your friends and your teacher again. For a four and a half year old, that’s quite a hard thing to explain.” His grandparents stepped in to help look after him, and Katie took some time off work, but the couple have lost out on around £800 in advance fees paid to the nursery for August.

Emma Baxendale’s explanation was a curious one. She cited losing 32 children from the nursery, which had caused a loss of £25,000 in monthly revenue, a drop that she called “sudden”. She also seemed to blame her operations manager, Emma Dawson, for “only” informing her about these kids leaving on the 26th July 2024. 

Parents and former staff members instantly questioned the logic — children age out of the demographic of a nursery every year, when they turn four and go to reception at a primary school. A certain number of children leaving the nursery should have been predicted. So what was so different about this year?