AMID the news that the country is being swept into a new national lockdown, primary and secondary schools were instructed to close - but nurseries are to remain open.

Boris Johnson announced in a televised address on Monday night that nurseries are included in the very limited schooling settings that will continue to operate.

The decision to keep the nurseries open has been met with calls for those who work in an early years setting to be added to the vaccination priority list.

Patricia Gallagher, manager of Beckermet Nursery, said: “It would have been preferable to see the scientific evidence upon which the government has made the decision to ask us to remain open at a time when schools are being advised to close.

“The government is putting a huge responsibility on the shoulders of a sector they have, to date, provided with shamefully little support.

“If early years providers are expected to continue operating, it is vital that government takes the steps to enable them to do so as safely as soon as possible: that means priority access to Covid-19 vaccinations, and the establishment of a comprehensive mass asymptomatic testing regime in early years settings as a matter of urgency.”

This sense of frustration regarding support and a desire to see early years staff given priority access to the Covid-19 vaccine is one that is echoed by other nurseries across the area.

Sam Mills and Andrew Gray, owners of Little Owls Nursery and Mothergoose Day Nursery in Carlisle, said: "As per the last lockdown we have yet again been forgotten and seen as a non essential service. "The lack of funding and support to the early years sector does not go unnoticed amongst early years settings and feelings are running very high on this matter across the country.

"We have always been seriously underfunded but now they are expecting us to still work and support parents to work to help keep the economy going but with little to no support in all areas.

"Running two nurseries in the town we are grateful from a personal level that we are able to keep both nurseries open and that we can keep 22 staff in employment.

"We are also very happy to still be able to support all our parents that still require childcare so they can either go to work or to enable them to work from home as well as provide care to all other children who need or require it for various reasons.

"We can however, see the other perspective that everywhere else is closed to reduce and bring the R rate down yet we are still allowed to fully open to all parents with no support from the government with regards to ensuring our staff safety by allowing access to the vaccine.

"We have been very lucky to date with no cases in either of our two nurseries and we hope this continues with all measures we have put in place.

"We do strongly agree that all staff connected to early years along with teachers should be on the priority list for the vaccine.

"This will ensure that children of all ages can receive the care and education they need and are entitled to and provide the reassurance parents need to be able to send their children back into this kind of environment knowing they are safe."