ONE of York’s universities is set to turn a former nursery which closed last year into an office for its staff.

Kaleidoscope operated its City Nursery from a building in Garden Street, in The Groves, which is owned by York St John University, but the business shut after 15 years in November.

The nursery had previously sacked a whistleblower for raising concerns about several issues including hygiene and staff-children ratios with social services.

The qualified social worker in question, Joanne Todd, later won an unfair dismissal claim at an employment tribunal, Kaleidoscope having claimed her employment was terminated because she had not followed its whistleblowing procedures.

The nursery’s managing director, Jane Middlebrook, claimed last year that negative publicity about the matter had been one of the main factors in the closure. York St John has now applied to change the use of the building into office accommodation for 15 of its staff.