Support for campaign to save nursery
HUNDREDS SIGN UP TO BACK PARENTS’ CALL FOR RETHINK
PARENTS campaigning to save their nursery collected 400 signatures in three hours at Bulwell Market.
Once Upon a Time Nursery based at Nottingham College in Basford has told parents they will be shutting their doors at the end of July.
The news has left parents “shocked” and “devastated” and they are now planning to fight the decision which has left them scrambling for a place for their children this September.
They were out on Saturday collecting signatures for a petition and will be holding a protest outside the nursery next week.
Marlene Campos, 42, of Strelley, has four-year-old daughter Amelie at the nursery and is the organiser of the petition which currently has almost 1,000 signatures online and another 800 on paper.
She said: “I am really glad people are coming together to help and support us. We are going to stop this - we are not giving up.
“The staff are amazing and the children love it. I would invite the CEO (John van de Laarschot) to go there and see how happy they are every day.
“One midwife told me she would not have been doing what she does today if she hadn’t had the chance to study while her daughter was in this nursery nearby.”
The local MP Alex Norris is even going to be challenging Theresa May about it at PMQS this Wednesday.
The college nursery - rated good by Ofsted - has 39 registered spaces, so can run 78 half-day sessions for children per week.
A total of 64 children currently attend the nursery, with 14 due to go to school in September and two not returning - leaving 48 children without a nursery at the end of the school term.
Karamjit Kaur, 43, of Aspley, works six days a week in her Bulwell beauty salon Perfect Image and said having a nursery nearby where she can leave her three-year-old, Gurveer Singh, has been a “lifesaver”.
She added: “I was in shock when I heard. He has been going since he was one and he only has one more year to go. I do not have time to leave the salon and find a new place. I am so busy.”
The college has said 13 staff positions are at risk although it is currently “under consultation”. Nottingham City Council councillor for the Basford ward Linda Woodings was helping collect signatures and said: “We think the decision has no logic - the college is 95 percent full and the nursery is making a surplus.
“There are young women in North Notts who are struggling to carry on their studies because they have lost their nursery provision. We will do everything we can to reverse this decision.”
The college has previously told the Post the “difficult” decision was made because of declining numbers of pupils signing on.
A Nottingham College spokesman added: “We are continuing to talk with and listen to affected parents and are supporting them in finding alternative places with one of the many appropriate alternative providers.”