Popular nursery to close
A POPULAR community nursery that has been teaching toddlers for 30 years is set to close by Christmas.
Parents whose children attend All Saints Pre-School, in Lobley Hill, Gateshead, were heartbroken to learn in October that it would be closing.
The pre-school is run by neighbouring Hillside Church, but church representatives say it is “no longer sustainable”.
But the families who rely on the school for care say they’ve been left without enough time to make vital alternative arrangements.
Mum Ashley Devine says the loss of the nursery has made it almost impossible for her to arrange getting all her children into childcare in the morning in time to make it to Newcastle, where she is studying, and is even risking missing out on a student placement if she can’t get adequate childcare.
She said: “This is the only place for us in Lobley Hill.
“We actually moved up here to put our boys in Lobley Hill School, but now we’re going to have to take her over to Bensham, I don’t know how we’re going to manage it.”
Laura Innes said: “It’s not just the travel, not all of us have the funds to fork our for new uniform and kit elsewhere, there are costs for moving.”
Grandmother Corrine Draycott must take her other three grandchildren to nearby Lobley Hill Primary School, and says she doesn’t know how she’ll manage mornings when she has to get two-yearold Maisie to another nursery further away. She added that she was “devastated” when she learned the nursery which her granddaughter loves would be shutting. Corrine added: “The church are taking something away from the community and from the children.” A spokesperson for the church said: “Our decision to close the pre-school at Christmas hasn’t been taken lightly and it is with deep sadness that we find ourselves in this situation. “However the fact is that competition from other providers close by, who can offer greater flexibility for working parents, has meant that the preschool is no longer sustainable.”
The church are taking something away from the community and from the children
Corrine Draycott