The future of the Arc nursery in Southwark, London, appeared in doubtwhen the Charterhouse-in-Southwark, a local charity that owned thesetting, put it up for sale after running into financial difficulty(News, 21 January).
But parents put together a plan for running the Arc as a charitabletrust, and officially took over the reins last Wednesday as scheduled,after receiving last-minute approval from Ofsted on Tuesday.
The parents, who have formed the Arc Community Trustees (ACT), aim toreserve 20 per cent of the 47 places for vulnerable children or thosefrom low-income families. Southwark council has committed to funding aproportion of the charitable provision and ACT aims to cover the rest ofthe costs through grants and fundraising opportunities.
Karen O'Conner, project manager of ACT whose two daughters, aged threeand one, attend the nursery, said, 'We have had so much support fromlocal residents and businesses, including one law firm who offered freelegal advice. I was surprised by how much help we got from local peoplewho weren't parents, and one of our key tasks will be to try to retainthe sense of community that has built up over the last few months.
'We want the Arc to be a community resource so we are consideringoffering extra services like parenting or extra reading classes forchildren who have outgrown nursery.'