Labour-controlled South Tyneside Council proposed last week to shut three nursery schools as part of its School Organisation Plan, which will entail cutting 1,700 primary and 320 nursery places over the next five years. It said falling rolls meant the number of surplus places stood at 7 per cent and would rise to 18 per cent in the next five years if no action is taken.
The council's proposed major overhaul of primary and nursery education, which has been put out for consultation over the next two months, also involves several school closures and mergers.
Jane Cole, support headteacher on the Government-backed Maintained Nursery Schools Forum, said she feared many other councils with budget deficits will 'go for the easy option and target early years provision when they need to make cuts'. Ela Robinson, convenor of the North-East Nursery School Network, and a member of the forum's steering group, added that although falling rolls was 'the real issue', the closure of any nursery schools was 'shortsighted'.
She said, 'Whatever they dismantle now will only have to be recreated in the future and by then the expertise will have been lost. They have a perfect opportunity to use the space in nursery schools to meet the Government's new agenda for young children.'
In a letter to South Tyneside cabinet member Ron Reynolds, Ms Robinson said the council's proposals were 'particularly surprising as the early years minister, Baroness Ashton, has publicly stated that (maintained) nursery schools were at the heart of Labour's policies for young children and she is expecting the new children's centres to be based around the current nursery schools'. She added that a meeting of primary school headteachers had been told that 'early years was not a priority for the authority and that it was ranked on the low priority list along with swimming and transport'.
The Cleadon Park, Wharfedale Drive and Boldon nursery schools are scheduled for closure at the end of August next year.
Margaret Williamson, a nursery teacher at Boldon nursery school, said it faced closure even though 87 children are registered at the 104-place facility. She said, 'I feel there is a hidden agenda. Other schools with many more surplus places have been left alone. The nursery has been packed with children since it opened 24 years ago and it will be a tragedy to the community if it closes.'
Audrey Tennet, headteacher at Cleadon Park, said 50 per cent of places at the nursery school were surplus and she accepted that capacity needed to be cut, but was angry that her nursery now faced total closure. 'I feel this is a missed opportunity and a loss to South Tyneside which has always been proud of its nursery provision,' she said.