Willow Tree nursery at the City of Bristol College will be operated byMama Bear's Day Nursery, which has seven other settings in Bristol, from1 July, after the college decided that it could no longer subsidise thefacility. At one time the college ran four other settings but three haveshut because they were operating at a loss.
Tony Driffield, commercial director of Mama Bear's, said, 'Parents havebeen paying for childcare in a creche fashion - at an hourly rate ratherthan in blocks. That is unsustainable. We have a flat fee structure andcharge market rates. For some parents it will work out cheaper and forsome it will work out more expensive. If we were not taking over thenursery it would have had to close.'
The new rates, from 1 August, will be 26.50 for a morning sessionand 27.30 for the afternoon. But if parents need care thatoverlaps these periods they will have to pay a daily fee of 47.60.
A statement by City of Bristol College said, 'Willow Tree Nursery issubsidised by the college, which means it is using money that wouldotherwise be used for teaching our students. We can no longer justifythe use of funds to provide a service that is mostly used by parents whoare not among our students or staff.'
Greg Evans, whose 13-month-old-daughter attends Willow Tree, said, 'Shegoes to nursery from 9.15 to 4.15, which means she straddles bothsessions and the cost to us will increase by 300 a month. We hadtwo weeks' notice that the nursery was to be taken over and only onemonth's notice about the fees. My wife is going to have to go back towork full-time and some other parents have told us they will have togive up their studies or jobs because they cannot afford theincrease.'