Staff campaign to save Brighton University nursery

The long-established 35-place nursery has provided childcare and education for the children of staff, students and the local community on-site at the campus since 1979. 

However, in January, the university took the decision not to reopen it to key worker children in the pandemic.

Ten members of staff have been on furlough since then, ‘expecting’ to resume their positions firstly in the Spring, and then in September 2021, they told Nursery World.

Last week, however, staff were ‘incredibly saddened, surprised and angry’ to be formally informed by the University Executive Board of the decision to permanently close the nursery, which cited losses of almost £150,000.

Joint deputy managers Emma Holmes and Sarah Ottewell and Chris Randall, early years teacher, along with the rest of the nursery team, have launched a campaign, with support from Unison and parents, carers and the local community, to overturn the ‘unfair’ decision. A change.org petition, launched on 20 April, has already gained over 220 signatures and a campaign has been launched on Facebook, Save One World Nursery.

A spokesperson from the university said, ‘The decision to close the nursery is no reflection on the outstanding work undertaken by the team. Sadly however, One World has run at a financial loss for several years, and this deficit has grown steadily and has now increased to almost £150,000 in 2019/20 following the pandemic. This means that effectively student fees are subsidising the nursery, whilst only a small number of university staff and students are using it.’

The spokesperson confirmed that staff at the nursery had been informed of the implications of the closure and they are now entering a period of consultation. They also said that they found over a dozen nurseries within a couple of miles offering nursery places at ‘comparable cost’.

One World Nursery was closed following the first national lockdown in March 2020, and although it re-opened in September 2020 for 12 weeks, it has been closed again since January.

Pheonix Nursery, Brighton University’s second campus nursery, closed down in July 2020 and nursery staff at One World Nursery were allegedly told that the university was fully committed to a providing a single service with the full support and backup of university departments and marketing.