I have a 50-place nursery in a new building on a school site in Birmingham and also offer out- of-school care and holiday play schemes. At the moment a children's centre is being built at a school nearby. I have been invited to all meetings prior to the start of building and have asked questions concerning fees to be paid by parents of children attending. I have been assured that all places at the centre will have to be paid for by parents and will only be available to parents accessing further education or re-training. I am still uneasy about this, as the state nursery at the same school takes children free full-time.
There must be a level playing field for all early years settings, including finance, staffing ratios and inspections. We need to be able to pay staff more without continually having to increase our fees. As a private business we cannot access funding to subsidise places for needy children in nursery and are competing with organisations charging subsidised costs of 1 per day!
I have run this nursery for 13 years, and it has grown from 20 to 50 places. The personal reward is great, but the financial remuneration is very little for a lot of hard work.
Hazel Tristram, Hollyfield Pre-School Nursery, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands
