College nursery rescued from closure

From 1 September, the management of the Goldsmiths College nursery, University of London, at New Cross will be transferred from the college to the Students’ Union.

The nursery will re-open for families of staff and students after refurbishment on 12 September.

Last summer the college gave three months’ notice that it intended to close the nursery in September, which it said had been operating at a loss of £70,000 a year.

However, during the past year, the protest against the closure of the nursery gathered force with the support of students, college staff and the union Unison. MPs Simon Hughes and Joan Ruddock also backed the campaign.

It led to the college’s senior management team agreeing to keep the nursery open for a year without admitting new children to register and a working party was set up to consider childcare support at the college.

Campaigners led by the Students’ Union drew up a business plan with the help of the nursery management team to show that the nursery could become a viable business.

In order to operate so that the nursery breaks even, fees, which had not been raised for two years, have risen from £50 a day to £53 a day for both staff and students.

The college has also agreed to set up a £40,000 a year hardship fund to support students with funding towards childcare costs.

It is expected that most students will be eligible for funding, which will be available for help with any registered childcare, not just for students using the college nursery.

The nursery will operate for 45 weeks a year and open from 8.30 to 5.30. The Students’ Union has decided to close the nursery during three weeks in August when the number of children attending drops and many staff take annual leave. Staff will take their annual leave during the weeks that the nursery is closed, to save on the cost of employing agency staff.

As part of a longterm plan to secure the nursery's future, the college has also agreed to co-fund a new building for the nursery after five years, which would allow it to expand and offer places to the community.

The Students’ Union said it intends to fundraise to raise its share of the capital for the project.
Nursery staff were given the option to re-apply for their jobs and transfer to the new employer, the Students’ Union, or take redundancy.

New and existing staff including a manager, deputy, senior early years educators and early years educators will start work on 5 September.

James Haywood, the incoming Students’ Union president, said, ‘We’re all delighted with the outcome as this was a priority campaign for us this year. While it was very much a team effort we wouldn’t have achieved our goal without the leadership and hard work of Bindz Patel, last year’s GSU president.’

He said that he hoped that the campaign, which won the Student’s Union runner-up as the NUS campaign of the year, would help encourage others fighting nursery closures.

Denise Bertuchi, assistant national officer for Unison, Education and Children’s Services, said, ‘This is a major victory for all the parties involved in campaigning to retain on-site nursery provision.’

The union had helped negotiate redundancy for their members and said that they were pleased with the college’s decision to allow nursery staff to make their own choice about whether to transfer to the Students Union or take redundancy, depending on what was best for their individual circumstances.

A spokesperson for Goldsmiths said, ‘After a year-long investigation by a working group which spanned across the whole institution, the Students’ Union decided they would take over the management of the nursery. This new move includes establishing a College fund for students with childcare responsibilities, regardless of whether they use the nursery or not.’