Butterflies pre-school, which caters for 50 children and has a waitinglist for places, was told by West Sussex Council in September to vacateits premises by Christmas, to make way for a pupil referral unit forteenagers who cannot be placed in mainstream schools.
The Old School Nursery, which has places for 41 children and is alsooversubscribed, had been told to leave its classroom at the Arundel C ofE Primary School by July, so the school could take more pupils in thenext academic year.
Following a campaign started by Amanda Barnard-Grove, owner ofButterflies, and parents, the council announced last Thursday that it hadextended notice for Butterflies indefinitely and promised to work withthe Old School Nursery to help it find alternative accommodation.
Ms Barnard-Grove said, 'I am very grateful to the parents for theirsupport. We looked for alternative accommodation but couldn't findanything at such short notice. So we wrote a press release and localnewspapers and radio stations picked up the story. I still want to findalternative premises - I am worried we will be given notice again oncethe fuss has died down.'
Angie Holden, owner of the Old School Nursery, said, 'I do feel moreoptimistic; hopefully a new building can be developed on site at theschool, or children in Arundel will have nowhere to go.'
