The remaining nursery schools in Rochdale, Lancashire, are to have new, specialist remits. One will cater for a small group of children with speech and language difficulties, another will be amalgamated with a social services children's centre, the third will become a community nursery and the fourth will become a specialist second language unit.
Meg Gartside, headteacher of the 60-year-old Brimrod Nursery School, which is to close in the autumn, said, 'It's the end of nursery schools in Rochdale. The parents have been wonderful, they've fought tooth and nail right to the very end. There has been a lot of heartache for the staff and a lot of parents who are upset about the facilities going.
'The primary schools with nursery classes will do their best, but all the research is showing that nursery schools can produce the highest quality. No matter how hard they try, nursery classes can never replace what a nursery school gives. The local authority are selling it on the fact that it's going to be a superb service, but I think they've got a superb service now and they're scrapping it.'
She added that it was 'a mystery to all of us' why this was happening at a time when there was a push from central Government to support nursery schools. 'I think we are at the end of the line,' she said. 'The Government has taken absolutely no interest - we've written and written to Margaret Hodge and David Blunkett and got no support.'
Linda Chatterjea, a parent who has been at the forefront of the campaign to save the nursery schools, said, 'The council never listened. They decided the policy first and then told everybody what was happening.'
She also expressed concern about the loss of teaching experience and expertise, especially at senior level. Of the eight nursery school headteachers, one retired last year and three others, including Ms Gartside, are taking early retirement.
However, Richard Williams, Rochdale's early years and childcare officer, said, 'The Government is proposing a radical restructuring of nursery schools, and that's the route we are following. We are expanding provision in nursery classes attached to primary schools, and our aim is to ensure all our schools provide a high standard.
'There will be a growth in our nursery service overall. There are no savings involved - the council is investing over 1m in new buildings, and the revenue costs will be the same. It's a redistribution exercise. We are bringing in early years advisory teachers. In any change you lose some and gain on the other hand.'
