Nursery World - Threatened nursery schools unite to fight council review

Parents and teachers from six Warwickshire nursery schools have joined forces to fight a council review which could lead to them being amalgamated with primary schools or being taken over by private providers.

The six settings are Atherstone Early Years Centre, Bedworth Heath Nursery School and Children's Centre, Kenilworth Children's Centre and Nursery School, Stockingford Early Years Centre, Warwick Children's Centre and Nursery School, and Whitnash Nursery School.

More than 100 campaigners demonstrated on the steps of the county council's headquarters last Thursday, prior to the council's last cabinet meeting before the general election in May. More than 400 people joined another protest on 17 April, focusing on Kenilworth Nursery School. A petition to save Kenilworth has more than 1,000 signatures and more than 500 people have signed up to a Facebook campaign page.

The council review in May and June will look at three options for the nursery schools: for the schools to amalgamate with primary schools; to bring in private providers to take over the daycare provision; or to develop nursery schools as centres of excellence, which means that a school would remain a stand-alone nursery school but would develop advisory services and share knowledge and expertise with other providers (News, 15 April).

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