Integrated pre-school at risk of closure after council cuts its funding

Lewisham Opportunity Pre-School (LOPs) needs to raise at least £15,000 by Christmas to be able to stay open until the end of the academic year.

Rated as outstanding by Ofsted, the fully inclusive pre-school provides care for a large percentage of children with disabilities and learning difficulties.

Lewisham Opportunity Pre-School, which relies on donations and money from Lewisham Council, saw one of its funding streams specifically for children with additional needs cut in June.

However, when Nursery World asked Lewisham Council whether the pre-school’s funding had been withdrawn, Lewisham Council said there had been no funding cut.

The pre-school will continue to receive money through the council’s Community Sector Unit Funding (CSF) up until March 2014.

A Lewisham Council spokesperson said, ‘In July 2011, we awarded the Lewisham Opportunity Pre-School three-year grant funding. This funding is secure until March 2014. We have been advising them of ways to diversify their funding base and improve their long-term viability.’

Lewisham Opportunity Pre-school was opened in 1981 and is registered to care for 25 children aged two - to-five, including those with disabilities and learning difficulties.

The setting, run by a volunteer management committee, employs 13 staff.

Parents, who have set up a Twitter page-@SaveLOPS to raise donations and campaign against the closure of the setting, have received the backing of Labour MPs -Joan Ruddock for Lewisham Deptford and Heidi Alexander, MP for East Lewisham.

Barry Keevins, whose son attends the pre-school and is fighting against the closure of the setting, said, ‘Lewisham Opportunity Pre-School is a very well run setting. There are only a handful of pre-schools in this country that are integrated and have such high adult to child ratios.’

Mr Keevins went on to say that he suspected Lewisham Council had cut the pre-school’s funding because of plans to sell the Ladywell Leisure Centre, which the setting backs onto.

Parents are now trying to organise a meeting with Lewisham Council.