New nursery may rise from ashes
Catherine Gaunt
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
Aa nursery school destroyed in a blaze during the firefighters' dispute last November could be replaced with a new building on a different site under plans drawn up by Glasgow City Council. Kinning Park Nursery School, which dated from the 1860s and was attended by 80 part-time and eight full-time pupils, was gutted on the night of 26 November in a suspected arson attack.
Kinning Park Nursery School, which dated from the 1860s and was attended by 80 part-time and eight full-time pupils, was gutted on the night of 26 November in a suspected arson attack.
Children were relocated two weeks later. Part-time pupils were moved to an old school building at the nearby Kinning Park Complex, a former school building used for community activities, and children who attended full-time were placed at a voluntary sector nursery next door.
t Dobie, the council's senior education officer for pre-fives, said, 'The initial feeling was pretty awful and it was a horrible time for everyone. We had the choice of splitting the children up across the city or trying to keep them all together in the local area. The children were very resilient and adapted, but the adults took longer to get over it.'
Ms Dobie said the fire destroyed everything, including play equipment and furniture. She added, 'News travels quickly. Some of the other nurseries have lent or given them equipment and the council has bought new resources.'
The council's education committee set out its initial proposals to rebuild the nursery school on a different site at a meeting on 20 February. Parents, carers and school boards are being consulted and must submit comments on the plans by 24 March. Ms Dobie said that the education committee will make a final decision at its meeting on 3 April.
The council estimates that it would cost 1m to rebuild the nursery school on its original site, and plans instead to locate the new premises at the rear of nearby Lorne Street Primary. A report presented at the meeting of the education services committee on 20 February explained, 'The area surrounding the site previously occupied by the nursery has very little housing. The area is now dominated by printing works, factories and warehousing. The isolation of the building meant that it was a target for vandalism.'
The report proposes that the new building should also include space for Clutha Street Day Nursery, which caters for 50 children and is currently housed in a run-down building.
The education committee estimates that to rebuild the nursery on its current site would cost 0.95 million and does not think this is viable. 'This cost would not represent best value of the council's scarce resources,' said the report. The council has a total budget of 1.1 million to build new premises to house both the nursery school and the nursery.
Under the council's proposals, Kinning Park Nursery School and Clutha Street Day Nursery would be run separately but use joint facilities. The council says this would give parents who currently have children at both settings the advantage of 'a one-stop shop service'.
* Additional advice for educational establishments on contingency planning during industrial action by the firefighters is available from the Scottish Executive's website www.scotland.gov.uk/fire.
The national firefighters' dispute is continuing, with the next strike action scheduled to run from 6pm on 20 March to 6pm on March 21. Updates on the dispute are available on the Fire Information Line on 0845 0800 723.
Calls are free and the line is open 8am to 10pm on strike days and 8am to 8pm at other times.
