Nursery school closure row

Kelsall Avenue Nursery School in Blackburn has been locked in a nine-month dispute with Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council over plans to move it to the site of a new children's centre without a formal public consultation.

Diane Sleigh, chair of governors, said, 'The council made the decision to move the nursery school in June 2005. But it has repeatedly refused to hand over any evidence of its three-year consultation, despite our demands for details under the Freedom of Information Act. We haven't been consulted. We don't believe it took place.'

She said that more than 200 parents had signed a petition to keep the nursery school open.

Mrs Sleigh added, 'We are not against the children's centre - we are fighting to preserve the nursery school status.'

The nursery school was due to be amalgamated with Churchill House Day Nursery and Little Harwood Pre-School and relocated to the new site in Little Harwood next month. But building work delays to the 1.6m centre have put this back until September. Governors are now calling on the council to hold a public consultation and reconsider its plans.

The children's centre will be run by a head of centre and governed by a board of stakeholders, parents and service users.

But Mrs Sleigh said, 'This is effectively a closure as there will be no headteacher and no governors. We believe the council has failed to undertake the statutory requirements that should be followed with regards to closure of a school set out by the DfES.'

A DfES spokesperson said, 'Kelsall Avenue Nursery School is not closing, but being transferred to a new site as part of the development of a new children's centre in Little Harwood. Statutory proposals are not required, as the new site will serve the same community. The nursery school will retain its school status and DfES number.

'The Power to Innovate Order allows the local authority to try out an alternative governance model which it believes will better reflect the wider functions and responsibilities of a children's centre.'

Maureen Bateson, deputy leader of the council and lead member for children's services, said, 'We've responded to these issues in the past nine months in various ways, including to Freedom of Information requests, stakeholder meetings and consultations with the community.'

But when pressed for evidence of the consultation, a council spokesperson said, 'We've said all we want to say on this issue.'

The council secured the agreement of the DfES in February 2004 to suspend the statutory requirement for governance and delegated funding of seven nursery schools under the Power to Innovate programme, arguing that school governance was not the best model for multi-agency centres.

Two nursery schools - Turncroft and Longshaw - were allowed to keep their governing bodies and act as a 'control' against alternative models.

But Pauline Trudell, support headteacher to the Forum for Maintained Nursery Schools and Children's Centres, said, 'The council appears to have used this power improperly as a mechanism to close nursery schools, remove headteachers and impoverish the quality of educational experience offered to its youngest children.'