Parents in Sparkbrook protest at threats to cut nursery school places
Dec 30 2009 by Neil Elkes, Birmingham Mail
ANGRY parents at a city nursery school have staged a protest over plans to cut funding and slash places for local children.
Youngsters attending the council-run Gracelands Nursery in Sparkbrook could see free full-time places reduced to half-day under new funding proposals.
It means that working parents, many in low income jobs and from deprived areas, could be forced to dig deeper by either paying for extra hours or using higher price private nurseries.
Some nurseries could also be forced to cut staff or even close as a result of losing almost a third of their council funding.
Mum-of-three Nicola Hewitt, whose youngest daughter Cae-de-Cassin, aged three, attends the nursery said: “This is our local nursery, a part of the community. All my daughters have been here. We need those full-time places.
“All parents feel the same way, we are worried about it.”
Gracelands is one of 27 Birmingham City Council run nurseries which could feel the pinch if the funding crisis is not averted. Nursery units in primary schools could also be under threat. Birmingham has traditionally funded full-time nursery places but that arrangement is under threat due to plans to take some funding from council run nurseries and pass it to the private sector.
The council is hoping to ease the pressure on nursery and primary schools by introducing a two-year “safety net” of 90 per cent of this year’s budget. Last week nursery head teacher Fran Munby, head of St Thomas Children’s Centre Nursery in Lee Bank, said: “At the moment in Birmingham, between 50 and 70 per cent of children who attend council-run nursery schools and nursery classes are full-time and are funded by the city. Many are set up in deprived places offering places to disadvantaged children.”
Council head of early years education Lesley Adams said: “There is a national issue to do with a shift in funding focus. We have raised our concerns over this and are currently in discussions with the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The Government has decided to delay implementation by a year which we welcome.”
Graceland, Grace Road, currently has 39 full-time places and 13 part-time places. But under the proposals, which reward nurseries for pupil participation, the full time places would be split into 78 part-time places.
Teaching unions are also opposing the changes, warning of reductions in qualified nursery staff.
