Maintained nursery schools face closure due to funding uncertainty

Liz McInnes, Member of Parliament for Heywood and Middleton, on Friday visited Sunny Brow Nursery School in Middleton to hear from staff, governors and parents about the pressure the school is facing due to uncertainty over funding.

The Government ‘top-up’ fund, on which Sunny Brow and other maintained nursery schools rely, is due to end in April 2020 and so far, no clarification has been given to the schools over future funding. Sunny Brow Headteacher Janet Cook is increasingly concerned and believes that the future of the school is under threat.

Sunny Brow have been collecting signatures for a petition calling on the Government to guarantee the necessary funding, and Liz McInnes MP will be handing this petition into Parliament on Tuesday 5 February as well as raising the issue in a parliamentary debate on the topic this Thursday (31 January).

Liz McInnes MP says: “Sunny Brow is an outstanding environment for children and has helped generations of Middletonians get off to the best start in life. Proper funding for all our nursery schools should be one of those things we can take for granted, but sadly that isn’t the case.

“It is simply unacceptable that Mrs Cook and her staff, the governors and parents are not able to plan ahead and focus on what really matters, providing care and education for children.

“They have my full support in their campaign for secure funding, and as well as handing in the petition and attending the debate I will also be writing to the Government to raise this directly with Ministers.”

Janet Cook, Headteacher, says: “Sunny Brow and all other maintained nursery schools, which are local authority schools, specialising in the education and care of some of our most vulnerable two, three and four-years olds, are under the very real threat of closure.

Schools such as Sunny Brow are funded in the same way as any other early year’s provision such as playgroups and childminders, but they are fully constituted schools with Governing Boards, Headteachers and graduate class teachers. 

The Government ‘top-up’ fund, which recognises them as schools, is due to finish in April 2020 and there is no clarity or certainty about what will happen after that.

That’s why we are urging MPs, the Government and the Treasury to commit to the future of the remaining 397 maintained nursery schools.

Sunny Brow has been providing early years education and care here in Middleton since the Second World War. We must not let this proud history, and outstanding education, be wiped out due to lack of funding.”

David Scourfield, Education Visits Adviser and Sunny Brow LA Governor, says: “High quality education as delivered by our maintained nursery schools is vital to the future life chances of our children.

“It would be false economy and frankly negligent not to invest in this part of our education system when we know what the impact of high quality early years provision is. As a country, we should not allow this excellent practice to be lost; conversely, we should be shining the spotlight on it, celebrating it and enabling other provision to learn from it.”

Councillor Donna Martin, whose children and grandchildren attended the nursery, says: “Sunny Brow, as a maintained nursery, is vital to ensure the children of Middleton have the best start in life and has a direct effect on their social, emotional and physical development and the adults they will become in the future.

“The return on investment in this nursery, with a catchment of pupils including many with specialist needs and disadvantaged backgrounds, can be easily seen by anyone who is passionate about education and closing the attainment gap that currently exists.”