Provision
Parents are asked for fees to delay college nursery closure
Parents have been asked to pay extra fees to delay the closure of a college nursery by one month.
Little Scholars Day Nursery, a 60-place setting at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College, is due to close on 23 July amid rising costs and a forecast budget deficit of £100,000.
However, parents who attended a meeting last week to discuss the nursery's future were asked by the college principal, Sally Dicketts, if they would consider paying for agency staff to keep the setting open until the end of August.
Dr Nick Pialek, an international development programme adviser for Oxfam, whose children attend Little Scholars, said, 'In March we received a letter saying the college would be conducting a review looking at the nursery's future. However, things in the review were misleading or did not make sense. For example, it stated that the nursery building needed to be renovated, which would incur significant costs. However, the lease says that the building must be renovated before it is returned anyway, so the college will still have to pay that cost. We feel that the college decided to close the nursery and then used the review to justify that decision.'
He added, 'If parents had been given more warning, we could have tried to take over the running of the nursery ourselves. I have three children and it is difficult to find a nursery that can take all of them. It's extremely stressful. At least one parent is going to have to leave their job when the nursery closes in July.'
Fifteen staff at the nursery face redundancy, although some could be offered alternative posts within the college.
Unison official Denise Bertuchi said, 'The decision to close college and university nurseries is often taken much too hastily and without any consideration of the long-term damage it does in terms of access to education. By closing down campus nurseries they are closing down opportunities for many students.'
