The future of Warwickshire maintained nursery schools
A consultation by Warwickshire County Council on the future of maintained nursery schools has come to a close
Six nursery schools – Warwick, Whitnash, Kenilworth, Stockingford, Bedworth Heath and Atherstone – have discussed with the local authority the best way to continue to deliver first class early years education.
The consultation on the future of nursery schools, which explored three options for consideration, ended yesterday. The three options were:
Option 1 – to amalgamate the nursery schools with a local primary school
Option 2 – to develop the nursery schools primarily as children’s centres
Option 3 – to develop the nursery schools as Centres of Excellence
The consultation generated a huge response from parents and the general public, as well as nursery school staff and governors, all of which reflects unanimous support for option 3 - to develop nursery schools into Centres of Excellence.
Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet will consider the outcome of the consultation on July 22.
Taking into account the overwhelming support for option 3, the recommendation for the future of maintained nursery schools is that all six nursery schools should be allowed to work towards Centre of Excellence status.
This means that they will all retain their Department for Education status as a school, but will offer support to other providers of early years education. It is proposed that this work will begin in September 2010.
Cllr Heather Timms, the county council’s Portfolio Holder for Children Young People and Families will be outlining the recommendations to her Cabinet colleagues.
Cllr Timms said: “As a local authority we have listened to the strong feelings expressed by parents in the communities involved and want to reassure them that we are committed to offering the highest quality provision for their children.
“We have also been very impressed by the commitment shown by the nursery schools to share their expertise with other providers for the benefit of children across the whole county. That is why we are recommending to Cabinet that we begin to work with nursery schools to develop them into Centres of Excellence from September of this year.
“We would like to thank all those who have taken the trouble to send their comments to us. All have been taken into consideration and have informed the recommendations that will go to Cabinet this month.”