Seaford school plans to open children’s nursery

Back in 2019, East Sussex County Council de-designated 14 children’s centres as part of a revised early help strategy.

One of these buildings was located on the Cradle Hill Community Primary School site in Seaford.

A private nursery previously operated from the building, providing early years and childcare for families in the area, however, the provider gave notice to cease trading in early 2020.

The Cradle Hill governing board wishes to lower the school’s age range from 4- 11 to 2-11 with effect from April 1, 2022 to re-establish nursery provision on the site and provide for families who wish to access funded early years provision in the area.

This was supported by the county council’s lead member for education and inclusion at a meeting on Monday (September 13).

According to an officers’ report:  “The governing board’s vision is to integrate, fully, nursery provision into the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) within the school.

“The governing board wishes to offer high quality early education to families in the local area, delivered by experienced and well-trained staff across the EYFS. The aim is to build on the work already done by the school to secure good outcomes for all children in the future.”

In developing its proposal, the school also undertook a local needs survey. From the 74 responses received, 84 per cent said they would consider using a nursery on the Cradle Hill site, 12 per cent said they were unsure and four per cent said they wouldn’t.

At the time the consultation was undertaken it was intended to implement the proposal from January 2022.

However, and subject to the outcome of the consultation the local authority has since agreed with the school that the proposal should be implemented on April 1, 2022 to benefit from the nursery opening at the start of the new financial year and to provide more time to recruit staff.

Sam Adeniji, county councillor for Seaford North, said he was pleased the feedback to the school’s plans had been positive and described how there was limited access to funded early years nursery provision in the town.

He added: “It will greatly improve the access problems and help parents.”