Boom in nursery places

The loss of 75 places for pre-school children seemed like a catastrophe for the town's parents.

But there has been an amazing about-turn in overall nursery provision since then with a new nursery already up and running at Holy Cross School and two more schools seriously considering opening their own nurseries.

In addition parents whose children used to attend St Michael's Nursery, which closed during the summer term after a long battle to save it, are now investigating, with the Catholic Church, the possibility of opening a pre-school at the church next door to St Philip's School.

It has been a busy time for Wealden child care development officer Lynn Grinsell who has been liaising with the people behind these projects. She says that even if they all come to fruition there will be an ongoing need for further pre-school provision.

One of the reasons for the increased demand for places is the fact that nursery grants are now available for three-year-olds and with Uckfield being allocated about 500 new homes, in the Local Plan currently being prepared for public consultation, more families will be moving to town in the future.

Interest

A questionnaire has been circulated to gauge interest in a nursery at Harlands Primary School.

People living on the Harlands Farm Estate and off New Barn Lane are being asked whether they would support extension of early years learning provision at the school to include three and four-year-olds who have not reached school age.

Headteacher Jan Spry-Shute said the initial response indicated there was a need but the biggest hurdle to be overcome was securing funding to launch the nursery.

Mrs Spry-Shute said the start up costs were difficult to find but if the school could secure grants to cover those costs then the aim was for the nursery to be self-funding.

At Manor Primary School, which was aiming to open a nursery in January, there has been a hitch because so far the funds have not been found to put a refurbished mobile classroom on the site.

Meanwhile at Rocks Park Primary School, also in Uckfield, a questionnaire distributed to parents failed to detect enough interest in setting up a playschool, breakfast and after-school care there. Headteacher Jane Andrews said the questionnaire was circulated by a private individual to test the water but there was not enough interest at that stage for the idea to be pursued.