Save Wood Street Pre-School from Closure!

The day we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived! The long-awaited pre-school Little Crickets, which will be in running from Wood Street Cricket Club, will be open on Monday 28th November. This is such brilliant news, not only for those whose little ones are waiting for places, but for the whole community. Affordable pre-school places are at such a premium in this area. In fact, another local pre-school that is opening in January in Stoughton was full within days of opening up its waiting list.

So for those of you who had their children down on the waiting list, your children are welcome from Monday. Please contact Sian, on 01252 400221 for further information.

The two open days at the new pre-school, Little Crickets have been really successful. Lots of people have come to have a look around at the facilities and the amazing outside space. Sian hopes to have the preschool up and running in early October, after the last few things are tied up and Ofsted have signed it off. Sian hopes to announce the grand opening in a week or so. I was lucky enough to go and visit it today and it looks fantastic! Don’t hesitate to get in touch with Sian if you want to put your child’s name down on the waiting list….

The new pre-school is subject to planning. There have been 11 negative comments so far during this consultation period, and planning is beginning to look a bit dicey.

If you, or anyone you know that live in Wood Street would be able to comment on the planning application in at Guildford Borough council, it would really help us to get the planning approved.  It would be great for local people to support the planning and highlight the benefits to the community. Take a look at some of the letters and if you feel strongly and positively please add your support.

http://www2.guildford.gov.uk/DLDC_Version_2/acolnetcgi.gov?ACTION=UNWRAP&RIPNAME=Root.PgeDocs&TheSystemkey=125878

Please support this as it’s the only real hope that Wood Street can maintain a pre-school in the area. WE NEED YOU!

Thanks to some very hard work by some brilliant people, particularly Early Years at Surrey CC, Worplesdon Parish Council and a lovely lady called Sian Bath, we now have a new pre-school opening in the Autumn Term at Wood Street Village Cricket Club. This is great news for everyone, particularly those parents desperate for places at pre-school. Sian, who currently works for a Sure Start Centre in Tongham, has some very exciting plans. There will be opportunity to make use of the huge amount of outdoor space, including lots of exciting woodland play.

If you want to put your child’s name down or have any questions for Sian, please give her a call on 01252 400222.

Chloe attended the council’s monthly meeting on Thursday, to let them know about our problem and the progress of the campaign so far. It was a very positive meeting and they are very sympathetic to our plight and fully support the campaign. They agree that a decision like this could be potentially devastating for the children and the wider Wood Street community as a whole. They also thought that the lack of consultation and the short time frame parents have to find other places are unreasonable.

They are going to contact the governors again and try and push for answers that we have so far been denied.

Let’s hope the governors start to listen to our questions and start to give us some answers.

• Why does the pre-school have to close July 2011 and not July 2012?
• What was the actual date that the issue of closing the pre-school was first raised?
• What was the actual date that the decision to close the pre-school July 2011 was made?
• How many of the governors voted for the pre-school to be closed July 2011 and how many governors voted against it?
• Why was the decision to close the pre-school made before a period of consultation?
• Which agencies and individuals have been involved in the consultations?
• Why has there not been a public meeting within the consultation?
• Why have you not consulted with the pre-school parents?
• Since the pre-school opened 8 years ago, what are the yearly numbers of children who have moved up to the infant school from the pre-school?
• What are all the reasons for closing the pre-school?
• What are the financial arguments (if any) for closing the pre-school?
• What were the options that were discussed that were apparently subsequently dismissed?
• What is the proposed usage of the room which the pre-school currently occupy?  How many hours a day and week will the room be in actual use?
• Was a letter about the closure of the pre-school sent to the parents of the infant school as well as the pre-school?
• Why can’t the pre-school be moved into the classroom where reception currently are?
• Did the governors consider only having the older children in the pre-school?
• Why have the pre-school staff been unable to talk about the closure?
• What is the infant schools governors role/relationship with the pre-school?
• Who owns the pre-school?
• Can we please have a nominated spokes person at the meeting with the governors who is allowed to confer with three or four other parents?

Thank you to all those who attended the meeting on Monday 21st March.

For those of you who were not able to attend, a list of questions to ask the governors at the proposed meeting was complied with the advice of our local county councillor and members of the parish council who were in attendance.

We are hoping to have an article in the next parish newsletter asking the local community if they have, or know of any, land or facilities in the area which may be suitable for the relocation of the pre-school.  However this will not aid us with the immediate crisis of pre-school amenities in the area as it takes 25 weeks (approx 6 months) to re-register with Ofsted.  Therefore our campaign’s focus for more time at the existing site, is still crucial.

As soon as further information is made available we will update this site. In particular we are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the promised meeting with the school governors following the completion of their consultation with other agencies.

If you have not already done so, could we please ask that you send an email or a letter to the chair of governors to ensure that your questions will be answered at that meeting – this is critical since they have previously commented that they will not be accepting questions from the floor.

A list of the questions which have been asked will be compiled and posted to the website in due course.

Michaela has kindly organised for us to have the hall to have a meeting to discuss the campaign and any ideas people have, or ways we can move forward. We want as many people as we can to attend so spread the word. Email the organisers if you are attending so that we get a rough idea of numbers.

See you there!

Here is the link to the Surrey County Council E-Petition. Please DON’T sign if you’ve already signed our paper version, but share with everyone you know who hasn’t already signed. We hope to hit more people this way and really spread the word about our campaign….

E-Petition to Save Wood Street Pre-School