Help us save our nurseries!

[nantucket66]

Hope this is ok to post, if it isn't please remove!

North Tyneside Council have decided to close 6 Sure Start nurseries on or before September 2017, there isn't enough private childcare provision within the borough to soak up the kids who'll not have a nursery place as and when they close and parents are going to be left high and dry

If we can get 2000 signatures we can take it to a full council debate, the final decision won't be made until March, councillors, local MP's etc are all being rallied as I type this.

I'd be really grateful for anyone who lives, works or studies within North Tyneside to sign this petition -

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-north-tyneside-nurseries

Thanks so much

 

[SexyBetty]

Signed. Hope it helps

 

[zoomee]

Signed - we always got money for war but none to look after ourselves. When are people going to learn that WE need the money to look after our own country - priorities

 

[MrMoonX]

sure start isn't just about nursery care, it provides a vital early intervention service. the impact of the tory cuts is that early intervention has gone by the wayside these days. The impact of this is the massive increased month on month of care applications by Local Authorities as the early intervention services are not there anymore! result is more children in care, the financial strain of which on local authorities is huge, yet the government are cutting LA budgets, council tax has to rise before the system collapses, which is probably what cameron wants so he can sell children's services to serco.

 

[Noodleleg]

Massive increase from what to what?



So a 1.1% increase in a year. No idea on the historical figures, but that's not exactly a large increase/something which couldn't be explained by the normal variance you get, is it? Or what are those numbers as a percentage of children in total? If we have more kids overall, that could in fact be an improvement . Do you have figures from eg. 2010 to now?

I think he means Children on child protection or Child in need plans, rather than actually taken into care.

There has been a huge increase in child in need plans in some areas where the surestart has been cut. Child in need plans provide exactly what the surestarts used to do, just general family support.

 

[MrMoonX]

Massive increase from what to what?



So a 1.1% increase in a year. No idea on the historical figures, but that's not exactly a large increase/something which couldn't be explained by the normal variance you get, is it? Or what are those numbers as a percentage of children in total? If we have more kids overall, that could in fact be an improvement . Do you have figures from eg. 2010 to now?

I said month by month increases

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2015/12/10/record-care-applications-november-figures-reveal/

The point is, we should be taking less children into care/ on child protection plans not more!

 

[George Hincapie]

Hope this is ok to post, if it isn't please remove!

North Tyneside Council have decided to close 6 Sure Start nurseries on or before September 2017, there isn't enough private childcare provision within the borough to soak up the kids who'll not have a nursery place as and when they close and parents are going to be left high and dry

If we can get 2000 signatures we can take it to a full council debate, the final decision won't be made until March, councillors, local MP's etc are all being rallied as I type this.

I'd be really grateful for anyone who lives, works or studies within North Tyneside to sign this petition -

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-north-tyneside-nurseries

Thanks so much

You are clearly invested in this (and as a parent myself I fully appreciate your position), but rather than fight the closure, I wonder if there isn't an opportunity here? How about speaking with the Council to secure one of the sites and open your own private nursery?

From a business perspective it makes perfect sense. Staff are available (because they have all been sacked), the market is there (because where else will the children go) and the building infrastructure is there.

Just a thought...

 

[Noodleleg]

You are clearly invested in this (and as a parent myself I fully appreciate your position), but rather than fight the closure, I wonder if there isn't an opportunity here? How about speaking with the Council to secure one of the sites and open your own private nursery?

From a business perspective it makes perfect sense. Staff are available (because they have all been sacked), the market is there (because where else will the children go) and the building infrastructure is there.

Just a thought...

The surestart nurseries provide a lot of subsidised care for disadvantaged families which private nurseries dont (and probably cant) offer.

There has been a scheme since the closure of surestart nurseries in my area where families on certain benefts are entitled to a certain number of hours free childcare for their 2 year olds. However the amount the nurseries recieve in reimbursement is a set amount which is not their usual hourly rate. They are not allowed to charge the difference, but they are allowed to charge for things like food on top. In reality this charge becomes a top up charge, as one chain of nurseries near me charges £25 for snacks and meals for a child attending for a day on the free childcare scheme, which the families intended to benefit from this scheme simply cannot afford.

 

[George Hincapie]

The surestart nurseries provide a lot of subsidised care for disadvantaged families which private nurseries dont (and probably cant) offer.

There has been a scheme since the closure of surestart nurseries in my area where families on certain benefts are entitled to a certain number of hours free childcare for their 2 year olds. However the amount the nurseries recieve in reimbursement is a set amount which is not their usual hourly rate. They are not allowed to charge the difference, but they are allowed to charge for things like food on top. In reality this charge becomes a top up charge, as one chain of nurseries near me charges £25 for snacks and meals for a child attending for a day on the free childcare scheme, which the families intended to benefit from this scheme simply cannot afford.

Fair enough. As I said, just a thought. Good luck with it all.

 

[MrMoonX]

Then that goes back to what I asked about what they mean by Sure Start cuts, because there can eg. be a cut in the number of Sure Start centres whilst the number of people engaged with Sure Start could stay static, as an example.



And I asked you to expand on what you meant, because eg. the figure I posted didn't make things sound particularly alarming. Do you have answers to my questions, perchance?

the article i linked says there was a 15% increase in care applications compared to last november! theres your answer

 

[Dis86]

Ah. The good old democratic people's Republic of north tyneside!