Nursery closures

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Renfrewshire councillors have voted in favour of proposals to close St Fergus' Primary School nursery class in Ferguslie and Morton Nursery School in Linwood following a meeting of Renfrewshire Council's education policy board on Thursday 17 January.

A report on a month-long public consultation, organised by Renfrewshire Council, was presented to the board and a motion on the closure was carried by 10 votes to seven. The nurseries will now shut at the end of June 2008.

Councillor Lorraine Cameron, convener of the education policy board, said: "We have listened to the concerns raised by parents and we are confident all the issues can be addressed. The council provides high quality nursery education, with access to qualified teachers in all our pre-five and nursery classes."

“What we can't get away from is that there are too many pre-five places in the Ferguslie area, with 190 places available but only 139 needed. St Fergus' Primary School nursery class has the highest number of empty places. Last year (2006/07), it was less than half full."

“The situation at Linwood is similar. Morton Nursery School has seen a 25% drop in pupils over the last four years. The school is currently just two-thirds full and the demand for places is likely to continue dropping."

"An important part of a child's nursery education is learning to interact with other children. There have to be enough other children for pupils to learn how to make friends and to share toys for example. It's hard to do that when there are only six other children in the class."

"It's our responsibility to make sure that we take a common sense approach to providing the right facilities to meet the demand for services locally and manage the public purse."

“We are confident that the children from St Fergus' Primary School nursery class and Morton Nursery School will still get a high quality nursery education."

Under the closure plans, children from Morton Nursery School will transfer to a new nursery class at Our Lady of Peace Primary School which is just 100 metres away. Children from St Fergus' will take up vacant places at other nurseries in the Ferguslie area.

The consultations included a series of meetings with staff and managers at both schools, trade union representatives, parents and members of the public. Around 25 people attended a public meeting to discuss the proposed closure of the nursery class at St Fergus' Primary School with 59 attending a meeting about Morton Nursery School.

Press release: Friday 25 January 2008