Nursery facility at Clayton Brook Primary likely to close

Nursery facilities within two Lancashire primary schools are likely to shut – after the number of children attending them fell, or threatened to fall, to zero.

There are currently no pupils enrolled at the nursery in Clayton Brook Primary in Chorley, while at Rosewood Primary in Burnley, no youngsters are on the waiting list to register at its nursery from September, when the four children currently there will have left.

Both schools have been given permission by Lancashire County Council to begin consultations into the proposed closure of their nurseries, which each cater for three-year-olds. If approved, the age ranges at the two overarching establishments will rise to 4-11-year-olds from the start of the 2025/26 academic year.

A meeting of the authority’s cabinet was told that no staff at Clayton Brook Primary, on Great Greens Lane, would lose their jobs – because nursery workers had already been redeployed elsewhere in the school.

Meanwhile, members heard that the Rosewood nursery had failed to attract any new registrations for the spring and summer terms – or thereafter – in spite of “open days [and] social media posts” promoting the service.

The Rosewood Avenue facility opened in 2002 and originally catered for 52 children, split across morning and afternoon sessions. However, it has not operated at capacity for more than a decade and the continuing decline in numbers saw it scrap afternoon operation in 2017, meaning it is now open for just 15 hours a week.

A cabinet report stated the lack of pupils was putting “a financial burden on the primary school”, which was subsidising the nursery at “a substantial cost”.

Labour opposition group leader Matthew Tomlinson said a recent run of in-school nurseries shutting down was due to the fact that most of them are only open during term time, like the schools themselves.

“For lots of modern parents – with the pressures that they’re under – they want a 52-weeks-a-year offer,” he said.

However, deputy county council leader Alan Vincent said another factor was the government’s decision to increase employer national insurance contributions, which he said ran counter to a push to increase the number of nurseries within primary schools.

“What they’re doing is actually forcing those schools [with existing nurseries] to reassess whether they can economically [continue],” the Conservative politician said.

The consultations into both proposed closures will begin on 28th February and run for a month. Cabinet will make the final decision on whether the changes can go ahead in July, just weeks before the services would cease.

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