Salford parents launch campaign to save local nurseries

By Jessica Watts on 8th October 2018 in News

The Save Our Outstanding Nurseries (SOON) campaigners are holding a rally on the 27^th October outside Salford Civic Centre.

Following a strong demonstration of support in March for five Salford Council nurseries threatened with closure, campaigners will hold another rally this month to push for a long-term solution.

Are you listening @theresa_may @Conservatives We are not going anywhere! we will continue to fight for our nurseries! #fightforthefive pic.twitter.com/wQ5cWrWvKp

— fightforthefive (@fightforthefive) March 24, 2018

Lee Shannon, a parent representative for the campaign explained: “The rally is to continue the momentum of the Salford campaign and to raise awareness of the national campaign that we are building.

The nurseries facing closure are Little Hulton Day Nursery, Winton Day Nursery, Barton Moss Day Nursery, Belvedere Day Nursery, Higher Broughton Day Nursery.

A survey from the National Day Nursery Association found that one in five nurseries are expected to make a loss this year. With nurseries making a loss, many will be forced to close.

With this becoming a nationwide issue the country has seen nurseries struggle. This has become more prominent since 30 hours of free childcare was introduced by the government in September 2017. Speaking about the issue on a national scale, Lee added: “We have joined forces with nursery campaigns in Tower Hamlets, Birmingham and Nottingham where their nurseries are either under threat of closure or have already closed”.

SOON campaigners are fighting to change the early years’ system, as funding is constantly being cut. Their main two aims are to pressure the Government to fund Local Authority nurseries in the short term. They are wishing for a transactional fund similar to the £55m available to nursery schools.

The second aim is that they are demanding a full review of the current early years funding formula. They also wish for it to ensure that it provides sufficient funding for nurseries across the public and private sectors.With the success of the first rally in March, campaigners have stepped up the ante to make the next rally even more influential. Various speakers will be attending, such as Salford MPs, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Barbara Keeley and Graham Stringer. Many parents and nursery workers will also be running the talks.

Councillor Lisa Stone, Lead Member for Children’s and Young People’s Services at the council, said: “The passion from residents is clear and the nursery provision provided by the staff who work in them is outstanding, so we need to explore all options and explore the detail of how this would work using school provision”.