This week we continue with our coverage of the plight facing Kintore Way Nursery – one of the only nurseries with Special Educational Needs provision in the borough – and how looming debt is threatening its future.
Kintore Way Nursery School, which has been serving under-fives since 1939, currently owes £450,000 to the council.
The nursery has been grappling with debt since the pandemic, with the headteacher being forced to make staff cuts – meaning support workers will reduce from eleven to three.
Nearly half of their pupils have special educational needs (SEN), so these staff cuts pose real safeguarding concerns for them.
UNISON, the trade union supporting the campaign to save the nursery, called a meeting to hear from teachers and parents on the matter.
At the meeting, parents commended Kintore Way for their care – pointing to the progress their little ones had made since they started. Parents were full of both praise and fear as they contemplated life without the nursery.
There are various reasons for the debt – one of which throws into question the funding system for SEN itself. Funding for students with an Educational Health and Care Plan (EHCP) sometimes bypasses nursery schools and goes directly to their primary schools when they transition, without any backdated payments to the nursery.
They are asking for Kintore Way to become a resource-based school, which would backdate EHCP funding and help recover costs, ensuring the nursery’s financial stability and continued support for SEN children.
Although the consultation is still reportedly underway, and their landlord, Southwark Council, has claimed they will do whatever they can to support them – time is running out.
As one parent plainly put it – people do not choose to have children with additional needs. They need extra support and resources; not fewer.