Have your say on proposals to raise age range at Burnley primary school
A consultation is now running on plans to permanently raise the age range at a school in Burnley, after numbers of children applying to its nursery fell.
In July, Lancashire County Council's Cabinet approved proposals to allow a consultation period on the future of maintained nursery provision at Whittlefield Community Primary School. This consultation, which is now live, runs until October 18.
The plans are to discontinue the nursery provision by permanently raising the age range from 3-11 years to 4-11 years, with effect from December 31, 2024.
The reduction in pupil numbers is placing a financial burden on the primary school, as the nursery provision has to be subsidised at a substantial cost.
Councillor Jayne Rear, cabinet member for Education and Skills at Lancashire County Council said:
"Local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure there are sufficient childcare places for working parents that are accessible, affordable, and delivered flexibly in high quality settings.
"Burnley has these in abundance but the added competition means that some providers have struggled to attract children to fill the places and this is causing some nurseries to be undersubscribed.
"Permanently changing the age range will instead mean that Whittlefield Community Primary School can concentrate its efforts on the children in Reception and older. We do not believe that it will have an adverse local impact due to the excellent provision elsewhere in the area."