APPENDIX 1

Brighton & Hove City Council

Early Years and Childcare

Hertford Infant and Nursery School Nursery Class Closure Consultation Report

October 2020

1. Introduction

Hertford Infant and Nursery School is a community maintained school with a nursery class which currently offers part-time free early education to three and four year olds (the early years free entitlement, EYFE).

From 16^th September to 16^th October 2020 Brighton & Hove City Council ran a public consultation about a proposal to close the school’s nursery class with effect from September 2021 and as a result to raise the school’s lower age range from three to four years.

Respondents could submit their feedback via online consultation on the council’s portal, by email, or through two public consultation events held on 28^th September and 1^st October 2020.

19 people responded to the online consultation. There were no responses by email, and no-one attended the two public consultation events.

The majority of respondents strongly disagreed with the proposal to close the nursery class (68%) with 27% in agreement.  

2. Main Findingsfrom the Online Consultation

The main findings from the online consultation are summarised below.

The majority of respondents 13 people (68%) strongly disagreed with the proposal to close the nursery class.

Five respondents (11%) strongly agreed/tended to agree with the proposal.

One respondent (5%) didn’t know/wasn’t sure about the proposal.

All but one who disagreed with the proposal were current or future parents of children at the school.

All but one who agreed with the proposal were managers/owners/other staff from local childcare provision; staff at Hertford Infant and Nursery School; headteacher/staff person/governor at local maintained primary school.

Nine respondents were planning to send their child to the nursery class in the future, and of these eight (89%) strongly disagreed with the proposal.

3. Who responded?

The table below shows who responded to the online consultation.

Category	Number of responses[1]
Parent of a child at Hertford Infant and Nursery School nursery class	8
Parent/grandparent of a child/children not at Hertford Infant and Nursery School nursery class	8
Staff at Hertford Infant and Nursery School	1
Manager/owner/staff person from other local childcare provision	2
Headteacher/staff person/governor at a local maintained primary school	1

4.         Respondents agreement/disagreement in principle with the proposed closure of the nursery class

Respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed in principle to the closure of the nursery class and the raising of the lower age range from three to four.

The majority, 68% of respondents, (13 people) said they strongly disagreed with the proposal to close the nursery class.  Eleven per cent (five people) stated that they tended to agree/strongly agreed with the proposal. The remaining respondent said that they didn’t know/were not sure.

Details of responses by type of respondent are in the table below.

		Parent of child/ children at Hertford Infant and Nursery School nursery class	Parent/grand parent of child/ children not at Hertford Infant and Nursery School nursery class	Staff at Hertford Infant and Nursery School	Manager/ owner/staff person from other local childcare provision	Headteacher/staff person/ governor at local maintained primary school	All respondents
	Strongly agree	1	0	1	0	1	3
		12%	0%	100%	0%	100%	16%
	Tend to agree	0	0	0	2	0	2
		0%	0%	0%	100%	0%	11%
	Strongly disagree	6	7	0	0	0	13
		75%	100%	0%	0%	0%	68%
	Don't know/ not sure	1	0	0	0	0	1
		12%	0%	0%	0%	0%	5%
Total		8	7	1	2	1	19

5. Who intended to send their child(ren) to the nursery class in future?

Respondents were asked: “Before you heard about this proposal, were you planning to send a child to the nursery class in future?”

Of those responding, nine people were planning to send their child to the nursery class in the future, and of these eight (89%) strongly disagreed with the proposal, with the other person responding don’t know/not sure.

6. Respondents’ comments

Respondents were asked if there was anything they wanted to tell us about the reason for their answer and 13 people (68% did so).

The reasons given against closing the nursery class were:

· The nursery has a positive impact on managing children’s transition to the school, including their emotional well-being. This was the most common reason given.

· The high quality of provision at the nursery, the fact that is provides a safe and nurturing space, and comparison with other local provision in that it is smaller, and non-denominational

· A concern that the closure of the nursery class could jeopardise the future of the school itself

· A desire to send younger children to the nursery in the future, having sent elder children there, and the ability to drop off/pick up siblings from the same location

· The fact that EYFE is free for 15 hours a week; this offer is more difficult to come by at private nurseries which tend to be more restrictive in their offer of free hours; some parents are not able to afford to pay for additional hours

A number of respondents commented that the nursery had not been publicised well-enough in the local community and that it should be promoted further before considering closure.

The only reason given in favour of closing the nursery class was its lack of financial sustainability .

7. Demographics
The profile of the respondents is shown in the tables below

Age	Number	Per cent
30 - 39	9	47
40 - 49	7	37
50 - 59	1	5
60 - 69	1	5
No response/prefer not to say	1	5

Gender	Number	Per cent
Female	15	79
Male	3	16
No response/prefer not to say	1	5

Identify as sex assigned at birth	Number	Per cent
Yes	18	95
No response/prefer not to say	1	5

Ethnic origin	Number	Per cent
White: English/Welsh/ Scottish/Northern Irish/British	13	68
Asian or Asian British: Any other Asian Background	1	5
Asian or Asian British: Indian	1	5
Mixed: Asian and White	1	5
Any other White background	1	5
No response/prefer not to say	2	10

Sexual orientation	Number	Per cent
Heterosexual/'Straight'	16	84
No response/prefer not to say	3	16

Religion/belief	Number	Per cent
None	7	37
Christian	5	26
Atheist	3	16
Agnostic	1	5
Jewish	1	5
No response/prefer not to say	2	10

Are you currently serving in the UK armed forces?	Number	Per cent
No	17	80
No response/prefer not to say	2	10

Have you ever served in the UK armed forces?	Number	Per cent
No	17	80
No response/prefer not to say	2	10

Are you a member of a current or former serviceman or woman's immediate family/household?	Number	Per cent
No	17	80
No response/prefer not to say	2	10

Are your day-to-day activities limited because of a health problem or disability which has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 12 months?	Number	Per cent
No	13	68
Yes a little	3	16
No response/prefer not to say	3	16

Are you a carer?	Number	Per cent
No	16	84
Yes	1	5
No response/prefer not to say	2	10

Vicky Jenkins

Childcare Strategy Manager

Early Years and Childcare

19^th October 2020

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[1] One person responded as both a parent of a child at the nursery class and a child not at the nursery class, but their views are only counted once