NEWPORT’S two remaining stand-alone nurseries could be combined onto a single site amid declining pupil numbers and a worsening predicted deficit of £75,000.
The city council is proposing to amalgamate Kimberley and Fairoak Nursery Schools onto the Fairoak site on Church Road from September 2021.
Both the nurseries – the city’s only community-maintained nursery schools not attached to a primary school – have been only around half full in recent years.
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At Kimberley, only 39 places were taken up at the school in September 2019.
The school has been in deficit for three years and is predicted to be £75,000 in debt at the end of this financial year.
Pupil numbers at Fairoak have also declined, with only 51 places taken up in September 2019.
Across the two sites, there are also 224 half day places available, with take-up declining from 72 per cent in January 2017 to 47 per cent in January 2019.
A council report says the number of pupils across both sites could now be accommodated solely within the Fairoak building.
Combining the two sites is estimated to save Newport council £60,000 per year, which would be be re-invested across the city’s school budgets.
The proposal is aimed at creating a “sustainable business model for the long-term future” of nursery provision.
The current set-up is “not economically viable”, according to a council report.
Under the plans, a communication class for children aged three and four with additional learning needs specifically associated with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, will be relocated to Fairoak.
It is expected that children who would normally attend Kimberley school will be offered places at other nursery classes, or at Fairoak.
The executive headteacher of Fairoak nursery has managed both schools since September 2018.
If the plans – which will be subject to public consultation – go forward, a temporary governing body will be established which will decide on a name for the new school and agree a staffing structure.
The council will ask the governing body to offer posts for the new school to existing staff at the two nurseries.
The existing governing bodies would be dissolved on August 31, 2021, and a single body created to govern the new school.
Councillor Gail Giles, cabinet member for education and skills, is expected to agree to move to a formal consultation on the plans as a delegated decision next Friday.
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