Next week’s meeting of the Education, Children’s and Families Committee on Tuesday (4 February) is recommended to approve the closure.
The decision is not being taken lightly, but the benefits of closing the nursery and Springfield Primary School being able to use the building that houses it for other purposes far outweigh the benefits of keeping the nursery open for a limited number of children.
In September last year (2024), it was recommended that the nursery located in Springfield Primary School on Cavendish Street in the city centre be closed permanently after years of declining attendees.
The governors at Springfield School decided to temporarily close the nursery in September 2023.
There had been a reduction in the number of children taking up a place at the nursery over the five years before that. Despite the best efforts of the school to improve this, children registered fell from 39 in the summer of 2018 to 2019 to just 15 in the summer of 2022 to 2023. The minimum number of children needed to make the nursery financially viable is 34.
Therefore, the nursery was running at a deficit, with money being used from the school’s central government funding to plug the gap. This was money that then could not be spent on the education of school-age pupils at the school.
The public consultation running between October and November saw eight consultation sessions organised for parents, carers, local residents and businesses to attend, as well as individual appointments being available, paper copies of the survey being available, and an online version at the Have Your Say Sheffield website. One family attended the sessions, and 11 of the 516 surveys handed out to the community were returned – 2.1% of those sent out.
Springfield Primary School were heavily involved in the consultation process.
The responses returned cited concerns such as a reduction in nursery spaces for the area. But records show no projected childcare shortage issues in this area for three-and-four-year-olds, with surplus places across the area available at 36 nursery and childcare settings. Some 33 of those are rated either ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Good’ by OFSTED. Many alternate private settings also offer greater flexibility in hours due to being able to open during school holiday periods, unlike Springfield Nursery.
Springfield School has used the building during the temporary nursery closure since September 2023 for other community uses, such as:
- Family and adult community education
- Parent and toddler groups
- Start Well programmes
- Family Intervention Service and Family Hub programmes
- Sheffield Children’s NHS Services – child health workshops for continence, school nursing, and public health nurses
- Afterschool club provision
The school has also been able to focus more on meeting the needs of their Reception to Year 6 pupils with increasing SEND/EAL needs, by redirecting financial and physical resources to this area.
It will also prevent further financial losses to the school from funding the nursery.
Should the nursery close permanently following the decision next week, this will continue. Of the 11 consultation responses, 10 said they agreed with this continued community use.
“It will be a shame to see a nursery close that will have provided excellent care for some of the city’s children should that decision be reached.
“But demand for the nursery has steadily declined in recent years, and there are plenty of other well-regarded providers in the area.
“We hope if the decision is made that community use of the building in question can continue, and we will continue to support Springfield Primary School during any next steps that follow a decision to close the nursery, or if it is to remain open.”
Cllr Dawn Dale, Chair of the Education, Children’s and Families Committee
The report being presented to the Education, Children’s and Families Committee on Tuesday will be available to read soon on the Council website.
