Below is a guest post from Labour Women for Public Nurseries who are campaigning to keep open the remaining three Local Authority Day Nurseries (LADN), Mary Sambrook, John Smith and Overland.
“£6 billion of taxpayers’ money subsidises childcare each year much of which goes into the private sector, with little accountability. “
– Apsana Begum, Secretary of Tower Hamlets Labour Party, speaking at the National Women’s Conference.
Yesterday the Labour Party’s National Women’s Conference voted in support of a motion stating that having a child should not impact a women’s economic potential, demanding better maternity rights, and that the Labour Party commit to building upon the Sure Start model of integrated Children’s Centres. The motion resolved that:
“The Labour Party should keep public nurseries publicly run and support the development of publicly owned Early Years Services”.
Labour Women know that until care work is properly valued there will be no equality of opportunity. David Cameron’s 30 hours scheme is underfunded and has been proven to benefit only wealthier families. Private nurseries have introduced top-up charges and increased their fees to make up the shortfall.
Up and down the country, private chain nurseries are cashing in on the crisis. In Tower Hamlets charging up to £23,000 a year for places! The crisis in Early Years provision has seen closures of Children’s Centres and Nurseries across the country, with Ofsted figures showing a net loss of 1,146 providers from the Early Years Register since 2015.
Tracy Brabin, Shadow Secretary for Early Years, has stated: ‘We need to do more to encourage those that are known to deliver to stay in the sector. The loss of over 1,100 providers since May 2015 is a sign of a system in crisis.’ – Observer, 18.11.17
The Mayor of Salford has stopped planned closures of their day nurseries while they campaign for more funding. Save the Five Salford are taking this fight to the Conservatives and plan to demand a transitional fund for local authority day nurseries (similar to that made available for nursery schools) for the remainder of this parliament or until such a time that the Dedicated Schools Grant rules and Early Years funding formula are actually sufficient to secure the future of our Local Authority day nurseries.
Meanwhile in Tower Hamlets, our Labour Executive Mayor John Biggs has ignored his own Overview & Scrutiny Committee, which advised the council look into a realisable option to retain the nurseries in-house. He is set to rubber stamp plans to close down our three remaining Local Authority Day Nurseries this Wednesday 26 September.
Tower Hamlets has 53% child poverty, and John Smith, Mary Sambrook and Overland were set up as part of Sure Start and the Children’s Centres network to provide an “integrated education and day care service for the most vulnerable children in the borough.” The staff at all three nurseries are trained to educate and nurture children who have incredibly complex needs. 40% of children who attend John Smith have a form of learning disadvantage. Overland has a specialist deaf unit and all the staff are trained in sign language. Places at our day nurseries are prioritised for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN), the children of lone parents, parents in training, parents on income support and Jobseekers. The nurseries have an excellent reputation for helping children learn English as a second language, vital for our large Bangladeshi community.
There are over 100 children on the waiting lists for our day nurseries and there is no similar alternative provision for children with additional needs under the age of 2. Early intervention and diagnosis is so important, if children with learning SEN miss out on support at the early stage this delays their learning well into later years. Children will not reach their full potential.
Lobby the Cabinet
Wednesday 26 September, 5.30pm
Tower Hamlets Town Hall, E14 2BG
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Save Our Nurseries Tower Hamlets
Email: [email protected]
https://www.facebook.com/saveournurserieslbth/
Read our Open Letter here:
https://towerhamletswomensmarch.wordpress.com/
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