Parents have hit out at Portchester Community Association following the closure announcement of Andy Pandy Pre-School

The pre-school was established in 1962 by Portchester Community Association, and became a fully fledged early learning setting in 1994 - but the board of trustees has made the decision to close it down at the end of July.

This decision has come as a shock to the parents and a number of them are outraged at the situation that has unravelled.

After the closure was announced to the parents, the board of trustees organised a meeting to discuss the situation where the parents brought ideas to the table in an attempt to keep the school open.

Becki Larvin, 32, is a parent who will be affected by the closure and she said: ‘It is a fantastic nursery. The staff are fantastic, they bond with the kids and you know that they are going to interact with them on a personal level so for me it is a case of why would you want to close.

‘The parents were just told that this is it, ‘we are closing there is no option to even look at’, there was no interest in finding an option.

‘It is a much-loved nursery in the area and there are so many nurseries closing at the moment and there is going to be barely anything left for the kids - what do they expect parents to do? Do they expect parents to travel further and further for childcare?’

Amber Sims, 40, has a daughter at Andy Pandy pre-school and has been left feeling unhappy and angered at what has happened.

She said: ‘It came as quite a shock to all of our parents. We didn’t know they were having issues at all until they said about closing.

‘We weren’t asked for help, we were left out and it is our kids that will suffer for it.

‘They haven’t tried to save it, they haven’t actually tried and a lot of them are new to the trustee board.’

The pre-school has said that if they were to continue operating into the next academic year it would affect the charity so severely that the whole association would collapse under the financial strain.

A number of parents have shared various ideas to keep the pre-school open including fundraisers, applying for grants and seeking help from local MPs but in the meeting with the board of trustees, they were told that they had already looked at every option and the decision is final.

Amber added: ‘The way they have worked things out they are making things look worse than what it actually is but they won’t even look into anything to help it.’

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Kelly Rushton, another parent of a child at the pre-school, said: ‘So basically I as well as all of the other parents are really disappointed.

‘They said it is down to financial issues but looking at it in more detail, there is something that could have been done to save the school. We weren’t advised before at all about the financial situation, they could have said before that we needed to do some fundraising. It was completely out of the blue, there could be so many things that we could have done to help the pre-school in the long run.

‘My daughter is three years old. She has been here about a year and I have had another child attend about three years ago, it is such a good school and it so disappointing that it is closing.

‘They could have done so much more.’

The parents who have children currently at the pre-school will have to look for alternative arrangements once the closure comes into effect and there are only a few pre-schools nearby.

This will mean that a lot of parents will have to look further afield for nursery options that will suit their children.

Becki does not drive and said that if she has to send her daughter to a nursery that is further away, she will not make it back in time to get her other child to school - and she is not alone in this struggle.

She said: ‘I don’t drive so if I had to go further to somewhere like Port Solent or the one at North Harbour it would be a struggle to try and get back for my other child, I just can’t physically do it.’

Bron Kirk, chair of trustees of the Portchester Community Association, said: ‘It was an incredibly difficult decision to close the pre-school and it wasn’t a quick decision.

‘The thing, of course, is that Andy Pandy is not a business, it was started in 1962 when the Portchester Community Association started and over the years with the introduction of Ofsted, it has changed with the times.’

The official closing date of the pre-school will be on July 21, which will be the end of the academic year as to make the transition as easy as possible for the children.

Bron added: ‘We decided that we could just about carry on the pre-school until the school year finishes so that the children won’t be chopped and changed, so it gives them that transition period. The staff are very good in making sure that the transition period is as seamless as possible.

‘I have empathy with them, I would be really upset if I was one of the parents.’

‘At the end of the day if the pre-school stays open, this time next year, the entire charity will be gone.’