Petition launched to save Havant nursery from potential closure

As previously reported in The News, a consultation has been launched by Havant and South Downs College over the future of Little Faces Nursery.

The college’s preferred option is to close the nursery, but parents are determined to do everything they can to keep it open.

According to the college, the coronavirus lockdown has led to a major financial loss.

Now, a petition has been launched on change.org, already receiving more than 450 signatures.

The petition was set up by parent Clare Hardwick, 35 from Waterlooville.

‘We were all very shocked when we heard the news,’ she said.

‘If they are in financial difficulty then they could increase the nursery fees – they're a lot lower than most nearby places.

‘Fees haven’t gone up in three years, so it came as a real surprise when they announced plans to close, rather than just increasing the cost.’

The consultation is running until November 17, with a decision set to be made by the end of this month.

Clare has a two-year-old son at the nursery, and says it will be ‘almost impossible’ to find him a new place to go before the new year.

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She said: ‘It’s mainly parents who have signed the petition, but there are also plenty of others who have either used the nursery in the past, been there themselves, or were planning to send their child there.

‘It’s a really popular place because they really tailor things to each child – people only ever have good things to say about it.

‘If it closed, then we would all have to find new nursery spaces, and given everything that’s already going on and the waiting lists we would be stuck on, that would be a nightmare.

‘The easiest solution, in our eyes, would be to bump up the fees. Everyone I have spoken to would be willing to pay them and it would keep this amazing nursery open.’

To sign the petition, people can go to change.org/p/havant-and-south-downs-college-save-little-faces-nursery.

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