A pre-consultation about early years provision in Greenock’s east end – proposing the closure of a nursery class – will run until late next month.
Inverclyde Council’s education department previously found the number of available places in the area exceeds both current and projected demand.
People are now being asked for their views on the prospect of removing the nursery class at King’s Oak Primary School in East Crawford Street as part of plans to address overprovision.
The decision to undertake the informal survey, which will need to be followed by a statutory consultation, was agreed at Inverclyde Council’s education and communities committee in January. It will run until Friday, April 2024.
A statement on the local authority’s website explained: “This is a pre-consultation process to find out how those affected feel about the proposal being considered.
“Once we know your views, we will report these back to the education and communities committee and ask for approval to undertake a formal consultation.
“King’s Oak Nursery Class is located within King’s Oak Primary School in the east end of Greenock and provides early learning and childcare for 24 children aged three to five years.
“A desktop exercise has been undertaken and this has concluded that the most logical provision to close would be the early years class at King’s Oak Primary School as other current provisions in Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Area 2 – east end of Greenock – offer the flexibility of two to five-year-old spaces and extended year provision or they have capacity to increase their numbers.”
It continued: “Although the financial context of the council will always be a consideration, the cost implications will always be balanced with the delivery of service.
“Education services are undertaking this consultation to ensure that the provisions in this area align with demand for spaces.
“Consideration has been given to the operating models, the delivery of specialist services, term time and extended year provision as well as the different centres capacity to expand places in the east end area.
“Currently, there are more ELC places in this area than the demand.”
