Parents of three-year-olds starting at the Law Nursery this summer need to know where their children will be accommodated beyond August 2012, Labour’s Dundee City Council education spokesman Laurie Bidwell has said.
Councillor Bidwell called on education convener Liz Fordyce to end the “corrosive” uncertainty over the future of the nursery.
The issue of moving the children at Law to unused space at Rosebank Primary was withdrawn from an education committee agenda at the end of February following strenuous protests from parents.
At the time Councillor Fordyce said the decision to pull the item at the 11th hour was made to allow more time for informal consultation with parents at the nursery.
Now Mr Bidwell wants Ms Fordyce to ensure that process is completed within the next couple of weeks to allow the matter to be debated at a committee meeting next month.
In an open letter to the convener, Mr Bidwell asks, “Please can you advise on the timescale for and form of this consultation?
“I hope that as education spokesperson for the major opposition group on the council, I should be invited to attend any consultation event along with the local councillors.”
Although there is now no question of Law Nursery moving at the start of the new school year in August, the position after that is uncertain, he added.
“Many children spend two years in nursery education prior to transferring to primary school.
“It follows that parents and carers making choices about their three-year-old children entering Law Nursery School this year can have little confidence that it will still be operating on its current site from August 2012.
“This continuing uncertainty is corrosive and risks undermining what, according to the school inspectors, is an outstanding nursery school.
“Accordingly, I urge you therefore to organise your consultation event before the Easter holidays so that your proposal can then be scrutinised by the education committee at the April meeting.”
He concludes, “I remain of the opinion that you and the education directorate have not advanced a convincing educational case for uprooting and undermining a successful nursery school, nor that there are significant real savings to be found in so doing.”
In response Ms Fordyce said the informal consultation is in hand.
“Mr Bidwell appears to forget that he is no longer convener of education and so does not set the timing for when things come to committee,” she said.
“It is a bit distracting and really frustrating.”
The item had been withdrawn from the agenda of the February meeting to allow the education department to address “misunderstandings and misinformation” about the plan and to discuss the issue directly with parents and staff, she added.
Depending on the outcome of that informal consultation, the plan could be brought back to committee to seek approval for the launch of a formal consultation period.