View Full Version : 10 days notice.....
yesterday we were given 10 days notice that the council plan to close our local playgroup & mother & toddler group due to budget cuts!
there plans are to merge the Lybster Lightbeams Playgroup with the school nursery resulting in around 20-28 children aged 3-5yrs in one class with two nursery teachers, the gudelines for this age is 1 teacher to 8 children!
The council tryed to do the same thing 2 years ago but we won the battle & they assured us they would give us 2 years at the end of which they would speak to parents in the community & assess the needs of the local children.
The council have not done this! All we are given is 10 days notice of their plans to close our facilities.
we would appreciate your support in our fight to keep our playgroup & toddler groups open, please leave your comments for us to put forward to the council.
can i ask what are the coucil planning to do for the kids under 3, i am sure that there are a few of them that attend the mother and toodlers group, a childs basic education starts at these groups, i think this i a disgrace, people who live in rural communities seem to be the victaims of the councils cut back.
their not planning anything! Children wont be able to start in the nursery till 1 month after their 3rd birthday.
The mother & toddler group is at the moment subsidised by the playgroup so once the playgroup closes the mother & toddlers wont have the funding to stay open resulting in no facilities for the under 3s
that is really bad, could you not start a little group up on your own and use the church hall or something, im sure if you asked a lot of people would have toys they could give to get you started and charge £1-£1.50 per session, it would take a while to get going but you have to stand up to these idiots. this might not help but thought i would suggest it.
Sure this was tryed before balto & it didnt work thats why the playgroup subsidised it to keep it going.The major concern is the quality of education our children are goin to recieve if the nursery is merged with the playgroup & the fact that children will end up on a waiting list to recieve places as they will be limited.
Get a petition going! I don't think a single member on here won't sign it! The council are bad for being sneaky!
yesterday we were given 10 days notice that the council plan to close our local playgroup & mother & toddler group due to budget cuts!
there plans are to merge the Lybster Lightbeams Playgroup with the school nursery resulting in around 20-28 children aged 3-5yrs in one class with two nursery teachers, the gudelines for this age is 1 teacher to 8 children!
The council tryed to do the same thing 2 years ago but we won the battle & they assured us they would give us 2 years at the end of which they would speak to parents in the community & assess the needs of the local children.
The council have not done this! All we are given is 10 days notice of their plans to close our facilities.
we would appreciate your support in our fight to keep our playgroup & toddler groups open, please leave your comments for us to put forward to the council.
What are our councillors doing about all these cuts in education? Do they care? They are very quiet....................................... http://forum.caithness.org/images/icons/icon4.gif
Get a petition going - I'll sign.
half the problem is these cuts are orders from inverness and local councillors are not aware of whats happening half the time. just think what inverness spent on fireworks a month or so ago would have kept lybster playgroup running for the next 17 years!!!
I would set up a petition on here but havent got a clue how to do it!! any help with that would be greatly appreciated
Big hughie
05-Mar-08, 19:19
Get in touch with Alice in Blunderland I think she was involved in keeping the Thrumster one going and seems a helpful lady
Aye the cost of those fireworks in Inverness ...add in the cost of campaigning to make Inverness a city you could keep a lot of nurseries going for that
Beeg Hugheeeeeeeeeee
Brie - I am gobsmacked to say the least.
Practically 2 years to the day since they issued closure notices to the three of us last time. You need to move and move fast! Contact both John Thurso and Jamie Stone immediately, get in contact with someone from the Groat and get out onto the street and start petitioning. You only have 10 days so you must get going now. You must make this high profile - not just on these forums but in the press and on the street.
Bill Fernie is the "man in power" when it comes to Education and he is also "children's champion"..................comment now Bill??? (will not hold breath that's for sure)
Alice in Blunderland
05-Mar-08, 19:35
Hi Brie I heard about this . We were told that the review would be complete at the end of this month. There is meetings this week and I feel Lybster will not be the only nursery affected they need to cut places. [evil]
Alice in Blunderland
05-Mar-08, 19:40
Brie - I am gobsmacked to say the least.
Practically 2 years to the day since they issued closure notices to the three of us last time. You need to move and move fast! Contact both John Thurso and Jamie Stone immediately, get in contact with someone from the Groat and get out onto the street and start petitioning. You only have 10 days so you must get going now. You must make this high profile - not just on these forums but in the press and on the street.
Bill Fernie is the "man in power" when it comes to Education and he is also "children's champion"..................comment now Bill??? (will not hold breath that's for sure)
Groat and Jamie Stone are onto this as I have spoken to them already this last week and infact Jamie made a statement in Scottish Parliament last week about concerns over rural education and cuts ,he is sending me a copy but as I stated we want actions not words and a bigger pot of money.
Gordon Calder from the Groat has been phoning me so speak to him as he is covering this story and is watching out for what is being said at the meetings this week.
Dont hold your breath for anyone if you want to save anything you need to make a dash good case for yourself as it all boils down to the buzz word "sustainability".
Anyone got any fireworks left over from Inverness? Because it sounds like the councillors need some of them placed underneath their comfy chairs to shock them back into the real world.
Everyone should pressure their councillors about this. Also get in touch with John Thurso and Jamie Stone, they are already very interested in the cuts. And get in touch with the local press...there have already been letters and articles about cuts in other areas. It takes a bit of effort but making an almighty fuss is the only way to make those in charge take notice.
Here's a link to start an online petition, it's free and very quick and easy to set up!
http://www.ipetitions.com/start-petition/
thanks to everyone for their support the petition is now up & running so please show your support
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/lightbeamsplaygroup (http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/lightbeamsplaygroup)
It seems to me as though the councillors are doing this in a very cowardly way. Stun you guys with a 10 day closure notice so there isnt much time to voice your dissaproval and do anything about it. Just wondering if they gave it to you in writing about the 2 year speaking to the community thingie. If so then you have the upper hand. If not then the petition is the way forward. ill sign for sure.
yes we do have the 2 year thing in writing.
it seems its the heads of the council in Inverness that have made the decision, having spoken to all the local councillors it appears they knew nothing about it! its being done very underhand & as quietly as possible!
I feel sick to the bone by these ***** in inverness, do they have children, or grandchildren? I signed it. I just got my council tax bill in today, makes you wonder what it is all about. Where does all the money go? UP IN SMOKE!
Highland Laddie
06-Mar-08, 13:54
I feel sick to the bone by these ***** in Inverness, do they have children, or grandchildren? I signed it. I just got my council tax bill in today, makes you wonder what it is all about. Where does all the money go? UP IN SMOKE!
Yep, usually from the Kessock bridge £300,000.00 worth. :mad:
Sure this was tryed before balto & it didnt work thats why the playgroup subsidised it to keep it going.The major concern is the quality of education our children are goin to recieve if the nursery is merged with the playgroup & the fact that children will end up on a waiting list to recieve places as they will be limited.
Many moons ago the playgroup and mother and toddler group were run by us, the mothers, very successfully until the government started the free nursery places scheme and we were taken over. I think that the real need for the playgroup is to help children interact with others rather than educate them and the mother and toddler group is as much for the mums as for the kids, especially when it covers such a large rural area. I hope it doesn't close down and have signed the petition.
please sign this petition it only takes 2 minutes! weve had over 600 view on this thread & the petition thread yet only 19 signatures!
Signed this...good on ya for getting something done!
please sign this petition it only takes 2 minutes! weve had over 600 view on this thread & the petition thread yet only 19 signatures!
Hopefully the shortage of signatures is caused by people being at work all day and not having had a chance to sign it yet.
After a Meeting called at short notice last thursday it was decided that our playgroup will merger with the nursery. Bill Fernie has posted his response on the petition thread.Also the agenda for the upcoming meeting can be found on the highland.gov website. It appears our fate had been decided along time ago regardless of our opinions! looks like those Inverness fireworks will have another £21,000 in there kitty this years at the expense of our childrens education! the council should hang there heads in shame!![evil]
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