Troubled Lavenham Pre-School reopens after period of uncertainty

A troubled village pre-school, which closed temporarily after a number of staff resigned, has reopened.

Strong opposition over plans to extend Lavenham Pre-School’s opening hours to include school holidays resulted in a number of staff handing in their notices.

Manager Katherine Eves quit her position last month, while a number of staff resumed their roles last week.

“We very much regret that the school was closed for a limited period,” said Roy Mawford, chairman of Lavenham Pre-School Committee.

“A number of children are back at the school, not all of them, but we look forward to providing a service over the summer time.”

Details over the vacant managerial position are being announced by the committee in the coming days.

While talks continue over plans to extend the nursery’s hours, Mr Mawford said he hoped they would take effect by the autumn.

He explained that the plans, which resulted in a failure to reach a resolution following protracted talks with staff, had already been in the pipeline when the nursery relocated to its permanent site in Church Street last year.

“One of the conditions of the funding that we received to move the pre-school to its location and operate on a whole day basis, rather than a morning basis was that it would move towards operating during term time and out of term time,” he said.

After 16 years of operating from the dining hall at Lavenham Community Primary School, the move allowed the nursery to offer 30 hours a week of child care to coincide with government guidelines.

“We are pleased to resume our service,” added Mr Mawford.