Slough nursery schools face an ‘unsustainable future without a long-term solution’ following cuts to funding.

Tan Dhesi MP met with headteachers from five of the local nursery schools and was presented with a petition signed by over 1,600 concerned parents in the local area calling on a safeguard to be put in place to protect the future of local nursery schools.

In 2017, the Government agreed to maintain level funding for schools across the country through a scheme of supplementary funding called the Maintained Nursery School Supplement (MNS). In the year 2017-2018, this funding was £1.13m for the five nursery schools in Slough. This was subsequently reduced to £840,000 the following year.

Schools across the country have also not received a guarantee of funding after 2020 which head teachers have claimed has left them unable to plan and budget for the future.

Philip Gregory from Baylis Court Nursery School said: “We are coming towards a cliff edge. We have had the supplementary funding which lasts until 2020 and we have had a timeline that has just kept being pushed back.

“We are taking children on board now that we know are going to be with us until the end of the summer term in 2020. We don’t know what is going to happen that term without any confirmation regarding funding.”

Slough MP Tan Dhesi said: “We all realise that if we don’t get things right from Nursery stage, then that has implications moving forward. People say that children are our future. If this is true, you need to invest, and you need to put that funding into education.

“It is great to see people coming together to sign this petition. It shows that a consensus has been built.”