Purpose

Blandford
Nursery Transfer 

Content

That the ownership and management of the Dorset Council run
Nursery and Oscar’s Out of School Club in Blandford in its current form, be
transferred to The Diocese of Salisbury Academy Trust (DSAT), in order to
expand the provision at Archbishop Wake CE Primary School and enhance the
educational offer to create a single school from 0 years, through to 11 years.

Reasons for the decision

Dorset Council operate a nursery and after-school/holiday
club provision in Blandford: 

  

Blandford
Nursery   

Oscars
after school and holiday club, Blandford   

  

These settings are Dorset Council managed childcare
provision and are not ‘Maintained Nursery Schools’ (MNS). A MNS is legally
constituted as a school with a head teacher, governing body, delegated budget
and at least one teacher with Qualified Teacher Status.   

 

Dorset Council has a duty to ensure that sufficient
childcare is available for parents (market position statement), but we have no statutory
obligation to provide childcare ourselves. Most local authorities have
withdrawn from this area of activity.   

 

Most childcare settings are run by the private sector,
voluntary organisations, or schools. These types of organisations are expertly
placed to run thriving childcare settings with the dedicated leadership,
experience, resources, and skills to do this effectively.     

 

These provisions
have historically run at a deficit. The settings should be cost neutral
and are not allocated funding in a budget; expenditure should be covered by
income. This is not the case for our settings, and the budget deficit continues
to rise.  

 

For the last 18 months, we have experienced a difficulty in
receiving suitably qualified applicants for advertised positions particularly
in Blandford. We have explored a number of avenues to
attract the right candidates, and this has recently proved successful resulting
in a full complement of qualified staff. Staff vacancies or illness often have
an impact on other areas of the business calling upon qualified staff from
Family Help Teams to support the continued operation of the services, shifting
staffing pressures elsewhere across Children’s Services. 

 

Alternative options considered

In March 2023 Children’s Services Leadership Team conducted
an options appraisal against 2 key objectives for the settings. Only options 2
and 3 meet both objectives  

 

Options  


Objective
1:   
Secure
sufficient childcare in Blandford and Shaftesbury  


Objective
2:   
Provisions
are run by an organisation with the dedicated leadership, experience,
resources, and skills   




1.
Continue to run the provisions ourselves  


Met  


Not met  




2. Work
with local schools or providers to take over the settings  


Met  


Met  




3. Go
out to tender inviting other childcare providers to bid to take over the
settings  


Met  


Met  




4.
Close the settings  


Not met  


Not met