It is with great sadness that I need to inform you all of the unfortunate upcoming closure of our setting at Abney Scout & Guide Centre on July 31st of this year.
We are absolutely devastated to be leaving and we know this news will shock and upset many families, however the site has never been ours and the scouts take priority, unfortunately we have no choice. We have been at the site since 2020 and have made some incredible memories that we will never forget.
Many children have passed through our gates, and we have developed and grown as a staff team enjoying our days observing the birds and all the wildlife and season changes here.
Summer Holiday Club this year will run from Dane Bank Green Space, as well as our new site in Heaton Moor at The Heatons School (we are awaiting OFSTED registration so not yet available to book here, but hopefully booking should be live in the next couple of weeks).
I have been, and still am working hard on our provision being able to continue from September 2024. As a company, we are much more than the land that we use. However this re-location will have a potentially devastating impact on our sustainability and me and many others are praying for the companies survival.
We are hopeful to re-locate all groups to Dane Bank Green Space, Denton, closest postcode – M34 2HB.
Site developments are in the planning process stage, whilst this site is not the same in size or woodland to Abney, it is ours and we have great plans for development here, including two outdoor classrooms, a large polytunnel and more.
The plan so far is to run a 5 day week Nursery here, the 30 funded hours will cover 5 days, and 15 hours 2.5 days, timings to be confirmed as well as costing for additional days/early drop offs/late pick ups etc.
However, it’s worth saying we should in theory be able to offer childcare within the hours of 7:30am-6pm.
We plan to keep home-education days the same, the groups will have separate spaces but will merge at parts of the day similarly to Abney, and the two areas are close-by.
An open day will be available in June, I am just working on prospectus’, and site improvement plans etc.
As the site needs a lot of development including a large surrounding fence & gate to protect us safety wise and from vandalism, the outdoor classrooms etc, however we desperately need to get some funding behind us, I have set up a crowd fund page and we would really appreciate any donations and ask you to share our page far and wide.
Forest Schools are few and far between in Manchester and we really want to continue offering this alternative level of education to many more children of the future.
Please feel free to message if you have any additional questions.
I would really appreciate it If you could look up the new location and let me know if you know if you would like to continue with a placement with us there, I know many of you had younger siblings etc that you wanted to enroll.
The number of children we have in September will determine our staff’s job security and the overall security of the provision being able to continue.
Thanks all for your ongoing custom & support.
Comments