Caversham Children’s Centre is offered lifeline

Published: 26th May, 2011
by JOSIE HINTON

A CHILDREN’S centre threatened by closure could receive a last-minute reprieve after a nearby community centre offered to step in and run it.

The Queen’s Crescent Community Centre in Kentish Town has submitted a bid to take over management of The Caversham Children’s Centre, in Vadnie Bish House, which faces the axe in August.

Town Hall bosses have opted to close Caversham along with The Acol Children’s Centre in West Hampstead as they are the smallest centres, making them disproportionately costly to run.

Caversham, which has just 25 places, costs £300,000 each year.

But according to Ofsted guidelines, the building – which has two classrooms, four toilets, a kitchen, office space and outdoor garden and play area – could house up to 48 children.

By doubling the number of children, the not-for-profit Queen’s Crescent Community Association plans to cut council spending by more than £200,000. They are asking the Town Hall for just £95,000 funding in its first year – and not a penny after that.

Celina Goodfellow, of Islip Street, whose two-year-old son attends Caversham, said: “The most important thing for us is that we want some kind of affordable nursery in Kentish Town,” she added. 

“Our first priority would be to save Caversham and keep it open as it is. But the council have always said to us it is the staff that are costly. 

“Surely they are not going to ignore an offer from a not-for-profit organisation to take over management of the nursery for a fraction of the cost? 

“This is a vital service for parents.”

Caversham currently provides around a third of daycare places for children under three in the immediate area. The nearest alternatives are heavily oversubscribed.

Town Hall bosses will make a final decision on June 8 whether to close Caversham as part of a raft of measures to shave 10 per cent off the council’s Early Years budget.