HELP US SAVE OUR PRE-SCHOOL

[lastrolo]

I work at a small pre-school which is going to be shut down in the coming month if we can not find a way to dig it out of the hole it is.
I would be very grateful for any ideas, advice anything really. the pre-scholl has been going for about 27 years so it would be a shame for it to close

[plug]

what is the hole and how big is it?

[lastrolo]

at the momment we have a very small amount of children attending so we are in affect running at a loss

[lastrolo]

at the momment we have a very small amount of children attending so we are in affect running at a loss

[waterfalls]

This happened to a primary school in my town, barely no teachers or pupils in the school, and just 2 pupils who attended the pre-school, at the last minute they managed to save it, purely on the fact that there were not enough spaces for the pupils in othere schools.

[BettySpaghetti]

Do all the parents in the area know that you exist, know the ages you cater for and that you have vacancies?

It might be worth advertiseing in the local paper, or better still get a journalist and photographer to come and do a piece about the pre-school. That might draw in some more children

[lastrolo]

we are speaking to the papers and radio station this week and are hoping to speak to some companys for help. there is another pre-school in our small town but they have no spaces for our children.

[zubb]

Are all the children funded? is your staff : children ratio high? I know it's drastic but you may need to trim the staff for a while until the numbers pick up again, obviously still staying within the legal numbers. You may also need to put up costs for the sessions / lunch clubs etc, and ask for donations from the parents / their companies.
If you can start an advertising drive - maybe have an open day? - then you may be able to aim for getting the numbers up again in September. Advertise in the library / doctors surgeries etc.
TBH the running committee should have seen this coming and put plans into place. You can apply for funds from various grants, but they are not usually for staff costs, and may take a while to come through.
Have you contacted the pre-school learning alliance as they may be able to help or at least offer suggestions.
Good luck!

[coppertop]

Contacting the Pre-School Learning Alliance is a good idea. They were able to make a donation to our pre-school to help cover costs. It wasn't a huge amount but was enough to keep us afloat.

Lots of advertising with a mention that there are currently no waiting lists. Often when new families move into the area they don't know about the local pre-schools.

[coppertop]

B*gger! Just checked the old paperwork and now I'm not even sure if it was the PSLA who made the award. Sorry.

[nikkie]

We went through this just before christmas. Our problem was lack of funded children.We still don't have many but have a lot more paid for children and some upped their days too.

Advertised in all the local shops and some house windows.We also put leaflets through doors of children who(we knew) would be starting preschool in the next couple of months.

We got a specialised accountant who advised on different grants to apply for , in the mean time all the staff did one day voluntary and the parents did some fundraising.

[emmalou78]

HI.
I'm a bit late on this one, only just spotted it!
I've recently taken over as Chair person of my youngests preschool, but have been heavily involved in emergency strategies since I found out last october the previous committe had managed to overspend by £12,000 in a year.

We have had to cut staff hours, increase [by 50p a session] our fee's an dencourage parents not to moe thier kids inot school nursery classes just becuase a place is availiable [we have a problem with a specific school, who take children a term before they are eligable for funding...]

We have applied for charitable grants, £5000 from awards for all, turned dow by the local network fund becuase of the financial sitation, and curently under consideration by Children in Need, you might need an angle for funding, we have gone for special needs and targettign deprived groups...

We also approached our local councillor for funding [they almost always have an amount availiable] have had jumble sales, raffles, a big event at xmas.

You need to get your parents on board and involved, a lot of ours are unnterested in the extreme, but those who care wear their hearts on their sleeves and really do, do all they can.

I hope getting the local press and radio has brought you some much needed publicity. Hav eyou considered a 'sponsor a child' project where you aproach local businesses for a small donation in ehnage for advertisingon your newsletter?

I've also made sure ALL our details are on the internet, there are local sites with specific info on them, often radio stations will run a free ad for charity organisations.

A lot of Banks and Building Societies have Funds you can apply to, as do a lot of big companies its worth looking into.

The Preschool learning alliance can offer you advice on funding, and may be able ot offer finacial advice/assistance, I'm not 100% what they offer, I know our insurance is with them tho..

Look into Lottery funding.
And The CO-OP

Could you children have a sponsored event? a wak round the yard, or a singalong, something fun for kids that whole families can support.

Our situationis improving, we've built up on our children number and funidng has increased to full terms rater then just 33 weeks a year [whichas a big loss for us as parents wouldn't pay for teh unsibsidised places the remaining 7 weeks.]

anywaysaid a lot there, and its probably appalling typing.

hope it helps

Good Luck!