How to take over / buy a preschool run by committee?

[hadenoughofit37]

Does anyone know how one can take over a preschool run by committee and charity status. It is failing, bad care, complaints, ofsted complaints etc. is it even possible? Thanks.

I was in the position once as the Chair of this sort of pre-school that we were approached by someone wanting to buy the organisation. (We were not failing, the buyers just wanted to expand the business into afterschool care too and wanted an easy way in.)

The first thing we had to do was discuss it as a committee, then ask all the parents what they thought. Their answer was a resounding NO so it went no further.

I would imagine that one business would have to be wound up, and another started in its place. A for-profit organisation coming in to run a preschool wouldn't qualify for charitable status, or even a charity bank account. Everything would have to be closed off, and started again. Perhaps OFSTED or other bodies could help? We were part of the Scottish Pre-School Play Association and they were very helpful.

Ask the PreSchool Learning Alliance?

Thank you for your replies. We would still run it as a charity, hopefully. I will have a look at the preschool alliance.

What sort of organisation is it? If it doesn't have any form of corporate status (and many won't) then I think you simply get voted in as the committee along with your other " directors" who will be doing it with you & the existing lot resign. You could then get it turned into a CIO or something.
Bear in mind that, with unincorporated entities, the committee themselves are legally liable for any wrongdoing, failings etc.

Agree with the above - if you are planning on running the pre-school along the same lines as before, you need to call an Extraordinary General Meeting and stage a coup ;-)

You would need to make sure that a majority of parents agree with you and are happy with the take over. Remember too that you're probably not being paid for this hassle, and that if the parents who are currently on the committee have children also at the pre-school this could make things very awkward. If your child is only there for another year or 18 months is it worth it? Having been Chair of a similar organisation through a very difficult time it was very hard for me personally and completely spoiled my son's final year there.

Lots to think about.

Agree with the last two posters. The simplest approach if you are entitled to vote at general meetings is to call an EGM (or wait until the AGM if that is soon) and stand for election to the committee along with your supporters. If people are unhappy you should be able to get elected.

If that is not possible it will be difficult for you to take over the preschool. You would need to discuss the matter with the current committee to see if you can find a way forward. If they don't want to co-operate it is very unlikely you would be able to take over.

I want to say "are you mad????"

The reason why it probably has these issues are probably financial, the government funding for the places is insufficient to pay for the legally required staffing let alone anything else...

I would check if they are part of the pre-school learning alliance, if they are not I would be getting on the committee and getting them to join and see what funding (usually grants for specific things) they can obtain to help sort out their issues.

I was chair of a preschool committee that went through trying time. I ended up in an employment tribunal, on anti anxiety medication and ultimately it contributed to me leaving my job through stress. Be VERY sure this is what you want to do and you are prepared for the amount of work it will take

Hi,

I know this was posted a while ago but looking for some advice. Me and a friend are looking to take over a charity run pre school and turn it to a limited company of which we would both be directors of.
We have sent up an AGM to discuss and hopefully get the votes from parents to go ahead. We have faced alot of hurdles so far, we know are being advised that the charity will have to be valued for us to buy and also put to tender which we have not been told up to now.

I just wonder if anyone has been through this with the pre school being valued and then put out to tender. I find it odd that we haven't come across this yet after lot of research.

Thank you in advance for any help x

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Hey! Did you ever get this done? We're now trying to do the same, but everywhere I've tried leads to a dead end. If so, could you tell me the process?

Am looking at that same thing for our preschool, if you got anywhere I would love hear