Guildford pre-school to close due to ‘UK wide’ issues

The pre-school at Guildford Challengers is set to close at the end of this term. The early years service will shut after a series of economic and staffing issues made it increasingly difficult to run.

While Guildford Challengers is perhaps best known for its work supporting disabled children, the pre-school itself is inclusive and attended by a mix of disabled and non-disabled children.

Gen Dearman, CEO of Disability Challengers, told SurreyLive: “Closing a service is always a last resort, and it wasn't a decision taken lightly. We tried everything we could to not have to make this decision. It's really hard to do the right thing sometimes. At the moment this is the right thing for the charity, but it doesn't make it easy."

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“If we were to continue doing this, it would potentially impact the rest of our services which are specifically for disabled children and young people. For many of those children there's nowhere else for them to go. They can't go to other mainstream activities to have fun and make friends and try new things. We know that without Challengers a lot of our families just wouldn't be able to cope, and that's just not something we can risk.

Gen Dearman blamed the closure of the preschool on a variety of factors. She said: “For several years, the preschool sadly hasn't broken even, so it's not covering the cost of running the service. What that means is we've had to subsidise these costs from our charity reserves, and there comes a time where you have to stop doing that because it will affect all of the other brilliant services that we provide for disabled children.

“It's not just the finance piece either, it's the lack of staff. There is a UK wide sector shortage. We're very sad to be shutting a preschool, but for the three staff who are being made redundant we know there are so many opportunities available outside of Challengers.”

The pre-school will close at the end of the summer term on July 22, meaning those who currently attend will need to find alternative arrangements. Gen Dearman told SurreyLive : “We are working with Surrey County Council to identify where there are suitable spaces so we can support affected families to find something which works for them. There are lots of options available, including Challengers' Farnham-based preschool.

“Sometimes when a preschool shuts they're doing it with 24-hour notice, however we have provided parents with almost a term's notice which we hope has given parents the time to find that right next step for their child - and we're here to support them on that journey.”

The preschool is just one of services that Disability Challengers offers. Gen Dearman said: “Challengers is a charity which supports disabled children from 2-18 years. We do that through our pre-schools, short breaks and alternative provision for disabled young people who are out of education. We also have our community hub which provides support to families, whether they attend Challengers or not. That's our purpose, which our inclusive (non SEND-specific) preschools are part of.”

The charity has confirmed that it will not close any more of the its services and will continue to support 700+ disabled children, young people and their families across the South East.

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