Page 5 - link magazine

TOOTHILL 5
Parent's choice reduced as playgroup prepares to close
West Swindon's oldest playgroup is to close on its twentieth anniversary, even though it has just received an excellent
assessment from Ofsted inspectors which found no significant weaknesses.
Toothill Farm Pre-School at the "We don't blame parents choos- some children are going to be de- aged 4 between 1 September and
Toothill Farm social hail on Bodiam ing a free place at the nursery, but prived. 31 August. Children who are three
Drive accepted its first children in without a playgroup in the area, "The nursery only takes children in the autumn will have to wait
July 1978 and will say farewell to Playgroup workers Olwen Northway and Tina Lewington with the last group until the following September be-
its last 13 children in 10 July 1998. of children at the Toothill Farm Pre-School fore they can enter the nursery
There are no children on the where there is a 1 t 13 ratio. Three
waiting list. The low number of year olds will lose out on the es-
pre-school children in the area, sential pre-school experience; in a
earlier acceptance into reception playgroup there is a Ito 8 ratio."
classes and the availability of free Playgroup chairwoman Belinda
places for four year olds at the Harrington believes there may be
Toothill School nursery means that up to 15 children in the Toothill
the self-funding playgroup can- area in this position.
not survive. To survive, the pre-school must
Apart from the Oliver Tomkins have fifteen children aged 3 to 5
Pre-School, which also draws years by Easter. For more infor-
many children from Grange Park mation, call 511675.
and Freshbrook, there will be no The Pre-School Learning Alli-
playgroup in the Toothill area. The ance reports that fifty thousand
group at the community centre playgroups across the country
closed 18 months ago. closed last year and say 150,000
Supervisor Tina Lewington has could close this year.
seen a gradual decline in numbers
in the last ten years. When I first
joined the management commit-
tee in 1988, we had 80 children
attending. Numbers have dropped Regal Windows
as the area has matured. The group
has been running at a loss since
September, but we had a surplus
funds from the old voucher scheme & CONSERVATORIES
to fall back on.
GP to close PRE-LAUNCH OFFER

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Another long standing commu-
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Toothill surgery of Dr Kandiah's SAVE MONEY ON OUR ENTIRE
practice shuts on 1 June.
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meant to be temporary when they
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