Rutland County Council's (RCC) Cabinet is to consider the outcome of a public consultation on the future of The Parks Special Nursery School in Oakham at its next meeting on Thursday 11 January 2024. 

The Parks is a registered nursery school located within Oakham Church of England (CE) Primary Academy but maintained by Rutland County Council.

The Parks is the only specialist facility in Rutland offering support for children with moderate and severe learning difficulties, as well as support for speech, language and communication, autism and physical disabilities.

The future of the school has been in the balance for over a year, and RCC are set to make a decision at a meeting tomorrow, Thursday 11 January 2024.

Ahead of this meeting, a group of parents, staff and local people who are passionate to save the school, 'Save The Parks School' have released a statement.

They said: “The Save the Parks School group would like to thank Rutland County Council for listening to us at the consultation meeting and employing Maureen Morris to independently oversee the consultation and also to thank Maureen for her time. We are disappointed, however, by the shortsightedness shown in her report.

"There appears to have been no analysis of the data received, rather, just a summary. The whole consultation process appears to have been poorly thought out and we are unhappy with the editing and publication of the emails received through the Parks Proposal email address. The public were assured that the emails would be anonymised, not edited and this was done without seeking permission from the authors.

"Some of the emails have been rag rated incorrectly, leading us to question whether they were ’anonymised’ before Maureen received them and the LA have not acted upon Maureen’s recommendation that they contact the authors of the emails that were rag rated as red.

"We have not had any opportunity to present our petition to the council as yet, but are hoping to do so when the Scrutiny Committee meet.

"The overwhelming majority of the emails received are against the closure of the Parks but this seems to have fallen upon deaf ears, as the report recommends RCC go ahead with their proposal.

"We would also like to know if Rutland Parent Carer Voice consulted with parents and carers and how that contributed to the consultation.”

Families and children rallied to support the school in November. Image credit: Nub News.

While parents continue to voice their concerns at a lack of provisions for children struggling to access the care they need in Rutland, the closure of the school looks likely,

A spokesperson for Rutland County Council said: "All children currently being taught at The Parks are of primary school (reception) age. There are no children accessing a special nursery place this academic year and the Council is not aware of any children of nursery age needing specialist nursery provision from September 2024.   

"Following a review of The Parks by a group of independent SEND (Special Education Needs and Disabilities) professionals, which took place over two and a half years, it was identified that there were issues with the operational sustainability of the provision. Places at the Parks places cost substantially more than SEND support in mainstream settings and the nursery has very small pupil cohorts, making it increasingly unviable." 

Councillor Tim Smith, Cabinet Member for Children and Families at Rutland County Council, added: "We know many people feel incredibly strongly about The Parks and don't want it to close. It has provided fantastic care and support to children with additional needs and it's clear from the consultation that families who have accessed the provision over many years have had an overwhelmingly positive experience.

"During this same period, SEND support in mainstream schools and nurseries has increased substantially. With demand for special nursery places falling, it's recommended that The Parks should close and funding be used to further increase the SEND support available in mainstream settings across the County, including expansion of the Designated Specialist Provision at Oakham C of E."

This will come as a huge disappointment to the 3,100+ residents who signed the petition to protect the school, and parents, guardians, teachers and students who staged a protest in November to save the school.

The agenda and reports for Rutland County Council's Cabinet meeting at 10am on Thursday 11 January can be read online. This includes a copy of Maureen Morris' final report on The Parks Special Nursery Consultation, together with an appendix containing all responses submitted during the consultation period.

Responses have been anonymised to protect the identity of those who took part.