A CAMPAIGN has been launched to save nursery schools in five children centres in East Lancashire.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT), has announced its Nursery Education Defence Campaign after Blackburn with Darwen Council gave the go-ahead to discontinue the maintained nursery school provision.

The council has agreed that childcare provision in Audley and Queens Park Children’s Centre, Darwen Children’s Centre, Seven Trees Children’s Centre, John Smethurst Children’s Centre and Little Harwood Children’s Centre will instead be run by management boards.

The NUT fears the new style of management would make headteachers roles jobs" target="_blank">redundant and would lead to children’s education suffering.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has said it is under strict instructions to implement these changes and the service it provides to children and parents would not be affected.

However, Lancashire County Council has revealed it will not be pursuing these changes.

Simon Jones, NUT executive member and Blackburn with Darwen divisional secretary, said: “As a teacher trade union and professional association, one of our primary concerns is to safeguard the standards of education throughout every early years setting in the area.

“Therefore it is of grave concern to us that children attending children’s centres seem to be spending much less time being taught by fully qualified teachers “We are very concerned that the managerial, bureaucratic and operational demands of running this network of children’s centres has created significant problems for staffing allocation and deployment.

“This in turn means that some children experience frequent changes of adult supervisors or teacher.”

Councilor Chris Thayne, executive member for children’s services for Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: “We would like to repeat that services to children and families will not be affected in any way by the change of status to those nursery schools which sit within the children’s centres.

“The formal closure of the schools is a technical change only so that the centres can continue to be run by management boards – a hugely successful way of working that has received national acclaim.”