Govanhill nursery relocation and names approved

Following consultation, Glasgow councillors agreed Cuthbertson nursery can move into the building, where they will be joined by children from Govanhill nursery.

A name for the new nursery has also been decided after talks with parents and carers — Victoria Road nursery.

Councillors agreed a new facility in Tollcross Park would be called Winter Gardens nursery.

The provision of more early years space is part of Glasgow City Council’s response to the Scottish Government’s plan to offer 1140 hours of funded childcare to families.

The existing Govanhill nursery building will be made available for rent to partner providers in the private and voluntary sector.

Councillor Chris Cunningham, the city’s education convener, said: “The new nursery will bring together the nursery class in Cuthbertson and the children attending Govanhill nursery into a state of the art facility for 87 two to five years olds.”

An initial consultation, starting in December 2020, was carried out by the council before a statutory consultation ran from August to October last year.

Across both consultation processes, there were a total of 34 responses, with 79 per cent in favour of relocating both nursery classes into a new building.

Many of those opposed to the proposal were concerned about the loss of playground space for Cuthbertson Primary School.

However, the council has said a programme of improvements have been agreed with the school and parent council to develop the playground space, including a multi-use games area.

“Although the size of the outdoor area is reduced, these improvements will impact positively on the outdoor experiences of children at Cuthbertson Primary,” a council report added.

There are also some concerns about the distance families at Govanhill nursery will need to travel from their home, or siblings’ school, to get to the new nursery.

The report stated: “Govanhill nursery staff are working with families to view this as an opportunity, for example, through increased exercise to support well-being.

“A series of family walks will be offered in preparation for the move to demonstrate that the distance is not excessive and the walk itself can be an enjoyable learning experience for children as they walk through their community.”

Bailie Soryia Siddique, who represents Govanhill, welcomed the new nursery and thanked the parent council for raising the need to improve play space at the primary school.

She asked whether there had been any interest from nursery providers in taking over the existing Govanhill nursery once children have moved into the new-build.

A council officer said: “We are proposing to go out to our funding provider partners across the city in the middle of next month to give them the opportunity to bid for access to that building.

“It goes out to all funding partner providers, private and voluntary sector, but greater weighting is given in the application process to voluntary and social enterprise providers.”

She added: “Hopefully it will be a reasonably seamless handover and we would hope that it would be up and running soon after the summer.”

The new nursery is expected to be finished in May/June, with the relocation of Govanhill nursery to take place in early summer and the Cuthbertson class to follow in August.