18/12/2025
Moorside Pre-School is Closing
We are sad to share that today is the last day Moorside Pre-School will be open. It has been a difficult period for early years settings in general, but particularly those that are run as charities such as us. While ultimately the reason for our closure has been the low birth rate impacting on our numbers, we and other settings have faced many challenges in recent years. These include funding rates not rising in line with wage increases, increases in running costs and difficulties in recruiting qualified staff. We have also found that the external sources we rely on to provide for children with additional needs has been reduced and stretched, meaning greater pressure to our small budgets.
Moorside Pre-School has been very lucky to have had a low staff turnover, with an excellent core team of well qualified practitioners teaching and caring for the children who attend. While we may not have always been able to afford to offer the children as many physical 'things' as we would have liked to over the years, our strength has been the wonderful relationships the staff have formed with them, enabling them to be in tune with their learning and development. We hope this has prepared them well for their transitions to school or other provision.
As a charity, our families have always been key to our success. Their contributions have been highly valued and we will always be grateful to them for trusting us to care for their children, with us often being the first people they have left them with.
Some parents and other members of the Moorside community have also been able to become trustees of the charity. Volunteering their time and knowledge has been crucial in the running of Pre-School. Along with celebrating our successes, they have often had to make difficult decisions- this all being done in a voluntary capacity has not gone unnoticed.
While this is understandably a very sad time we have a lot to celebrate and be grateful for. Goodbye and thank you to everyone who has made Moorside Pre-School such a special place.
