Coram charity accused of ‘throttling by stealth’ nursery it helped create

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The UK’s oldest children’s charity has been accused of “throttling by stealth” a renowned state-maintained nursery it helped create with a shared mission to improve support for the early years.

The Thomas Coram nursery school, a pioneering early years centre in Camden, north London, has said it is facing possible closure after its landlord announced plans to double the rent and reduce the space available.

The landlord, Coram, one of the UK’s leading organisations working to advance children’s welfare, whose charitable efforts date back to 1739 and include the Foundling hospital, a home for babies whose mothers were unable to care for them.

The charity says the nursery’s rent has not gone up since 2016 and even with the proposed increase to bring it to parity with other charities on the site it will still be well below the market rate. The nursery, which has operated in its present form on the site since 1998, says the rent rise combined with the loss of childcare space will make it financially unviable.

Tucked away on the Coram campus in leafy Bloomsbury, the Thomas Coram nursery school provides 150 places for children aged two to five, many of whom come from the most economically deprived communities in the country.

It is the only local authority-maintained nursery in Camden and its intake includes Afghan refugees living in hotels, children sheltering in domestic violence refuges and children in need of expert support for special educational needs and disabilities.

The staff are highly qualified, the purpose-built school building is colourful and child-friendly. The outdoor play area and garden are expansive – precious for children whose living conditions are often cramped. “Every child plants a potato and every child digs it up,” said the headteacher, Perina Holness, whose pride in her school is tangible. There are rows of wellies for wet weather, and trucks, diggers and dinosaurs to play with.

Consistently rated outstanding by the schools inspectorate Ofsted, the nursery school is recognised as a beacon of excellence locally and nationally, and a valuable resource for academics, politicians and early years experts.

The nursery school has a long, shared history with Coram. It was where the former Labour prime minister Tony Blair launched his Sure Start policy in 1998 to offer services and support to young children and their families, which has been acknowledged by many as one of New Labour’s greatest achievements.

More than two decades on, the nursery says the rent and service charges are already substantial, and the proposed increase would make it unviable. Margaret Hodge, the Labour minister who opened the nursery in the 1990s, said it was an outrage. “To ignore the legacy and the history just to make a quick buck seems utterly disgraceful,” she said. The local MP, the Labour leader Keir Starmer, is hoping a resolution can be found.

A former headteacher, Bernadette Duffy, said: “To lose such a unique resource would be a tragedy for the children and families who rely on its services, but also for the many practitioners, researchers and policymakers who have visited the centre over the years and been inspired by its work.”

Lucy Razzall, the chair of governors and a parent at the nursery, said: “We cannot comprehend how the organisation that worked in partnership with the local authority to create one of the most pioneering integrated early years centres in England, and received government funds to do so, is now threatening the future of this nursery.

“Once lost, this beautiful space designed for the specific needs of young children would be gone for ever. To us it feels like a throttling by stealth, and it is a matter of deep regret that the Coram trustees refuse to meet with us.”

Coram’s former chief executive Gillian Pugh said there had been a nursery on the Coram campus for nearly 100 years, serving the needs of the local community. She said: “At a time when additional government funding for two-year-olds will increase demand and practitioners across the country are looking for models of good practice to support them, to lose Thomas Coram’s expertise would be particularly unfortunate.”

A statement by the charity said: “Coram greatly values the Thomas Coram nursery school and wants nothing more than for it to continue to serve local children on a fair and equitable basis with all the other children and charities who use our campus.

“For this reason, the nursery’s rent has not been increased since 2016 despite the profound pressures of the pandemic and cost of living crisis placing growing demands on the charity.”

Coram said the future and funding of the nursery was a matter for Camden council. “Coram has presented multiple options to safeguard the nursery’s future at Coram, even phasing the rent rise over three years to match the rent that other charities on the Coram campus pay, which is well below the market rate.

“We are dismayed that two years after terms were agreed, Camden has yet to fulfil their stated intent, leaving their own nursery in limbo and the charity and the children we serve bearing the consequences.”

A Camden council spokesperson said: “The nursery have been really clear with us that higher rent and, critically, a reduction in bespoke childcare space being proposed will severely threaten their future so we have been advocating on their behalf to try to find a solution.

“We will continue to try to work with the nursery and Coram’s charity to find a way to safeguard the nursery as quickly as possible.”