New College Lanarkshire has confirmed its plans to close nurseries at two of its campuses at the end of 2023.

The college initially stated the nurseries in Cumbernauld and Coatbridge would close in the middle of the year, but ultimately agreed an extension until the end of December.

However, in a letter to parents, depute principal Ann Baxter confirmed the college would cease running the nurseries at the end of 2023.

She said: “A decision to delay the closure of the New College Lanarkshire nursery was taken in response to requests that we take an extended period of the time to allow us the space to explore other ways of allowing it to operate in the future.

“The first option we said would proceed with, after discussion with staff, was to look at a possible takeover of the nursery by Amcol, a charity which operates the nursery on the NCL Motherwell campus.

“In their response to our approach, and despite our offer of significant support in the future, Amcol said the current business model was not viable and that, in any event ‘it is highly unlikely that Amcol will be in a position to assume responsibility for the Cumbernauld campus before early summer 2024’.

“The second option which was explored was the possibility of a social enterprise being created. However, after some consideration, this option was one which our nursery staff did not want to pursue.

“Therefore, we have one remaining option, that is to extend the offer to other interested organisations to ascertain any interest they may have and this is one which we will now pursue in the coming weeks.

“The college has committed to operating the nursery until December 31 and we will continue to consider any feasible options put forward up until that date.

“I appreciate and am deeply sorry for the disruption, anxiety and upset this situation has caused parents, guardians, children and staff. I will keep you informed of any developments, information or support which we can offer in the coming weeks.”

Parents responded angrily to the news. Ashleigh Murphy said: “The decision has been made by New College Lanarkshire to close the Cumbernauld Campus Nursery at the end of December; citing running at a loss for the last two years.

“Independent recommendations were made to improve uptake of places which the college senior management neglected to act on sufficiently.”

She went on to claim the college was acting out of profit-centred motives and did not have the best interests of the children, families, staff or community at heart.

Naomi McNaught said that parents had met college management on September 20 where it was stated that although closing the nursery had been discussed previously parents were encouraged to keep their children enrolled throughout the extension period and told that the Amcol takeover was the best option.

She added: “This takeover by Amcol, a subsidiary of NCL, remains unconfirmed with a hypothetical opening date of August with closure scheduled for the end of December.

“The process of changing ownership has been continuously pushed to the side by college management with communication throughout being subpar. Additionally, there were discussions about taking the nursery over as a social enterprise which was discouraged.

“The biggest concern of course, for us as parents, is the disruption to our children’s early years education. GIRFEC and the CfE stress the need to put the child at the centre of everything and encourage a holistic view of social, emotional, physical and cognitive learning and development.

“Research into brain develop shows us that the first three years of a child’s life are of the utmost importance in sound development as this is the fastest period of brain growth when the majority of synapses are formed. The financial bottom line is being put before our children and that is not acceptable.”

A protest at the Cumbernauld campus is planned to be held from 8.30am on Friday and an online petition is running at https://www.change.org/p/save-cumbernauld-campus-nursery-new-college-lanarkshire.