CHILDCARE services at a Wirral school have been saved after hundreds signed a petition.

Little Robins Nursery, who provide nursery and wraparound care for children in Wirral, has secured a new home that will enable it to continue to support families for years to come.

A petition titled ‘Save our Essential Childcare Provision at Overchurch Schools’ was signed by more than 600 people in less than 24 hours in a bid to stop the planned termination of the lease agreement for Little Robins by Overchurch Infant School in Upton.

Currently, almost 1,500 people have signed the petition.

The provider currently is based in the former caretaker’s house on the site of Overchurch Infant School, but at the end of October families were notified that the school was creating a new provision and that Little Robins’ lease would not be extended.

Now the other school which runs on the same site, Overchurch Junior School, has stepped in and offered Little Robins a new venue to provide the same support and care.

Yvonne Brown, CEO of Leading Learners MAT, of which Overchurch Juniors is part, said: “Every school makes decisions that are in their best interests of their children and families, and we wholly respect the hugely valuable work that the Infant School does.

“However, we also have to consider the needs of our children, families and staff. For example, there are families who would find managing getting to their jobs on time impossible without everything being on one site. We even have teachers who use Little Robins’ nursery for their own young children while they are working.

“We saw that there was a way of helping the community, and that is why we decided to start the conversations and discussion with Little Robins.

“Our hope is that Overchurch Junior School hosting Little Robins simply adds to the collectively ability of both schools to support more families. This can only be a good thing for our whole community.”

In a letter to parents, Little Robins and Leading Learners said that they would be agreeing the finer details of the new arrangement over the coming weeks.

Janice Robinson and Gaynor Dudley, Directors at Little Robins, said: “The response from our community has been both heartening and humbling.

“We have been in the former caretaker’s house for 21 years, and of course it will feel strange to move – even if it is just a few metres away.

“We were very grateful of the recent offer to extend our lease by a year – but we didn’t feel this gave our staff or families the longer-term certainty that we all need. That is why we were absolutely thrilled when the offer of a discussion at the Junior School was made.

“It is important to stress, however, that this is not fundamentally going to change our offer for families. We will still have the same staff, the same ethos and the same commitment to our children – it will just all be done in a new home.”

“We want to ensure a really smooth transition for all parties. We are working together to come up with a really secure plan that will, above all, ensure that children are comfortable with the changes.

“We will, of course, keep the community updated as these plans progress.”