I’m delighted to receive the formal notification that Mill Hill Nursery will remain open in September and has started to take applications from parents.

You can read the official announcement here.

Mill Hill Nursery has been faced with financial challenges for some time due to government cuts to the early years formula. I met with acting headteacher Joanne Coulson at the nursery in March this year to discuss the challenges they face and offered my full support for the campaign to keep the nursery open.

Governors and parents have run a very strong campaign working to explore every possible way for the nursery to remain open. I’d like to congratulate them on their success, and pay tribute to all the hard work they have done to make it a reality, together with local councillors.

Mill Hill Nursery provides high quality early years education to 2, 3, and 4 year olds in the local community. Around 99% of maintained nurseries across the country are rated as good and above by Ofsted. Despite the excellent outcome maintained nurseries achieve, government ministers imposed more than £1billion of funding cuts by 2020, leaving only 400 such nursery schools in the country.

I thank all those who have written to me to express their concerns about Mill Hill Nursery facing the threat of closure, and I will send out updates to all those who got in touch.

I will continue to work hard in Parliament to fight for fair funding for nursery schools such as Mill Hill Nursery.